Remote patrol

Some people may accuse Bill Moyers of acting as national killjoy with his new PBS report, "Surviving the Good Times" (8 tonight on Channel 19). But the pointed title is designed to make us think. We are less than a decade removed from the last major recession. Another one could be around the corner. And if workers who were forced into lower-paying service jobs are barely scraping by now, where will they go in the next downturn? "Surviving the Good Times" is actually Part 3 of a serial that Moyers began in 1992 and continued in 1995 about two families whose breadwinners lost their manufacturing jobs. The early part of the program reviews where the families (one white, one black) stood in 1991, then fast-forward to 1993. Newer footage completes the two sagas. The story of the Neumanns (the white family) will seem depressingly familiar to viewers of the PBS miniseries "The Farmer's Wife," with its themes of role reversal and male rage. The more resilient Stanleys offer hope, but that fabled "financial peace of mind" you hear about on TV commercials seems a long way off for both families. @ART CAPTION:Claude and Jackie Stanley, one of the couples profiled by Moyers tonight @ART:Photo (color) >>>