Midseason has arrived on the TV calendar, and surprise surprise, all those relationship dramas with teens and 20-somethings that were the rage last fall now are as extinct as post-Clearasil pimples. But then again, is anything setting a fire under audiences this season? Sitcoms? Newsmagazines? "Freaks and Geeks"? Game shows? No, not even game shows. By the time you read this, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" will have defended its crown six nights in a row in the Nielsens. But so far none of the "Millionaire" wannabes has been able to duplicate its ratings magic. So it's not surprising that the networks have begun to tinker with the old designs. This midseason brings a couple of off-kilter comedies, a hospital drama with a nearly all-black cast and a tongue-in-cheek thriller. Here are the six midseason shows debuting in January and early February: DON'T MISS "Malcolm in the Middle" - This sitcom about a tightly knit and tightly wound family made its debut last Sunday to impressive ratings. Even though I wasn't as bowled over as some critics, I had to concede after previewing the next two episodes that "Malcolm," like its brainy lead character, is more than occasionally brilliant. Imagine "Home Alone" if the rest of the family didn't leave town and you're pretty close to the sensibility of "Malcolm," the story about a 13-year-old who's a whiz at math (a common thread with "Brutally Normal"), his three mostly normal brothers and his somewhat zoned-out parents. Frankie Muniz, who plays Malcolm, is likable, and he's good at addressing the camera (a gimmick we're seeing more of these days on TV). Muniz also has mastered the facial cringe that is his standard response when he's feeling embarrassed or humiliated which, given his age and nerdy disposition, is all the time. But the show is really carried by Jane Kaczmarek's daffy performance as the mom and the Phil Hartmanesque dad played by Bryan Cranston. Give the writers a lot of credit, too, for all the slapstick, sight gags and expertly chosen lines thrown into each episode. (7:30 p.m. Sundays, Channel 4) HAS POTENTIAL "Brutally Normal" - This half-hour comedy (which debuts with an hourlong episode) is even less conventional than "Malcolm in the Middle." Like "Malcolm," it has no laugh track, but "Brutally Normal" feels more like a teen drama, which figures since it's airing on the WB network. It also owes a lot to the success of another WB show, "Dawson's Creek," which is also about the sexual and artistic explorations of four high school students. (Indeed, one of the story lines of the first episode, in which a high school student seduces his teacher - albeit not literally - comes straight out of "Creek.") There are fantasy scenes throughout "Brutally Normal," though I was struck by how much effort went into them for so little payoff. When Pooh (Mike Damus) smooth-talks an older woman at an art gallery, he has a vision and we cut to a 5-second re-creation of the famous shot of Mrs. Robinson's bared foot in "The Graduate." It's a spot-on copy, except that (a) Mrs. Robinson seduced Benjamin Braddock, not the other way around, and (b) these aren't the promiscuous, carefree '60s. (The show itself acknowledges this when it brings up the topic of HIV.) The four leads are all winners. They make "Brutally Normal" more than tolerable, although you get the feeling Damus was chosen mainly for his resemblance to "Friends" star David Schwimmer. (8 p.m. Mondays starting Jan. 24, Channel 62) "City of Angels" - Steven Bochco, the producer behind such hits as "NYPD Blue" and "Hill Street Blues," is backing this drama about a chronically understaffed and underfinanced hospital in urban Los Angeles. I was looking forward to this series, which stars Blair Underwood (veteran of two previous Bochco dramas, "L.A. Law" and "High Incident") and Vivica A. Fox as two of the hospital's dedicated professionals. But the opening scenes of "City of Angels" are so poorly written and in such stunningly poor taste that I was tempted to declare this one D.O.A. after just 10 minutes. And I'm afraid many viewers will do the same, which is unfortunate for "City of Angels" because eventually the show does find its way. (I was especially taken aback by a scene in the morgue that involves a doctor played by Garrett Morris, a dead woman lying under a sheet and a Polaroid. CBS can expect some phone calls on this; the pilot is airing in a time slot when "Touched by an Angel" is usually seen.) A running story line features Turner (Underwood) and two residents assigned to him - one white, one black - each of whom accuses him of favoring the other on account of his race. Fox is very good playing the ambitious administrator, Michael Warren is suitably snaky as the hospital's CEO, and Robert Morse, who plays the chairman of the board (and Warren's political boss), is as pure a Machiavellian as American TV will allow. (7 p.m. Sunday (premiere); 7 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Jan. 19, Channel 5) "The Others" - Freshman year at college is a time when kids learn a lot about life, and Marian (Julianne Nicholson) is learning that she is a magnet for dead people's spirits. She just moved into a dorm room where the previous occupant had died of a drug overdose. Now the former occupant is coming to her in apparitions. If this sounds like a handful of other paranormal thrillers in recent years - including "Profiler" - you're right. But "The Others" doesn't take itself so seriously, and it favors the happy ending, which makes it a great match with "The Pretender," NBC's other "Thrillogy" entry on Saturday nights. Marian is tracked down at the library by a professor who thinks she might be interested in joining some other mystics for tea. This motley crew calls itself "the Others." This bunch of screwballs and misfits, ages 18 to 82, has obviously been assembled for the purposes of dramatic tension. One day the gang is summoned by a widow who's had nothing but trouble since putting her house up for sale. A flower vase bursts into flame when they're there. One of the group says, "I'm getting a tremendous wave of anger, frustration and pain." "That would be me," responds a voice - and we see it's the real estate agent with a prospective couple in tow. Among the producers of "The Others" are Glen Morgan and James Wong, who are known for writing some of the funnier episodes of "The X-Files" and "Millennium." (I use the word "funnier" loosely.) (9 p.m. Saturdays, beginning Feb. 5, Channel 41) D.O.A. On the heels of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" come these two entries that prove two things: (1) Hosting a game show isn't as easy as Regis Philbin makes it look; (2) A lousy idea remains lousy no matter how much money you throw at it. "Twenty One" - Why NBC chose to revive "Twenty One" - the best-known of the rigged game shows of the '50s and the basis of Robert Redford's 1994 film "Quiz Show" - is anyone's guess. Perhaps the network thought that changing a few rules and speeding up the tempo would improve "21." (The most famous "21" contestant of old, Charles Van Doren, stayed on the show for weeks, something that would be near impossible here.) But the salvage project is undermined by Maury Povich's graceless performance as host. Somebody thought it would be exciting to have him hand the departing contestants their winnings in cash, like Ben Stein does on his game show. But Povich does it with all the cheesy elan of a daytime talk show host (which he is) introducing a makeover. (7 p.m. Sundays, Channel 41) "Winning Lines" - As for "Winning Lines," a hopelessly convoluted game show with host Dick Clark, know this: The first two episodes took more than eight hours to tape, proof that even the producers had trouble figuring out how you play the darned thing. (7 p.m. Saturdays, Channel 5) To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Frankie Muniz stars in "Malcolm in the Middle." @ART CREDIT:FOX @ART CAPTION:T.E. Russell (left), Blair Underwood and Hill Harper in Steven Bochco's "City of Angels," a new urban medical drama series that examines the professional lives of those who pass through the doors of Angels of Mercy, a struggling Los Angeles County inner-city hospital. @ART CREDIT:CBS @ART:Photos (2, color and b/w) >>> CORRECTION-DATE: 01 15, 2000 CORRECTION: New shows In some editions, a story in today's FYI section about new television shows lists an incorrect airtime for "Malcolm in the Middle" Sunday; it will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 4. Also, "The Others" will not pre-empt "Profiler," as is reported in the story. The FYI section is printed in advance.