After seven months off the air, ABC's fantasy White House drama, "Commander in Chief," crawled back to the prime-time lineup Thursday.

	Molly Ringwald will guest-star on "Medium" next month. Click photo for larger image.

A mere 8.2 million watched the much-ballyhooed -- by the media anyway, if not ABC -- return.

That's the show's smallest audience ever and exactly half the crowd that caught its enormously successful unveiling last fall. In fairness, it did build on its "American Inventor" lead-in by about 1 million viewers. And, in fairness, it did cop nearly a million more viewers in its hour than newsmag "Primetime" has averaged there of late.

And, though it got stomped by CBS's "Without a Trace," which posted nearly 19 million viewers in the hour, "CiC" managed to beat a rerun of NBC's "ER" -- only these days, that's saying so little.

But there's no getting around the fact that 8.2 million is the series's smallest audience yet, and what with ABC suits getting ready to pound out next fall's schedule, things are not looking good for Geena Davis and company. (Lisa de Moraes, The Washington Post)

Wagner headed to 'Boston'

Robert Wagner, Dr. Evil's No. 2 and longtime TV sleuth Jonathan Hart, will make his way to the offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt before the season is out.

Wagner will guest-star in the two-hour season finale of ABC's "Boston Legal," the network says. He'll play a character named Ashley Goldman, the senior partner in the firm's Los Angeles office and essentially a West Coast version of Denny Crane (William Shatner). (Zap2it.com)

'Medium' looks pretty in pink

Molly Ringwald, the princess of mid-1980s teen movies, will make her first TV appearance in several years on a May sweeps episode of "Medium."

The "Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink" star will guest-star in the episode as a woman whom Allison (Patricia Arquette) believes is in trouble. It will be the first TV work for Ringwald since the 2002 movie "The Big Time," which aired on TNT. (Zap2it.com)

'Pepper' creator wins new deal

Franklin Park native Gretchen Berg and her writing partner, Aaron Harberts, have landed a seven-figure multiyear development/production deal with 20th Century Fox Television, according to Daily Variety.

Under the new deal, the pair will continue to oversee their latest creation, "Pepper Dennis," if it gets picked up by The CW (a long shot given its ratings). They'll also create new series for the studio which has been their home since they began developing pilots in 2003. (Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor)

Keep or cancel?

It's time again to give a rave or pan to prime-time TV series broadcast during the 2005-2006 TV season in the Post-Gazette's annual Keep or Cancel? poll, which now includes series on 10 cable networks.

To cast your ballot, visit the paper's Web site at www.post-gazette.com/tv. If you don't have a computer, you can vote using one at your local library or send TV Editor Rob Owen a letter -- NO PHONE CALLS, NO E-MAIL -- with your choices. Only one ballot will be cast per letter received.

We want to know which shows you like to watch, which shows you hate and a little bit of demographic information about who you are, just to figure out who is interested in which programs.

Obviously, this is not a scientific study (please don't vote more than once), and it's not entirely realistic, either. There's no way some shows -- NBC's "Inconceivable," Fox's "Kitchen Confidential" -- will return. Readers' Remote is a chance to make your preferences known. Votes will be tallied on the Web through April 23, and the results will be published in Rob Owen's Friday TV column in late April. Results also will be sent to the entertainment presidents of each of the broadcast networks. (R.O.)