A new character joins ABC’s “MacGyver” this...

A new character joins ABC’s “MacGyver” this week. In the episode airing Monday at 9 p.m., Elyssa Davalos appears as Nikki Carpenter, the sister of a murdered friend of MacGyver’s (Richard Dean Anderson). She helps him investigate that case and will continue to work with him in the weeks ahead.

Mary Steenburgen, who has starred in such films as “Melvin and Howard,” “Time After Time” and “Ragtime,” is making her first TV movie. She has the lead role in “The Hiding of Anne Frank,” a movie for CBS. She’ll play Miep Gies, who helped protect Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II.

“Cheers” fans have seen how the bar’s new boss, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley), has disrupted Sam’s (Ted Danson) life. Things really get serious, however, in the episode scheduled for broadcast on NBC Nov. 5. She cuts off the bar tab of the establishment’s best customer, Norm (George Wendt).

People: Richard Mulligan makes a guest appearance on Tuesday’s installment of “J. J. Starbuck” on NBC. . . . Erik Estrada, former star of “CHiPs,” will be seen as a detective in a three-part story on NBC’s “Hunter,” beginning Nov. 7. . . . Roscoe Lee Browne is the latest star to sign for a stint on CBS’ “Falcon Crest.” He’ll play “the ruthless leader of a powerful, international business group.”

Angela Lansbury will be the star, as usual, of the Nov. 1 episode of “Murder, She Wrote,” but not as Jessica Fletcher. She’ll play Jessica’s cousin, Emma, a former music hall star, who finds herself suspected of murder. Christopher Hewett of “Mr. Belvedere” co-stars.

Mac Davis will play a college football coach and Robert Culp will be seen as a wealthy alumnus who wants a winning team in “Hail Alma Mater,” a TV movie for ABC about college football recruiting. Also in the cast are George Kennedy, Eriq LaSalle and Brian Wimmer.

Susan Dey of “L.A. Law” and David Morse of “St. Elsewhere” are teamed as a married couple in “The Best Kept Secret.” It’s a one-hour drama for NBC that deals with the theme of hunger in America. Also starring are John Glover and Lukas Haas.