“HOMETOWN” and “OCEANQUEST”--The summer is slipping away....

“HOMETOWN” and “OCEANQUEST”--The summer is slipping away. And slowly, ever so slowly, reruns are being supplanted by first-run programs.

One of these is “Hometown” (10 p.m. Thursday on Channels 2 and 8), first of the new fall series and CBS’ version of “The Big Chill.” Jane Kaczmarek, Franc Luz, Andrew Rubin, Margaret Whitton, John Bedford-Lloyd, Christine Estabrook and Daniel Stern play 1960s friends who come together 20 years later as part of the establishment.

On Sept. 24, this hourlong comedy/drama series switches to 8 p.m. Tuesdays.

NBC’s “oceanQuest” (8 p.m. Sunday on Channels 4, 36 and 39) is a five-part series that the network calls a “daring real-life sea adventure from Antarctica to the Caribbean, seen through the eyes of neophyte diver Shawn Weatherby as she is led by renowned underwater cinematographer Al Giddings.”

The reason for Giddings’ presence is obvious. And ditto for Toto, a 55-pound robot diver that inspects, recovers and interacts with oceanic life and transmits color images and information to the surface.

But what of Weatherly, the 1980 Miss Universe who said her lifelong fears have been snakes, the dark and the ocean, and that getting into this project was like “slitting my own wrists”?

She is such a looker that you suspect that she would have been hired even if the producers had had to outfit her with water wings.

Weatherly was the only female member of the crew. Although she said the yearlong experience changed her view about looks being everything, she comes across a bit like a resentful, stormy Weatherly in an NBC press release on “oceanQuest.”

She complained that the male crew wanted her to be macho and told her to quit crying when she emerged from the water in tears or when her face was frostbitten. But she did manage to work in some bubble baths during the 300,000-mile expedition.

“I could do that privately,” she said, “but if anyone saw me pick up a fashion magazine or pull out my makeup, they’d make cracks or die laughing. They intimidated me so much I replaced my floral makeup bag with a big black rubber case that said ‘Gear’ on the outside.”

The beasts!