'Bonnie' works because it's different

"Life With Bonnie" is not the breakout comedy hit of the fall season. It's too divisive. For starters, the show airs at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on ABC (Channel 9), which forces viewers to decide between it and a far more familiar comedy, "Frasier," not to mention two riveting dramas, "24" and "The Guardian." Then there's Bonnie Hunt's unorthodox ideas about what makes a good comedy. She plays a successful morning talk-show host in Chicago, and every episode features her on the air - a show within the show - interviewing a funny guest. These segments have a loose and unscripted feel to them, by design. A cooking segment featured two chefs Hunt had met in real life. They showed up on the "Life With Bonnie" set five minutes before cameras rolled. Apparently, some viewers don't like this part of the show at all. Why does Bonnie give up one third of her show to a guest star? griped a frustrated Internet fan. Well, because it's her show and she can. ABC apparently feels likewise; the network picked up the show's option for the season. What's puzzling to me is why anyone feels "Life With Bonnie" needs to be completely centered on the family living room, like every other family sitcom. If it weren't for the talk show, we wouldn't have been treated to a hysterical appearance by Martin Mull as a designer of dog fashions. He was channeling his classic "Fernwood 2Night" talk show, but so what? For that matter, what's wrong with not always being the star of your own show? It worked for Jerry Seinfeld. If you can't decide between Bonnie and Kiefer, cable has got you covered. ABC Family is rerunning each week's "Life With Bonnie" episode at 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. For that matter, each week's "24" is re-aired at 10 p.m. Mondays and 4 p.m. Tuesdays on FX. Newsworld International (Channel 226 on Time Warner Cable). Tired of cable news channels bombarding you with on-screen chaos? Sick of seeing human tragedy gift-wrapped in colorful graphics and designer music? Had it with white men screaming at each other? Try this alternative from the land of championship curling. You'll find it on digital cable next to C-SPAN3, the only channel to which it can even remotely be compared. Newsworld International is produced by the CBC, Canada's public broadcaster. Like the citizens of most advanced countries, Canadians prefer their news straight, unsensational, even a little boring. Imagine the nightly news as read by Brian Lamb and you get the idea. (In his new movie "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore shows Canadians watching CBC news as proof of their moral superiority to Americans.) At first it may seem strange not having news spoon-fed to you. Newsworld seems to think its viewers actually care about why the Chechens and Russians are still fighting, or the latest twist in Philippine politics. Ironically, Newsworld's weekly book program "Hot Type" (7 p.m. Sunday, repeating often) is one of the most exciting interview shows I've ever seen, thanks to its intellectually spirited young host Evan Solomon. "Frontline," 9 p.m. Thursday, KTWU (Channel 11), airing 9 p.m. Nov. 21 on KCPT, Channel 19, which is pre-empting programs for an auction. Alex Kotlowitz has devoted his journalism career to understanding poor people and what keeps them that way. Here he lets us hitchhike on his tour of marriage and divorce in America. Among the underclass of Chicago, where single mothers raise huge clans of kids, marriageable men are in short supply. But in Oklahoma, where people get hitched and unhitched at startlingly high rates, husbands are plentiful - as are ex-husbands, single-parent kids and welfare moms. Kotlowitz and his experts expertly explain why solving either problem, let alone both, is our latest American dilemma. "Talk Sex with Sue Johanson," 11 p.m. Sundays on Oxygen. For those who can't get enough explicit sex chat - or think that the Berman sisters of Discovery Health are too young to be dispensing gynecological advice - good news. Sue Johanson, Canada's candid "Sex Lady," has opened shop in the United States. Oxygen has ordered an American version of Johanson's "Talk Sex," which has played north of the border for 13 years. A registered nurse and birth control pioneer (she began dispensing condoms in high schools in 1970), Johanson takes your phone calls at 11 p.m. Sundays. Don't let her frumpy looks and wooden demeanor fool you; this show will burn your ears, at the very least. No word yet on whether Oxygen wants more episodes of my favorite Sunday-night show, Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger's wicked "O2Be," already in repeats at 10 p.m. Sundays. Now playing at the Cancellation Drive-In: UPN's "Haunted." Aaron Barnhart is at (816) 234-4790 and online at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Mark Derwin and Bonnie Hunt star in "Life with Bonnie" at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on Channel 9. @ART CREDIT:ABC @ART:Photo (color)