Not just any body, however. This body -- of a 26-year-old stud (Eric Close) who looks nothing like the old bag of blubber -- was manufactured by a secret government agency that wants to create a team of supermen to perform odious and hazardous tasks that normal Americans would refuse.

The catch: For security reasons, the former insurance man can have no contact with his beloved wife (Margaret Colin) and daughter (Heather Matarazzo) or best friend (Gerrit Graham).

That's the premise for Now and Again, the new series from Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron. It's an absurd premise cobbling together a conglomeration of action, romance and humor that shouldn't work but somehow does.

Now and Again Time, station: Premieres at 9 tonight on WBNS-TV (Channel 10). Premise: An insurance agent is killed by a subway train and has his brain transplanted into a hunky new body. The catch: He can't contact his wife and daughter. A Six Million Dollar Man for the '90s. Cast and crew: Eric Close, Margaret Colin star. Executive producer is Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting). Potential audience: A wide- ranging audience, thanks to the combination of drama, comedy, romance and action. Competition: Harsh Realm, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Dateline NBC, The Steve Harvey Show. Prediction: Well-made show, fairly weak competition translate into a Friday hit for CBS.

Yes, Now and Again has elements that could make this nothing more than a laughable Six Million Dollar Man for the '90s; but something else is going on. This show has surprising heart.

The first episode veers from very dark to very light to a poignant shade in between. Dark: A terrorist kills innocent people in a subway. Light: Michael inspects his new body with glee. Poignant: Michael's wife pleads with the big, monolithic company Michael worked for when it tries to cheat her out of the insurance money from his death.

Caron claims that rather than being inspired by The Six Million Dollar Man, his true inspiration was Damn Yankees. In that musical comedy, a middle-aged fan makes a deal with the Devil to become a young star for his favorite baseball team. However, no sooner does he become everything he wants to be than he realizes that the thing he wants most is to be back with his wife.

That same emotional underpinning is what gives Now and Again its impact.

While Michael's pining for his wife and daughter is hardly on the level of another couple separated by fate -- Odysseus and Penelope -- his yearning is apparent.

Michael will try to bend the rules as much as he can to be with his wife and daughter, but to do so he will play a cat-and-mouse game with the mysterious man in charge of the government experiment, Dr. Theodore Morris (Dennis Haysbert).

Quirky, fun, but strangely endearing, Now and Again looks like a winner.

Picture comes from Meg's Page.