Craig Bierko

It may not seem like it, but Craig Bierko is taking a well-deserved break. The 30-year-old actor--who played investigative reporter B.J. Cooper on "Madman of the People," which recently got the ax from NBC--has made a mad leap into a midseason replacement series. "Pride & Joy" starts this week, also on NBC. The new Touchstone Television sitcom takes a light look at starting a family in the '90s. "This is the most fun I've finally had since I've been out here," says Bierko, a Westchester, N.Y.

A film about a champion must have a seemingly indestructible peril toward which our unstoppable hero hurtles. Superman had kryptonite; Neo had his Agent Smith; even "Rocky IV" had sleek Russian super-bully Ivan Drago. In director Ron Howard's newest, "Cinderella Man," the story of Depression-era Everyman boxer James J. Braddock, that malignant menace blocking the redemptive light at the end of the tunnel is heavyweight titleholder Max Baer. For this nemesis, Howard found actor Craig Bierko.

A film about a champion must have a seemingly indestructible peril toward which our unstoppable hero hurtles. Superman had kryptonite; Neo had his Agent Smith; even "Rocky IV" had sleek Russian super-bully Ivan Drago. In director Ron Howard's newest, "Cinderella Man," the story of Depression-era Everyman boxer James J. Braddock, that malignant menace blocking the redemptive light at the end of the tunnel is heavyweight titleholder Max Baer. For this nemesis, Howard found actor Craig Bierko.

It may not seem like it, but Craig Bierko is taking a well-deserved break. The 30-year-old actor--who played investigative reporter B.J. Cooper on "Madman of the People," which recently got the ax from NBC--has made a mad leap into a midseason replacement series. "Pride & Joy" starts this week, also on NBC. The new Touchstone Television sitcom takes a light look at starting a family in the '90s. "This is the most fun I've finally had since I've been out here," says Bierko, a Westchester, N.Y.

* Last week's Top 5 rentals: "The Matrix," "Forces of Nature," "My Favorite Martian," "Analyze This" and "The Out-of-Towners." * Last week's Top 5 sellers: "The Prince of Egypt," "The Matrix" (DVD), "My Favorite Martian," "Doug's 1st Movie" and "Pokemon: Fighting Tournament." What's New In stores this week: * "This Is My Father" (Columbia TriStar), Irish drama starring Aidan Quinn. (R) * "The Thirteenth Floor" (Columbia TriStar), thriller starring Craig Bierko.

Tennis-shoe-sole designer Richie (Craig Bierko) and his brain surgeon cousin Evan (Steven Weber) are sitting at adjacent slot machines in an Atlantic City casino, doing what losers at the blackjack table often do, punishing themselves by getting rid of their pocket change. Richie is down to one quarter and asks Evan for the other two he needs to maximize his bet, and Evan obliges. "Here, go crazy," he says, turning over the two coins.

Call it, if you want, "That Thing You Do: The Sequel." Except that, unlike that underrated Tom Hanks project from 1996 about one-hit wonders from the 1960s, "The Suburbans" gets its title from the name of an imaginary "fab four" from Long Island that streaked across the pop universe on the cusp of the Reagan administration and flamed out after one hit single. Now it's the cusp of the millennium and the Suburbans have become, if anything, even more suburban.

If looks were everything, "The Thirteenth Floor," a sleek time-travel mystery that offers a rich and accurate re-creation of 1937 L.A., would have it made. But for all the soaring visual splendor of its past, present and future, it's hobbled by a murky plot that proves to be not all that original once it starts unraveling.

"Hell House," the multimedia, mass-marketed, evangelical scare-fest that uses graphic, gory stagecraft to terrify teenagers into declaring themselves Christians, has spawned a spoof. "Hollywood Hell House," scheduled to run Saturday through Oct. 31 at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, is crafted from the Rev. Keenan Roberts' actual scripts, which promise grisly life and afterlife consequences for homosexuality, abortion, drug use and other purported transgressions.

The new CBS comedy "Sydney" needs a Valium. It premieres at 8:30 tonight on Channels 2 and 8, introducing a tightly wound private eye named Sydney Kells who is played as so gratingly frantic and neurotic by Valerie Bertinelli that instead of laughing, you're grinding your teeth. Enough already!

Oyez, oyez, oh no--yet another legal drama. It's about a moderate liberal newcomer to a divided Supreme Court. It's about intrigue and comely law clerks. And if you've been watching CBS' "First Monday," you should know quite a bit about it. Except the show in question is ABC's "The Court." That's not to say the two series are exactly the same, but you can't help but wonder if there isn't some sort of double-jeopardy law against this.

Isn't it amazing to see just how low some people will stoop if you pay them enough? This is no big revelation to those who watch Jerry Springer on a regular basis. If you don't, you may be surprised to spot Bill Pullman, Dr. Phil and Shaquille O'Neal among the many formerly respectable celebrities making like orangutans in service of the almighty paycheck.