TV REVIEW : AT 17, ‘CAN A GUY SAY NO’ TO RAGING HORMONES?

My, my--ABC’s “Afterschool Specials” have come a long way. Today’s show features a group of teen-age boys on the prowl to lose their virginity, like the goofballs in one of those moronic drive-in sex movies.

This being television--more specifically, children’s television--they don’t. On the contrary, the lesson of “Can a Guy Say No?” is that there is life beyond sex for teen-agers. It’s called friendship.

But how refreshing the attitude is in this hourlong film, which airs at 3 p.m. on Channels 7 and 10 and at 4 p.m. on Channels 3 and 42. Written by Judy Engles and directed by Tom Schlamme, the program says that sex is there and must be dealt with, but it’s not the most important thing in the world, contrary to those very movies that “Can a Guy Say No?” seems to be emulating at the outset.

The approach is frank but humorous. When a father tells his 17-year-old son that it would be OK to slow down his quest, that some people even wait until they’re married, the young man laughs. “I’ve got a body full of raging hormones to deal with,” he says slyly.

Steve Antin plays that young man, a friendly, hard-working, typically self-conscious high-school senior who sets his sights on his next-door neighbor (Heather Langencamp), a girl with a reputation for being easy. In his slow-footed way of getting to know her, however, he accidentally discovers there is a person behind that reputation, one who needs a friend, not another lover.

The plot is a bit contrived and ends too tidily, but it’s still nice to see a show where the teen-agers are allowed to get beyond the media stereotype of those raging hormones and treat each other respectfully, as so many of them strive to do in real life.

“Can a Guy Say No?” was produced by Fred Berner and Diana Kerew from a novel by Todd Strasser, “A Very Touchy Subject.”