This fall, Vanessa Williams joins NBC's Boomtown for 10 episodes as policewoman Katherine Pierce. And here's some "TV News" scoop from the current issue of TV Guide magazine: The ex-Miss America shares a same-sex smooch with Rebecca DeMornay, who will be recurring as lesbian jewel thief Sabrina. So does that mean Katherine's gay, straight or just a little bicurious, perhaps?

We're sworn to secrecy, so you'll have to watch and see! Surprisingly, Williams wasn't even aware of any sapphic seduction plot when she came aboard. "The show appealed to me," the 40-year-old actress says. "I signed on, not even knowing what I was going to do and what my character was. So I put myself right in the heat of things, and I trusted [executive producers Graham Yost and Jon Avnet] to do what they do best, which is make exciting television."

You'll note Ms. Williams no longer requires an "L" initial in her credits. She once had to use it because of that other Vanessa Williams (Melrose Place, Soul Food). Not anymore.

"I think it went to [Screen Actors Guild] arbitration," she explains. "And since we were both famous, and I had established myself for over 10 years as Vanessa Williams, and there was another actress named Vanessa Williams, they decided that I could be Vanessa Williams and she could be Vanessa Williams. So it's up to the viewer to decide which one is me and which one is her."

Turns out, the two Vanessas were causin' confusion long before they landed TV careers. Back in the '80s, both ladies applied to the same musical theater program at New York University, which led to some head scratching among the school's admissions officers. "So I knew there was another Vanessa Williams out there since I was 18 years old," she shrugs. "I still haven't met her, but we're both actresses from New York."

Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig is developing a new comedy series for HBO about four twentysomething friends — three guys and a girl (no pizza place) — dealing with sex and dating from a distinctly nerdy point of view. Think of it as his attempt to educate Hollywood about the complexities of the male species.

"Guys in their 20s in movies and on TV always wanna get laid, and that was not my experience," the self-proclaimed geek tells TV Guide Online. "We were looking for the great girlfriend, who could then make a wife. I wanted to portray that and get away from the ugly side of male mating."

Of the four central characters, "three work at a mall and a fourth guy secretly works in an adult book store on the outskirts of town," explains Feig. "What it enables them to do is meet in the food court all of the time, which is very Freaks and Geeksy in a way. I just love how people kind of talk when they're eating together.

"And on top of that," he adds, "they have a game night which sort of bonds them together. I find that culture to be really fun. Playing a game just sort of centered everybody and gave us something to do. And [winning] was a way to correct the things that happened during the day that didn't go right."

And when casting gets underway on Nice Guys, the Emmy nominee may dip into his late, great NBC dramedy's talent pool. "I think the geeks would be too young, but some of the freaks are of the right age," he says. Still, it may be a second-generation golden boy who lands the best role. "I'm a big Colin Hanks fan," he says of Tom's son and former Roswell geek. "I always look for the younger version of myself, and he's such a sweet and awkward kid."

TV Guide Online: What led to this one-woman show?
Pryor: I really wanted to write a book that was positive about my life, but I was turned down by every book publisher because they wanted something tabloidy. I don't know how to write like that.

TVGO: So they wanted Richard Pryor dish? Like Daddy Dearest?
Pryor: Exactly. It's never gonna happen. That's not who I am. I don't have an axe to grind; it takes too much energy to do that. I'd rather forgive and move on and work through it.

TVGO: You plainly discuss your dad's troubled past in Latkes. Is it hard to always be known as his kid?
Pryor: About a year and a half ago, before I got married [to family therapist Kevin Kindlin], I didn't want to be a Pryor anymore. I wanted to be Rain, for once. I just wanted to know what a normal life felt like. What's funny is, because of my husband, I get that normalcy. I can't run away from it — no matter where I go, if someone finds out who my dad is, they're gonna talk about it. What am I gonna do, tell them to be quiet and act like it doesn't exist? No, I might as well embrace it instead of throwing it away. The only way I could do that is by coming to peace with my childhood. I don't want to be jaded and bitter. I want to come from a place that's full of love and gratitude. If I didn't grow up in a crazy household with all the drama, I wouldn't be who I am.

TVGO: What's the biggest assumption people make about you?
Pryor: Just because I'm a Pryor doesn't mean I'm a standup comedian. I'm funny, but I'm not a standup by any means. I sing, I do so many things... I really do consider myself John Leguizamo meets Bette Midler!

TVGO: Do fans still recognize you from Head of the Class?
Pryor: (Laughs) I like to call it Giving [Expletive] to the Class! The show everyone thinks they know me from is The Cosby Show or A Different World. I guess if you've seen one black girl, you've seen them all.

TVGO: That's sad!
Pryor: Or else, people are like, "Hey, weren't you on Saved by the Bell?" (Laughs) I don't know why it's all about Saved by the Bell. Because if there wasn't Head of the Class in the late '80s, there would be no Saved by the Bell, you know?

TVGO: Do you really mean what you say in Latkes about telling yourself "I love you" in the mirror?
Pryor: Yes. I had no self-esteem earlier in my life. I am a codependent — I drank because, if you drank, I drank. I lost everything I owned to a relationship. I lost a house, a fancy car, a bank account, because I was like, "What can I buy in order for you to stay with me?" I really had to learn that I could love myself as I am, that I didn't have to be Halle Berry to be beautiful and feel good about my life.