Buck is back, but without the racy comic and probably the huge controversy that led to divergent opinions between the host of "Joe Buck Live'' and his boss when assessing the show's debut.

Buck returns to HBO at 9 p.m. Tuesday with a revamped format for the second edition of his quarterly show after a raucous debut in June in which comedian Artie Lange's profane appearance grabbed the headlines — although his most bawdy antics came on an Internet segment that followed the telecast. Gone are comedians, actors and skits that HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg said "didn't work.'' Instead it will take a much more sports-oriented approach.

Tuesday's "Joe Buck Live'' is scheduled to include a discussion with standout former quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw, Dan Marino, John Elway and Joe Namath, a segment with two flamboyant sports-team owners from Dallas — Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban — as well as a conversation with outspoken former big-league pitcher Curt Schilling.

"That's a pretty darn good guest list,'' Buck said. "It's got a lot of potential.''

But it's far different from the opener.

"We want to get back to some bread-and-butter basics and let Joe shine where he's comfortable,'' Greenburg said. "The comedic elements didn't necessarily work the way we wanted them to, and we feel this will put him in a real comfortable position.''

Buck, who said he was "100 percent comfortable out there'' the last time, said the retooling was a mutual decision.

"We both came to the realization that in this format, under the heading of HBO Sports, I'm better off doing a show based that way and let my personality take it wherever it goes,'' he said. "The stabs at comedy will be toned down, and the result will be, at least in the format, a more straightforward show.''

DIFFERING VIEWS

The first edition had a theme — what it's like to be a celebrity in today's privacy-invading world. It included a discussion with Brett Favre about the possibility of him returning to the NFL, a topic he was mum about publicly before and after the interview. Comedy took hold later.

"The first 28 minutes with Brett Favre was real important television. We had a newsmaking story unfolding before our eyes, and that's what we look for at HBO,'' Greenburg said. "But we could have probably done a better job playing off our theme. We wavered off that. Certainly Brett fit that theme, but we had a lack of focus in certain points in the show. We tried to go into the dangerous territory of comedy, and some of that didn't work — and I'm not just talking about the Artie Lange segment. ... We're not going to go down that same road and make the same mistakes twice.''

He added, "It's like an athlete who plays in a game that they're not really happy with. They look forward to the next one.''

But Buck has a much different opinion of the opener.

"I could not be more proud of our first show, from the moment I walked out on that stage till the moment I walked off,'' he said. "That was a great night that we did live — which very few ever do in television. Live is live, and I would not take back a minute of it. I can't wait for Tuesday."

Greenburg said he gave the first show a "B" grade.

"There was plenty to improve on, but we're used to some high grades around here in terms of quality, so we just want to hit on all cylinders and make this the quality television HBO Sports is used to giving people,'' he said.

The debut episode far outpaced other HBO Sports staples in viewership.

"The name of the game is getting viewers and buzz for the first show,'' Buck said. "And I think we accomplished that going in and coming out.''

Greenburg, though, said HBO Sports doesn't seek that kind of publicity.

"Artie's behind us,'' he said. "We need to look ahead. I know it created a lot of buzz, but that's not what we were looking for.''

Let's hope Buck will at least touch on the Lange appearance. Failure to do so would look almost as if HBO was ignoring something that probably has drawn the most attention to the network since the final episode of "The Sopranos.''

Meanwhile, the retooling doesn't mean Buck will turn into Ted Koppel on "Nightline.''

"I'm going to do whatever strikes me in the moment, and that's why I love it being live,'' he said. "And that's why I'm really proud of the first show. ... I wouldn't take any of the Artie Lange stuff back. I was probably the least upset of anybody involved. It didn't bother me one bit. I honestly still believe he gave us exactly what he thought we wanted, and I can't fault him for that. It's HBO at night.''

1380 SHOW CONTINUES

There will be a "Morning After'' — after all.

KSLG (1380 AM) general manager John Helmkamp has a handshake agreement with the cast of "The Morning After,'' the station's highest-rated show, to stay on the air through the end of the month while contract talks continue. Deals with hosts Tim McKernan and Jim Hayes expired Thursday. Doug Vaughn already was working without a contract.

"It's a matter of dotting the i's, crossing the t's,'' Helmkamp said.

The show airs 7-10 a.m.