CBS IS LOOKING TO MOORE FOR A ‘MARY’ CHRISTMAS

Television or deja vision ?

We’ve already seen revivals of “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Perry Mason” this season (the latter topping the national Nielsen ratings), and remakes of “Love American Style” and “The Andy Griffith Show” are on the way. Old times must seem like good times.

And now Mary Tyler Moore is back. Remember? “ Ohhhhh , Mr. Grant.”

Instead of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” though, the 1985 vehicle is a new (but not that new) half-hour comedy called “Mary” (premiering at 8 tonight on Channels 2 and 8 followed by the new comedy “Foley Square”). Meanwhile, Valerie Harper, who was Mary Richards’ schleppy neighbor Rhoda when the old show began, is taping her own comedy, “Valerie,” for a 1986 debut on NBC.

How important is “Mary” to CBS? Once-dominant CBS has now slipped behind NBC in the ratings, and the network’s wise men are said to view “Mary” as the Bethlehem Star that will lead the network back to the top. Not that they’re expecting big ratings. Something along the line of NBC’s “Cosby Show” would suffice.

“All we have to do is save the CBS network?” asked “Mary” co-executive producer Ken Levine. “They ought to pay me more money if that’s the case.”

On the other hand, “Mary” may have the goods to at least save CBS’ disastrous Wednesday night. The premiere is funny, the second episode less funny but still sort of funny. Mary Tyler Moore, heading another generally swell ensemble cast, is still the queen of sitcomdom: great timing, great reactions, great everything. And the writing often sparkles.

This time Mary is Mary Brenner, an unemployed fashion writer who reluctantly takes a job as the “Helpline” columnist on a crummy Chicago newspaper specializing in screaming headlines.

Comparisons with the old show are inevitable.

Similar elements are in place. The environment is a newspaper instead of a TV station, but still media. The new Lou Grant is tough managing editor Frank DeMarco (James Farentino). The new Ted Baxter is vain and pompous theater critic Ed LaSalle (John Astin). And the new Rhoda is Jo Tucker (Katey Sagal), a cynical, wisecracking columnist who sits with her feet on her desk, a hazy image behind her own swirling cigarette smoke. If a broader touch is required, the paper has an extremely nearsighted copy editor named Tully (David Byrd).

And when the comedy comes home to roost, Mary can play off her goofy neighbor, Susan Wilcox (Carlene Watkins), and Susan’s shady fiance, Lester Mintz (James Tolkan).

Seem almost like old times? Sure. Ironically, that may be trouble for Levine, 35, and co-executive producer David Isaacs, 36, who have been writing partners for 10 years, worked on “MASH,” co-produced the first season of “Cheers” and wrote the theatrical feature “Volunteers.”

They also wrote the first two episodes of “Mary,” which are directed by Danny DeVito.

NBC and ABC notwithstanding, Mary’s stiffest competition may come from herself: those still widely syndicated, beloved, literate, wonderfully acted and supremely funny episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” There has been no better TV comedy than “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and viewers will be weighing the new Mary against the old Mary.

“Ken and I did a lot of soul-searching before taking this show,” Isaacs said. “There was the shadow of the old show, and we knew there would be overpowering expectations. But then we met Mary and we discussed show possibilities and we decided, ‘What the hell? It’s a challenge.’ How often do you get a chance to have your own show and work with someone like Mary?”

“The trap we wanted to avoid was making Mary Brenner like Mary Richards,” Levine said. “It took us a couple of months to figure out the kind of comedy to do.”

Mary Tyler Moore has taken dramatic roles (the icy mother in “Ordinary People,” for example) that widely departed from her all-American image. But TV comedy is a different arena with different rules.

“We felt there were certain expectations America had for Mary,” Levine said. Yet we wanted to get away from the other show.”

How far away? “We wanted a newspaper setting for a number of reasons,” Levine said. “It just seemed that to put Mary in an ad agency or a ballet studio or a dinner theater seemed trivial. The advantage of the paper is that it’s a colorful setting and it exposes her to people she never was exposed to before. And through the ‘Helpline’ column, we can put her into contact with anyone we want to.”

The characters surrounding Mary Brenner, meanwhile, are somewhat different from the old gang at WJM-TV in Minneapolis.

Although Astin’s smug Ed LaSalle is a gimmick that wears thin after one episode, Sagal is simply terrific, Watkins is promising and Farentino--a neat bit of off-casting--is surprisingly strong as DeMarco (Dabney Coleman also was considered, but refused to read for the role).

“We had a tough time finding the guy,” Isaacs said.

“To find a leading man who could stand up to Mary and also do comedy is hard,” Levine said.

“We were skeptical of Farentino, but he’s good,” Isaacs said.

Although a tough boss figure, the cocky, dashing DeMarco is hardly a squat, fatherly Lou Grant a la Ed Asner. He has two goals: getting the paper to bed and getting Mary into bed.

Will he succeed? “Yeah, maybe, I guess,” Isaacs said. “We want to drag it out as long as possible.”

Although she is a single career woman (divorced) and certainly conventional, Mary Brenner is different from Mary Richards--more a creature of the ‘80s.

Flash back to 1970 when Mary Richards meets surly Lou Grant on her first day on the job at WJM-TV. He tells her she has spunk. She beams. Then he tells her he hates spunk. She folds.

Mary Brenner, on the other hand, gives it right back to DeMarco. When he tells her he hired her only because he wants to take her to bed, she is outraged. “So I guess you’re not coming in tomorrow?” he asks. “You’re damned right I’m coming in!” she snaps back. “Nine o’clock! I’ll show you a thing or two, mister!”

Ohhhhh , Mary.

The premiere of “Foley Square” is a classic case of a potential star--Margaret Colin--in search of a script. Colin has a nice feel for comedy, but unfortunately there isn’t much here for her to feel.

She is huggably good as Alex Harrington, an assistant district attorney who works in your basic sitcom office of strange-acting people.

Yet the lame opening script by executive producers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein asks us to believe in a swell-looking 30-year-old attorney who is babied by her boss and colleagues and is so desperate to meet a man that she advertises for one in the personals.

Maybe she should try “The Dating Game.”