TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Hot Properties" debut, 8:30 p.m., ABC. Big and broad and deeply flawed, this show reminds us why traditional comedies have had their troubles lately. It's too eager to get the quick and easy laugh without establishing strong characters. Still, "Hot Properties" does have scattered moments of fun. It fits into the one night when broad comedies — ABC's "Hope & Faith," WB's "Twins" and "Reba" — can work. The setting is a Manhattan real-estate office with one woman (played by Gail O'Grady) who is uninteresting and three who are broad stereotypes. Chloe (Nicole Sullivan) is luckless with men despite her great appreciation of them. Lola (Sofia Vergara) is a Latin beauty who was married to a guy for 10 years without realizing he was gay. Emerson (Christina Moore) is rich and virginal and easily duped. These are cliche characters, but Sullivan has a great comic touch and Vergara — a Colombian native who is big in Spanish-language TV — is eminently likable.

OF NOTE

"Three Wishes," 7 p.m., NBC. In a late change, NBC is airing this two-hour edition of the well-made, feel-good reality show. In Brookings, S.D., people wish for a chance to give a Hurricane Katrina victim a new home and a new life. A young singer wishes for a break and a terminally ill man wishes for a reunion for his family and friends.

"The Bernie Mac Show," 7 p.m., Fox. Bernie's niece learns celebrities get free clothes and things. This is dangerous information.

"Alchemy," 8 p.m., ABC Family. Last year, this cable channel starred Tom Cavanagh in a surprising delight, "Snow." Now it tries again. This time he plays a professor who tries to prove he can teach a computer to say all the right things that will make a woman (Sarah Chalke) fall in love.

"Hope & Faith," 8 p.m., ABC. When a rumor grows that Faith (Kelly Ripa) is dead, she suddenly is given grand eulogies. That's so pleasant that it's kind of hard for her to admit she's alive.

"Numb3rs," 9 p.m., CBS. A code book points toward an assassination scheme.

"Inconceivable," 9 p.m., NBC. Last week ended with a shock when a bitter patient ran over and killed Lydia (Alfre Woodard) with his car. Now the clinic staff tries to adjust while Malcolm and Nora keep sniping.