The new dramas are:

THE GUARDIAN (Tuesday, 9:00-10:00 PM), starring Simon Baker ("Red Planet," "L.A. Confidential" ), Dabney Coleman ("You've Got Mail," "9 to 5" ) and Alan Rosenberg ("Chicago Hope," "L.A. Law"). Nick Fallin (Baker) is a hot-shot, thirtysomething lawyer who must perform community service or risk being disbarred when he's arrested for using drugs.

While closing lucrative deals at his father's (Coleman) ultra-successful law firm, Nick is forced to work for a child advocacy office run by Alvin Masterson (Rosenberg), a boss who plays by the rules and is determined to keep Nick honest.

Though his father waivers between pride and concern over his son's work performance, Nick attempts to appease him and the firm's high-paying clients while devoting his time to a place where he can help those truly in need. While straddling two vastly different legal worlds, Nick is determined to maintain his fast-paced lifestyle, as he tackles cases involving kids caught up in difficult circumstances.

Mark Johnson ("Donnie Brasco," "What Lies Beneath" ) and Michael Pressman ("Chicago Hope") are the executive producers, for Columbia TriStar Television in association with CBS Productions.

WOLF LAKE (Wednesday, 10:00-11:00 PM), starring Lou Diamond Phillips ("Stand and Deliver" ), Tim Matheson ("The West Wing") and Graham Greene ("Dances With Wolves" ), is a compelling sci-fi drama about a pack of wolves living in human form in the small Seattle suburb of Wolf Lake -- where human disappearances have been running high.

Noah Cassidy (Phillips) is an agent for the Bureau of Wildlife Management who has been assigned to track the disturbing influx of dangerous and bizarrely behaving wolves in the area.

Sheriff Jack Kohanek (Matheson) is the town's trusted law enforcement officer and loving father of 16-year-old Sophia (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has begun to show odd, wolf-like signs that Jack is afraid to acknowledge. He continues to hope for the return of his wife, Hannah (Suzy Joachim), who left them years ago without explanation.

Jack's sister-in-law, Alexandra (Stacy Edwards), lives in denial of her past connection with wolves, as she tries to live a normal family life in their normally quiet town.

Duke Joseph (Greene) is a Native American biology professor at the state's university who served as a father figure to Alexandra and Hannah during their childhood, and seems to know ancient secrets about the town's mysterious relationship with wolves.

Luke Trane (Paul Wasilewski), one of Sophia's classmates, and Carl Slater (Xander Berkeley), a malicious hunter, are both among Wolf Lake's more enigmatic residents.

John Leekley ("Kindred: The Embraced") and Bernard Lechowick ("Hyperion Bay") are the executive producers, for Big Ticket Television.

THE AGENCY (Thursday, 10:00-11:00 PM), starring Gil Bellows ("Ally McBeal"), Will Patton ("Remember the Titans" ), Rocky Carroll ("Chicago Hope"), Paige Turco ("Party of Five," "NYPD Blue" ), Ronny Cox ("Perfect Murder, Perfect Town" ) and David Clennon ("thirtysomething") and Andrea Roth, is a fast-paced drama about a passionate team of highly-skilled CIA agents based in Washington, D.C., who consistently put their lives on the line to preserve the safety of the nation.

The agents operate in secrecy, knowing that one small mistake can cost lives and jeopardize national security. Director Alex Pierce III (Cox) oversees the extraordinary team of overworked undercover agents.

Heading up the counter-terrorism team is Lisa Fabrizzi (Roth), a brilliant agent who is cool and calm under pressure -- and who reports to Carl Reese (Carroll). Agent Joshua Nankin (Clennon) heads the art/fraud department, which creates falsified documents.

He has just recruited Terri Lowell (Turco), the newest member of the Agency, who has a sharp eye for detail and an intense determination to make it on her own. Matt Callan (Bellows) is an exceptionally well-trained undercover operative reeling from the mysterious death of his brother -- also a CIA agent.

Senior Agent Jackson Haisley (Patton) is a newly widowed father of two who possesses invaluable skills and top secret agency information that could shatter Callan's world.

Week to week, these agents, whose calling card is secrecy, wage high stakes battles under the ever-watchful eye of the CIA.

Wolfgang Petersen ("The Perfect Storm" ), Gail Katz ("The Perfect Storm" ), Michael Frost Beckner ("Cutthroat Island" ) and Shaun Cassidy ("Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family" ) are executive producers, for Radiant Television in association with CBS Productions.

CITIZEN BAINES (Saturday, 9:00-10:00 PM) is a drama starring James Cromwell ("Babe" ) as Elliott Baines, a prominent three-term U.S. senator who returns to his Seattle home following a shocking loss in his bid for re-election.

Although he is completely unfamiliar with a world outside of politics, Baines must leave Capitol Hill and return home to start living the next chapter in his now uncertain life.

Joining him are his three adult daughters who are often at odds, not only with their father but with each other. They are Ellen (Embeth Davidtz), a lawyer considering a move into the political arena, Reeva (Jane Adams), a busy mother of two with problems at home, and Dori (Jacinda Barrett), a young woman still trying to find her niche in life.

Caught up in their own problems and used to living without their father's presence, the three don't know what to expect from his return -- and neither does Elliott.

John Wells ("ER," "The West Wing"), Lydia Woodward ("ER," "China Beach") and Christopher Chulack ("ER," "Third Watch" ) are executive producers, for Warner Bros. Television.

THE EDUCATION OF MAX BICKFORD (Sunday, 8:00-9:00 PM), starring Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss ("The Goodbye Girl" ), who comes to series television in a drama about a college professor's world that is turned upside down when, among other things, he is passed over for a long-overdue promotion. The promotion is given instead to the new teacher at the all-girl Chadwick College, Andrea Reese (Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, "Pollack" ), a former student of Max's with whom he had an affair.

To add insult to injury, it was his old friend, the president of the college, Judith Hackett Bryant (Regina Taylor), who passed him over for the job.

Meanwhile, Max's joy comes from spending time with his son, Lester (Eric Ian Goldberg), an aspiring basketball star. More challenging is his relationship with his daughter, Nell (Katee Sackhoff), a freshman at Chadwick who is trying to find her way. Making life even more confusing, his best friend, Steve, returns and -- thanks to a sex-change operation -- is now Erica (Helen Shaver).

Now, everything and everyone is up for re-examination in Max's new life.

Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin ("Judging Amy") are the executive producers, for 20th Century Fox Television, in association with CBS Productions.

The new comedies are:

THE ELLEN SHOW (Friday, 8:00-8:30 PM), starring Emmy Award winner Ellen DeGeneres as a high-powered Internet executive who decides to trade the stresses of her fast-track, big-city lifestyle for the slower pace of her quieter hometown where she is known and loved. It remains to be seen, though, if returning to this fishbowl of a place with her eccentric mother, Dot (multiple Emmy Award winner Cloris Leachman) and her scatter-brained sister, Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd), is the best course of action.

At home, Ellen rejoins her senior prom date, Rusty (Jim Gaffigan), who thinks they can pick up where they left off, and her befuddled high school teacher, Mr. Munn (Martin Mull, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch").

Though worlds apart from the people who love her, Ellen begins to adjust to a very different way of life.

Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Leifer ("Seinfeld"), Mitchell Hurwitz ("Golden Girls" ) are executive producers, for Artists Television Group (ATG).

AMERICAN WRECK (Friday, 8:30-9:00 PM), starring Daniel Stern ("City Slickers," "Home Alone" ) as a single father of two who runs the local community center. The busy "wreck center," which Danny (Stern) converted from a bunch of abandoned warehouse buildings, is home to an eclectic mix of people -- all ages and types -- making use of the site to play basketball, take lessons, seek help or do just about anything else that comes to mind.

Danny has just turned 40 and is awkwardly adapting to his life as a newly single man and the father of two fast-growing teenagers - while managing to keep his head, and the frenzied community center, above water.

While Danny is still getting used to being an adult himself, he is also trying to figure out how to relate to his kids.

Daniel Stern, Howard J. Morris ("Home Improvement"), Mindy Schultheis and Michael Hanel ("Titus") are the executive producers, for Acme Productions, in association with Big Ticket Television.

The new reality adventure:

THE AMAZING RACE (Wednesday, 9:00-10:00 PM) is a new reality adventure series hosted by Phil Keoghan -- pitting 11 teams against each other in a worldwide 30-40 day journey through diverse cities and countries spanning the globe.

The first team to reach the final destination will be rewarded with $1 million. Each team, comprised of two people who have a pre-existing relationship, will compete at every destination in mental and physical challenges. Only when each task is completed will they learn their next destination. Couples farthest behind will gradually be eliminated.

The teams will be filmed non-stop, chronicling their journey as well as the conflicts and deepening friendships that may develop through the competition. Each team will have to rely on wit and ingenuity to conserve limited funds.

Plane travel will be restricted, and the contestants will have to use alternate means of transportation -- buses, trains, boats, taxis, bicycles and even camels.

Phil Keoghan has worked all over the world as a cameraman, producer and host since the age of 19, and has hosted more than 1,000 program episodes, including his own internationally distributed series "Keoghan's Heroes," among other series.

Jerry Bruckheimer ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Armageddon" ) and Bertram van Munster ("Cops," "Wild Things" ) are the executive producers, for Bruckheimer Films, in association with Touchstone Television and CBS Productions.