What's in fall TV's bag of tricks?

The new fall TV shows are here. It's the moment you've all been waiting for. Well, most of you have been waiting for. Some of you? Sitting down to sample the new network offerings used to be a September ritual in most American homes. But the multiple-TV home, and cable television, may have put an end to that. According to research from USA Networks, the combined audience for the six broadcast networks during "premiere week" has been falling steadily and will dip below 50 percent in 2000 or 2001. In other words, chances are good that this Sept. 19-26, when NBC, CBS and ABC roll out most of their new shows, close to half of the viewing public will be watching cable. The ironic thing is that those cable watchers likely will be watching programs created by and for network TV: repeats of "Law & Order," "Northern Exposure," "Chicago Hope," "Roseanne," "The X-Files" and "NYPD Blue. " The reason is simple. Unlike cable - which builds its schedules on the cheap - networks spend money, lots of it, to create hits. They pay the best and brightest creative talent to create the hits of 2000 - not to mention the cable hits of 2005. Which is precisely why you should at least sample the fall offerings, starting about now. My take on the new shows starts today (see accompanying short reviews) and will continue in this section and daily FYI as they have their premieres. And this year the networks have assembled as talented a stable as any in the entertainment business. People such as: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who concocted "The American President" and "A Few Good Men" for Hollywood before writing his first TV show, "Sports Night," for ABC last season. Drawing once again on the White House, Sorkin has concocted the season's most buzzworthy new show, "The West Wing," for NBC. "The West Wing," in which Martin Sheen plays the president, has the same Sorkinesque devices as "Sports Night": walking scenes through labyrinthine hallways, heroically constructed speeches and crafty, even slightly absurd, episode codas. John Wells, creator and executive producer of the '90s most successful show, "ER," who is being asked to make lightning strike again. His new series, "Third Watch," filmed on the streets of New York City, depicts the firefighters, cops and paramedics who (as the promo says) bring the patients to the ER. The original "ER" made a group of less-than-lovable doctors into a memorable ensemble by throwing them into a crucible of nonstop rescue work. That same premise is replicated on "Third Watch," as are many of the same character types, but it was not entirely clear after the first episode whether viewers will warm to this ensemble the way they did to "ER's." Jennifer Love Hewitt and David Boreanaz, stars on other people's hit shows ("Party of Five" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," respectively), who are being given one-hour spin-offs of their own. Both are highly anticipated, yet neither has produced an episode for critics to preview. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, two more in the growing alumni of writer/producers on "The Simpsons," who were recruited to create the WB's first prime-time cartoon, the edgy, funny and occasionally crass "Mission Hill." Jay Mohr and Illeana Douglas, actors whose pasts and futures are in the movies but who jumped at the chance to star in "Action," the funniest new comedy of the season. "Action" is "The Larry Sanders Show" if it took place at a film studio - with all the curse words left in (bleeped, of course, for network purposes). Glenn Gordon Caron, who created "Moonlighting" in the 1980s and returns with a moody and unpredictable new drama, "Now and Again," for CBS. "Now and Again," which has the most riveting first scene of any of this year's premieres, stars up-and-comer Eric Close as a man whose brain is joined to a superbody by a top-secret government agency. Bill Rabkin and Lee Goldberg, professional show doctors who have come in to mend "SeaQuest DSV" and "Diagnosis Murder. " This summer they were brought in to perform surgery on "Martial Law," a Saturday-night action-adventure that in its first season was best known for its entertaining fight scenes and for star Sammo Hung's terrible English. Under Rabkin and Goldberg, half the cast has been replaced. The writer/producers also are punching up the show's dialogue, which at times last season could be embarrassingly bad. Goldberg also promised that Hung's co-star, Arsenio Hall, "isn't going to be such a wuss" this season. Perhaps the biggest name recruited to network television this fall is Joel Silver, the producer of such trigger-happy action hits as "Die Hard" and "Demolition Man. " Silver serves as executive producer of two series this fall: "Action" on Fox and "The Strip," a new action hour, for UPN. Putting it together Of course, the budget for one Silver film could bankroll several TV series. And there are easier ways to make a fortune. As I visited some of the Los Angeles sets where TV shows were filming in mid-August, 14- to 16-hour days, six to seven days a week, were commonplace. On a stage in Culver City, a single scene from "Action" took most of a day to shoot, over and over from different camera positions. At the other end of the spectrum was the industrious second unit of "Martial Law," which films that show's numerous outdoor and action scenes. They were moving methodically from setup to setup, shooting as many as 75 scenes in a day. And at a Santa Monica recording studio, a roomful of actors worked late into the night, supplying voices for scenes in "Mission Hill" that were still being drawn in Korea. For sheer productivity and variety, there is nothing else to match the TV industry in August as dozens of programs churn out their orders of 13 or more episodes. In August, no one knows which of the new shows will still be on the air in December. In the oft-heard phrase that every producer and network suit is trained to use, they're "just trying to make the best show possible." It's a little mind-boggling to consider that roughly three-fourths of these productions will close up shop sometime this season based on a handful of Nielsen ratings reports. But those sacrifices are made by the networks to keep their advertisers happy. And advertisers, after all, are the ones who allow this spendy cycle of show production to continue year after year. Just ask Chris Thompson, a veteran producer whose credits include "Laverne & Shirley" and "The Larry Sanders Show. " This season Thompson created and is executive producing "Action." "As a purely creative exercise, you wouldn't want to do anything but cable," Thompson said. "You're left virtually alone. The shows don't have to be 21 minutes and 45 seconds. The world is opened up to you, subject-wise and language-wise. "But," he adds, "the thing about the networks is bags - gigantic bags - of money." To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com >>>>> NEW ON THE TUBE The Star's TV Critic Aaron Barnhart rates the new shows The Barnhart scale, best to worst: Don't Miss, Has Potential, Needs Show Doctor, D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) >>>>>> HAS POTENTIAL "Get Real" - Sophisticated teens dance around their feuding parents in this lighter take on the short-lived TV drama "My So-Called Life" that had its premiere Wednesday. The kids address the camera throughout, a technique I don't care for. And it gets worse, as when Meghan Green (Anne Hathaway), who even looks like Claire Danes, tells us that "we're making 'My So-Called Life' look like '3rd Rock From the Sun.' " Excuse me, but I'll be the judge of that. Meghan has two younger brothers, an unfulfilled mom (Debrah Farentino) and overworked dad (Jon Tenney). Then there's Grandma, a sort of anti-Dr. Laura who at one point tells her daughter, "Whenever there's trouble in the marriage, sex is the answer." Solid writing, but this show may be haunted by its inability to "get real," with too many daydream sequences, too many asides and way too many references to other TV shows. (8 p.m. Wednesdays, Channel 4) "The Grown Ups" - How eager is Jaleel White to show us he's no longer Urkel? In this new sitcom, White often is seen sporting sleeveless tops, all the better to flex those well-developed biceps. This mostly conventional sitcom wins points for its biracial cast, but that and the casting of White may not be enough to cut through the clutter. Dept. of Eerie Similarity: "Oh Grow Up," on ABC, also features two straight guys more attached to each other than to the women in their lives. (7 p.m. Mondays, Channel 29) "WWF Smackdown" - Already a hit on pay-per-view, cable and syndication, the World Wrestling Federation ventures onto broadcast TV with "WWF Smackdown," the first pro wrestling series to air on a network in 45 years. It had its premiere Aug. 26 and promptly became UPN's highest-rated show. Not much has changed in the move from cable to network except for the "Smackdown" logo, a cool blue flag that tones down the bloody-red logo used on cable. But the players are the same, the hype is the same, and the audience, by all appearances, is the same. Maybe you don't know where UPN is on your dial, but your 10-year-old does. (7 p.m. Thursdays, Channel 29) >>>>> D.O.A. "The Parkers" - This charmless sitcom is a spin-off of the smart, sensitive Brandy vehicle "Moesha," with co-star Countess Vaughn and introducing Mo'nique as her mom. Wacky high jinks ensue as they enroll in the same college together. The subtlety of "Moesha," such as it was, is gone here as Vaughn and Mo'nique shout out the same old punchlines. As though that will get us to pay attention. (7:30 Mondays, Channel 29) Complete coverage of the fall TV season is available online at the TV Barn Web site www.tvbarn.com