NEW FALL SHOWS : NETWORKS PLAY NAME-CHANGE GAME

Every year during summer reruns, when network executives have little to do, they look ahead to the fabulous fall season just over the horizon.

And every year at this time, network executives play something called the name game. This year, the name game is taking on epidemic proportions.

The object of the name game is to coin the right title for an upcoming fall series or special. Never mind the fact that the name already has been coined, promoted and published.

Take, for example, “The Last Electric Knight,” an ABC series starring Gil Gerard, Ernie Reyes Jr. and Nancy Stafford. In this series, slated to air Fridays at 9 p.m., Gerard plays a bachelor police officer who unexpectedly becomes the guardian of little Ernie, an extraordinary 10-year-old boy who mows down bullies with karate chops and kicks.

The series was inspired by “The Last Electric Knight,” a one-hour television movie that aired last season on the “Disney Sunday Movie.” But the name game came into play. Fidgeting executives decided the name didn’t fit, so they thought and thought and came up with this beauty: “Sidekicks.” Get it?

Keep in mind that the three networks invited no less than 138 TV critics from around the globe to Los Angeles in June to unveil new programs like “The Last Electric Knight” and gave the critics volumes of press releases and star biographies listing names of the shows.

Another example of the name game: CBS was all excited about “Taking the Town,” starring Pam Dawber of “Mork and Mindy” fame. Dawber plays Chris Russell, a bright, independent, free-lance photographer living and working in San Francisco whose life is complicated by the arrival of her irrepressible, high-spirited teen-age sister, Patty.

Even in June there was talk of changing the name. Dawber expressed the hope that it would not be called “The Pam Dawber Show.” She got her wish. Now the name has been changed to “My Sister, Sam.” But there was a slight problem. Nobody was named Sam. So now Dawber will be Sam, not Chris.

Over at ABC, the name-changers were working overtime on “Our Kind of Town,” starring Shelley Hack and Tom Mason. “Attractive Jackie Shea and her handsome husband Mike Allen are one of Chicago’s most popular and influential couples,” goes the press release. She writes a newspaper column called “Our Kind of Town,” and he owns three trendy restaurants. They juggle their careers with married life.

But ABC didn’t believe the title told enough about the show, so the name wizards changed it to “Jack and Mike.” Do you know any married couples named Jack and Mike?

Speaking of wizards, there is a show at CBS called “The Wizard of Elm Street,” about a genius midget who creates marvelous gadgets and can even float in the air. For some reason the title was changed to “The Wizard.” Maybe he moved to Maple Street.

Also at CBS was a show called “Kay O’Brien, Surgeon.” That name was shortened to “Kay O’Brien.” Maybe it’s because she can also play the piano.

Back at ABC, a show called “Cold Steel and Neon” also underwent a name change. It’s now “Heart of the City.”

And at CBS, “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” was shortened to “Mike Hammer, Detective,” or something like that.

Notice that conspicuously absent from all this flurry of name changing is one network, NBC, which also happens to be the No. 1 network.

True, NBC doesn’t have that many new shows to fool with. Their old shows are doing just fine, on the whole. But all this uncertainty about the name does not speak well for the No. 2 and No. 3 networks.

After all, if you can’t get the name right, what can you expect from the rest of the show?