TV's promising fall launch; New shows will be arriving into November, and many are worth waiting for

The new fall shows begin arriving this week, and viewers will find they were well worth the wait. In some cases, the wait will extend into mid-November because of scheduling difficulties brought about by the baseball playoffs and the weeklong postponement of the fall season in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Viewers usually look forward to the fall premieres anyway, but this season perhaps more than most. For one thing, we could all use a respite from the events that TV so vividly brought into our homes this month. To be sure, the network newscasters will continue to bring us the grim details. That's their job. But Hollywood has a job to do, too, and it will bring a little pleasure into our lives to let them do it. This fall there will be more pleasure than most, thanks to a exceptionally promising crop of new programs. Viewers who most years find a handful of shows worth checking out will get at least two handfuls this time around. I loved my first looks at "24," "The Amazing Race," "Reba" and "The Tick." I also enjoyed "The Bernie Mac Show," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," "Alias," "Raising Dad," "Smallville," "Scrubs" and "One on One." (Look for my day-of-premiere reviews to continue on the cover of FYI.) While most fan favorites will return during premiere week, the new show rollout that commenced Sept. 3 with the UPN comedy "One on One" won't be over until Nov. 14 with the debut of "The Bernie Mac Show" on Fox. One of the season's most anticipated shows, Fox's terrific new action drama "24," may actually benefit from the long rollout. The show stars Kiefer Sutherland as a counter-terrorism agent who has 24 hours to stop a plot to kill a black presidential candidate. If "24" were to come out this week, the show's subject matter might touch a nerve in many viewers. But its premiere date is Nov. 6, by which time the public may be ready to cheer some fictional heroes trying to thwart a bunch of nogoodniks. Provided the drama isn't too true-to-life. Already CBS has had to delete a reference to Osama bin Laden in an upcoming episode of its counter-terrorist series, "The Agency." And NBC is delaying the season premiere of "Third Watch," its realistic-looking drama series about New York City cops, firefighters and paramedics, probably out of respect to the real-life rescuers killed or missing at the World Trade Center. The baseball playoffs also were moved back one week after Major League Baseball suspended operations in the days following the attacks. This means that Fox - the only network telecasting playoff games this fall - will have to put off nearly all its fall premieres until November. Not to worry: As veteran TV watchers know, our friends at Fox specialize in attention-grabbing filler, perfect for pulling in viewers on those rare non-baseball nights. Such as "Who Wants to Be a Princess?" which features 30 women competing for a date with a real-life prince. That airs at 7 tonight on Channel 4. (The show's title notwithstanding, that date doesn't come with a marriage proposal.) A week from tonight, get ready for "Glutton Bowl I: World's Greatest Eating Competition," a chowdown involving "professional eaters." Fox brings its own inimitable style to the reality genre, of course, but now every network has a reality show or two on its schedule. Even so, the networks still worry about their reality shows getting lost in the fall clutter. Thus NBC's "Lost" and CBS' "The Amazing Race" were given head starts - both had their premieres Sept. 5. Fox's "Love Cruise" was supposed to set sail early, on Sept. 11, but the real world intruded that day so its premiere was moved to Tuesday. And "Survivor: Africa," which is technically a returning show, won't begin on CBS until Oct. 11. Speaking of returning shows with delayed rollouts, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" returns Oct. 2 (and on a new network, UPN), "Gilmore Girls" Oct. 9 and "Ally McBeal" Oct. 29. On the extreme end, Fox's animated comedy "Futurama" won't return from its summer hiatus until Dec. 9. By then it'll be only three weeks until the new midseason shows arrive, followed by the late-midseason premieres in March and the summer slew of reality shows. More and more September is becoming just another month on the network calendars. "I think it will eventually become a 52-week season," says Mitch Metcalf, NBC's senior vice president of program planning and scheduling. "The one thing that is constant will be a desire for quality to win out. Hopefully audiences can be versatile enough to find the good shows and reward the networks that put them on." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Reba Mcentire "REBA", Oct. 5 (WB) @ART CAPTION:KIEFER SUTHERLAND "24", Nov. 6 (Fox) @ART CAPTION:BERNIE MAC "THE BERNIE MAC SHOW ", Nov. 14 (Fox) @ART CAPTION:JEFF PROBST "SURVIVOR", Oct. 11 (CBS) @ART CAPTION:JENNIFER GARNER "ALIAS", Sept. 30 (ABC) @ART CREDIT:Fox @ART CAPTION:Anthony (left), Melissa and Adrian three of the pretty people looking for fun, romance and loot on Fox's "Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage," making its delayed debut at 8 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 4. @ART:Photo s (5, color and b/w)