CARL WEATHERS RETURNS AS TOUGH, SINCERE ‘DANE’

Just in case you don’t remember who Carl Weathers is, the title sequence for his new series features a “Rocky”-like montage of him jogging, doing push-ups, pumping iron and then lathering up in the shower.

Oh, yeah: It’s the guy who played Apollo Creed, Rocky’s adversary-turned-friend. Killed off in “Rocky IV,” Weathers is resurrected tonight in “Fortune Dane” (9 p.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42)--not as Apollo but as a modern-day Adonis: big, brawny and beautiful. And more: a dedicated, tough-but-fair policeman, a loving son, a doting uncle, a stylish dresser, a former college and professional football star.

“Hell, you could run for governor one day,” another cop tells him.

Is he kidding? This guy has too much integrity to run for the job. More likely he’s going to wait for Zeus, or Sylvester Stallone, to ordain him.

Actually, Dane’s life sort of collapses around him in the premiere episode. A machine-gun massacre of nine people at a nightclub is found to be tied to a scandal at the bank his beloved father runs, and he resigns from the police force to pursue the case on his own next week.

“Fortune Dane” is not as corny as this may sound. Weathers is a forceful presence and succeeds, through what might be termed aggressive earnestness, in making Dane seem more sincere than saintly.

The script by series creator Ronald M. Cohen, directed by Nicholas Sgarro, accommodates him in this quest to be taken seriously by stressing character development over action, although it’s done without any particular distinction or flair.

After collaring tonight’s killer in another state next week, by the way, Dane will become a special aide to a woman mayor, specializing in ferreting out city corruption.

It will be interesting to see how the mayor is portrayed, because the lone woman in tonight’s show, an ambitious assistant district attorney (Alberta Watson) assigned to the murder case, is an offensive caricature used for titillating the audience.

On her first meeting with Dane, who has been taken off the investigation, she turns down his invitation to dinner but tells him, quite seriously, “If you help me solve this case, I’m yours. For a night, a weekend--whatever suits you, short of matrimony.” When he stops by her home later to discuss business, she’s in her bedroom wearing a skimpy piece of silk lingerie that she doesn’t bother to cover with her robe.

This from executive producer Barney Rosenzweig, the man at the helm of “Cagney & Lacey”? Chris and Mary Beth would never approve.

Here are other weekend programs.

TODAY: “Teen Talk” looks at unemployment among young people, 8 a.m. (9). . . .

Producer David L. Wolper explains what’s in the works for the celebration of Liberty Weekend in July on “Newsmakers,” 3 p.m. (2). . . .

Judy Garland makes her annual trek over the rainbow to see “The Wizard of Oz,” 8 p.m. (2) (8). . . .

The 1986 International British Recording Industry Awards, the British version of the Grammies for best records, will be seen at 8 p.m. (6) and 9 p.m. (11). . . .

Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall host “Saturday Night Live,” with music by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, 11:30 p.m. (4) (36) (39).

SUNDAY: Assemblyman Bob Naylor (R-San Mateo), who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. senator, visits “Channel 4 News Conference,” 8:30 a.m. (4). . . .

A debate between American and Japanese businessmen and government officials will air under the title “The Trade Crisis: United States and Japan,” 9 a.m. (28). . . .

Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky and his wife, Avital, will talk about his release to the West on “Meet the Press,” 9:30 a.m. (4) (36) (39). . . .

“This Week With David Brinkley” looks at the Tylenol scare with James Burke, chairman of Johnson & Johnson, and Dr. Frank Young, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, 11:30 a.m. (7) (3) (10) (42). . . .

President Ferdinand Marcos of the Phillipines and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) will discuss the future of that country on “Face the Nation,” and 5 p.m. (2). . . .

“60 Minutes” reports on disharmony among the Daughters of the American Revolution, looks at how a retarded couple is coping outside an institution and profiles Panamanian singer Ruben Blades, 7 p.m. (2) (8). . . .

“Nature” begins a three-part report on life in the Arctic in “Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean,” 7 p.m. (50), 8 p.m. (28) (15). . . .

“The Disney Sunday Movie” consists of two hourlong shows that are pilots for possible series: “The Last Electric Knight,” about a karate kid who “adopts” a bachelor police officer for a father, and “2 1/2 Dads,” in which two fathers with five children between them share a house with a childless man, at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively, (7) (3) (10) (42). . . .

Eddie Bracken and Evelyn Keyes portray ghosts in an “Amazing Stories” episode that was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who wrote the movie “Splash,” and directed by Joe Dante, who directed the film “Gremlins,” 8 p.m. (4) (36) (39). . . .

Both CBS and NBC feature new TV movies at 9 p.m. On CBS, (2) (8), it’s “Thompson’s Last Run,” a suspense film starring Robert Mitchum as an escaped convict and Wilford Brimley as the lawman trying to track him down. NBC, (4) (36) (39), offers “The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James,” with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson as the legendary outlaws. . . .

ABC counters with the network TV premiere of a theatrical film, “Mr. Mom,” the 1983 comedy with Michael Keaton and Teri Garr, 9 p.m. (7) (3) (10) (42).