New on the tube

'Haunted' Airs: 8 tonight, UPN (Channel 29) Stars: Matthew Fox, Russell Hornsby, Lynn Collins, John Mann, Michael Irvy Nutshell: Nice set-up, but how far can they go with it? For two years ex-cop Frank Taylor (Fox) has been looking for his missing son. It has cost him his job, his marriage and possibly his sanity. But those voices in his head aren't schizophrenic demons of despair - they're the voices of other missing people, calling out to him to come find them. With his transistor seemingly tuned to those in distress, Frank finds meaning to his life even if the people around him think he's dialed to station KNUT. This isn't the only new missing-persons show on the fall schedule: the procedural drama "Without a Trace" is another. In "Haunted," however, our hero is led not by forensic clues, but paranormal hunches. To look at it another way, "Profiler" would fall somewhere between these two shows. I was intrigued by the first "Haunted" episode, but it felt like a closed case, a movie-of-the-week. Can this guy really hold us for 21 more brain spells? 'Hidden Hills' Airs: 8:30 tonight, NBC (Channel 41) Stars: Justin Louis, Paula Marshall, Dondre T. Whitfield, Tamara Taylor, Stacey Galina Nutshell: Comedy about suburban couples borrows from "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Ally McBeal," with limited success. "Hidden Hills" turns out to be better than the dreary preview I saw at the NBC presentation in May (the five-minute trailer revolved around Louis getting smacked in the family jewels with a softball). It's a by-now familiar mixture of dream sequences, voice overs and comedy unburdened by the demands of a laugh track. And some of it works, like a jealous dream Doug (Louis) has in next week's episode about his wife (Marshall) and the hunks working on his water main. But as a couple, they have little personal chemistry to go with their sparkless marriage. In tonight's episode, they have a ridiculous spat over sex, and you sit there waiting for someone to say something genuine, or believable, and no one does. Even "Ally McBeal" never had that problem. 'In-Laws' Airs: 7 tonight, with back-to-back episodes tonight only, NBC (Channel 41) Stars: Dennis Farina, Elon Gold, Jean Smart, Bonnie Somerville Nutshell: In this uninteresting sitcom, domineering dad squashes meek son-in-law like a bug. Perhaps if we had Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller here instead of Farina and Gold - or at least the twisted minds that wrote "Meet the Parents" - then "In-Laws" would amount to something. As it is, the show's middle-class setting belies its "Married ... With Children" sophistication. There is a funny sequence in tonight's second episode when Farina's Fleetwood goes to the body shop. But of the four cast members, only "Frasier" veteran Smart consistently rises above the stock roles. Worse, each of tonight's episodes resorts to a gimmick at the end (one involves cumin, the other uses Farina's watering hole for a one-time-only punch line). Such contrivances are a sure sign that the show's characters have worn out their limited comic potential - and to think the season is still young. 'Presidio Med' Airs: 9 tonight, CBS (Channel 5); moves to regular time period 9 p.m. Wednesday Stars: Dana Delany, Blythe Danner, Anna Devere Smith, Sasha Alexander, Julianne Nicholson, Oded Fehr Nutshell: Lifeless cast can't resuscitate umpteenth medical drama. "ER" show-runners Lydia Woodward and John Wells have clearly tired of the fast-and-furious, people-in-motion hospital show. Been there, done that. So now they've fashioned one in which people stop and (cue camera one!) talk to each other in (cue camera two!) isolated shots. At "Presidio Med," crises are accompanied not by the cacophony of people and ringing telephones, but the soothing accompaniment of guitar and piano. Throw in a quirky doctor or two - like the plastic surgeon who sings "I've Got You Under My Skin" during liposuction - and you have a show not unlike "Chicago Hope," the very program that "ER" demolished on Thursday nights eight years ago. But at least "Hope" had Mandy Patinkin. The best "Presidio Med" can do is Dana Delany. She's always a welcome sight, but she can't pull this heavy load herself. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.comBonnie Hunt, David Letterman's funniest guest, after two failed comedies on CBS? I couldn't help but be charmed. The show is aptly named: It's a scripted comedy that unfolds like a day-in-the-life documentary. The action, and there is a lot of action, moves between Bonnie's home, which she shares with her husband, two kids and a housekeeper; and the set of "Morning Chicago," her live morning show. The "Morning Chicago" scene, which ate up a third of the episode, had a loose, unscripted quality. (The worst you could say about the cooking segment, which Bonnie plays for laughs, is that it seemed like something Letterman would do.) Back home, Bonnie and hubby (Derwin) have no chemistry, but the kids are hilarious. Anyway, they're just the supporting cast. This show will succeed only if audiences finally connect with Hunt and her down-to-earth, off-the-cuff style of comedy. 'Push, Nevada' Airs: 8 p.m., repeating 7 p.m. Thursday just before its regular time period of 8 p.m. Thursday, ABC (Channel 9) Stars: Derek Cecil, Scarlett Chorvat Nutshell: A million dollars has vanished in a strange heist in a strange town. The twist: Viewers solve the case - and one will collect the missing loot. Forget about the fact that "Push, Nevada," reminds you of a mishmosh of films you've seen on the Sundance Channel - the cockeyed camera angles, the oddly stilted dialogue, the non sequitur cutaways - and just enjoy its reckless ambition. Think about it: When this show moves to Thursdays, it will be on a suicide mission, challenging "CSI" and "Will & Grace" with a weird little whodunit that has precious few clues and even fewer suspects, so elliptically told that it seems calculated to drive away viewers. Only two things are in "Push's" favor: the immediately likable good guy, IRS agent J.A. Prufrock (Cecil), and that $1 million jackpot that some lucky viewer will win. Personally, I'd rather watch "Push" than anything else in that time period (although I do like the "Jamie Kennedy Experiment"). But my guess is that Ben Affleck and Sean Bailey, the show's creators, will be handing out the big prize on the Internet, where "Push" will be forced to run for cover after ABC yanks it. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Matthew Fox stars in "Haunted." @ART:Photo (color) @ART CREDIT:UPN