NEW TELEVISION SEASON: THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING : With Independent Stations, Cable Services Producing More Shows and Affiliates Bypassing Networks With New Technology, TV Today Is a Marketplace of Options : A BURST OF CHOICES FOR VIEWERS

Say goodby to the era of three television networks as we knew it.

The 1986-87 TV season touches off an explosion in the viewing choices available all around the dial. Brand-new, network-style syndicated shows, unique only a year and a half ago, are popping up in clusters on independent stations and cable channels.

There are also some new initials for ABC, CBS and NBC to contend with: FBC, the Fox Broadcasting Co. mini-network, launches its “Late Show With Joan Rivers” Oct. 9, to be followed in March by five prime-time hours a week.

“Without question, the competition is fierce,” said B. Donald (Bud) Grant, president of CBS Entertainment, referring to the proliferation of choices on cable and broadcast TV. “I think it works in the best interest of the public: better quality programming on the air.”

Quality? Maybe. But the overwhelming change this season is in the sheer quantity of shows and the variety of ways in which they’ll reach the home screen.

Consider that during the coming season you’ll see:

--An all-new, network-style action show on FBC, “Jump Street Chapel,” from Stephen J. Cannell, airing Sundays at 7 p.m. beginning in March. The Big Three couldn’t air that show in that time period, when the Federal Communications Commission limits them to family fare or public affairs.

--Five new late-night talk shows. Hosts ranging from Rivers to Jimmy Breslin to David Brenner will be seen, respectively, on FBC, ABC and via syndication (city-by-city sale to independent stations and network affiliates).

--A dozen sitcoms with new episodes produced especially for independent stations or individual network affiliates, not the networks. These include recycled network concepts such as “The New Gidget” and “9 to 5”--this version starring Sally Struthers--and brand-new shows such as “What a Country!” and “THROB” with Diana Canova.

--Nearly a dozen more network-style series produced especially for basic-cable (channels typically included with the cable hookup for no additional charge) and pay-cable services, including Showtime’s “Hard Knocks” and HBO’s “Really Weird Tales.” USA Network this season will enhance its round-the-clock basic-cable lineup with 14 1/2 hours a week of original programming, such as the sitcom “Sanchez of Bel-Air,” the comedy-talk entry “The Robert Klein Show” and all-new episodes of “Airwolf,” formerly on CBS.

--More than ever before, feature films such as “Gung Ho” and “Pretty in Pink” available for one-shot watching via “pay-per-view” systems, months before they’re scheduled on pay-cable TV.

Much of the expansion in viewing choices is keyed to the growth of independent TV stations, those unaffiliated with NBC, CBS or ABC. There are 220 such “indies” today, up from only 27 in 1964.

“We’re riding the wave of that trend,” said Herman Rush, president of Columbia Pictures Television Group. Columbia, typical of the major studios, has made production of “first run” series created directly for syndication as much a part of its business as its network shows. “The New Gidget” and new episodes of “Punky Brewster” are among those in production. Shows in development for next season include “The New Monkees,” “The Willard Scott Show” and, in the mold of “The People’s Court,” “Parole Board” (“On our show, everyone is guilty,” Rush said).

Some of the other studio fare new this season on independent stations: Disney’s “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (for FBC) and “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies”; “Charles in Charge,” co-produced by MCA and Tribune Entertainment, and the aforementioned “9 to 5,” from 20th Century Fox, which operates as a production entity separate from FBC.

“The proliferation of the independents is beyond what people have predicted,” said David Salzman, president of the television division of Lorimar-Telepictures, which is in the process of purchasing seven TV stations. “We’re looking at a different business now. It isn’t just three networks.”

Lorimar-Telepictures will likely “use our stations as a development ground” for new programs, Salzman said. The company produces such network series as “Dallas” (CBS), “Perfect Strangers” (ABC) and “Our House” (new for NBC). Now, it can use the L-T stations as a springboard for original “first-run” shows that bypass the networks entirely--shows along the lines of its new fall sitcom, “One Big Family,” starring Danny Thomas and created by two of the producers behind NBC’s “The Golden Girls.”

Fox has taken a bolder approach. To ensure a flow of top-quality shows to the six former Metromedia stations it purchased this year, it has aligned itself with 73 other independent stations across the United States to form FBC.

Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller downplays the “fourth network” title that’s become attached to this consortium of stations. “What we are doing is simply a more organized way and more consistent way of delivering programming other than this first-run (syndication) business or these little cottage industries,” Diller said.

There is, some say, a madness to their method: Starting next March, FBC will compete head-to-head with ABC, CBS and NBC in prime time, where indies typically rely on feature films and shy away from a direct fight. But because of its relatively low overhead and the fact that it’s not in a full-fledged ratings race, FBC can live with ratings that the Big Three probably will snicker at.

“We certainly are counterprogrammers,” said Jamie Kellner, president of FBC. For example, all three major networks program movies on Sunday nights--that holds the slot as a launching pad for made-for-TV movies and miniseries. Into the void steps FBC. “We’re going to promote a sitcom block as a clear alternative on Sunday night,” Kellner said.

Already in development for Saturday and Sunday prime time are “Duet,” a romantic comedy from “Family Ties” creator Gary David Goldberg; the TV version of “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”; “Mr. President,” from sitcom veteran Ed Weinberger; one of two series being developed by the writing team behind “The Jeffersons” and “It’s Your Move,” and the aforementioned “Jump Street Chapel.”

FBC expects to lose between $35 million to $50 million a year during its first three years, industry insiders say. But that figure will be partially offset by an immediate increase in viewership expected at the Fox-owned stations, which include local KTTV Channel 11.

Across Sunset Boulevard, KTLA Channel 5, is also about to mimic the networks. Instead of playing reruns of the same “off-network” show every weekday at 7:30 p.m.--a “Happy Days” or a “Mary Tyler Moore”--KTLA will schedule new episodes of a different syndicated sitcom each day.

The lineup will feature, on Mondays, newly produced episodes of the network castoff “Charles in Charge” starring Scott Baio; “The New Gidget” on Tuesdays; the all-new series “What a Country!” with Soviet-born comic Yakov Smirnoff on Wednesdays; “One Big Family” on Thursdays; and on Fridays, “What’s Happening Now!,” an update of the 1976-79 ABC series “What’s Happening!” Except for “Charles,” which begins in January, the sitcoms will be premiered beginning Sept. 22.

Since the FCC bars the networks from scheduling their own shows in the 7:30-to-8 p.m. weekday “access” slot, Channel 5 at that time will be the only local station that looks like network prime time. Its competition will be locally scheduled shows such as KCBS’ “Two on the Town,” KABC’s “Eye on L.A.,” “MASH” reruns on KTTV and game shows.

“All eyes will be on KTLA,” said Wes Harris, vice president of programs for NBC’s owned-and-operated stations, referring to the industry’s scrutiny of KTLA’s plan. Harris may try the “checkerboard” approach at 7:30 p.m. next season, since the five NBC-owned stations, acting as a group, can skirt restrictions that apply to the network at large.

New viewing choices are not limited to broadcast TV.

Cable-TV systems, with much of their nationwide hardware now in place and with deregulation making them a more attractive Wall Street commodity, are experiencing a healthy cash flow. Much of that money could be earmarked for programs.

“The cable industry might be bidding on NFL football and putting $400 million into exclusive programming,” said Marc Nathanson, chairman of Falcon Cable TV, California’s largest independent cable operator. The latter figure, which would be gleaned from cable operator surcharges and ad revenues, is roughly what each of the three broadcast networks spends on programs each year. Cable industry leaders, such as Ted Turner and John Malone of Tele-Communications Inc., the nation’s largest cable operator, are discussing ways to spend it.

Even before they crack open that piggy bank, USA Network, which reaches 33 million households via cable, is using exclusive network-style programs to establish itself as “the flagship network in cable,” according to Kay Koplovitz, president of USA. The cable channel’s owners, Paramount, MGM/UA and Time Inc., have put up $30 million for new fall programming, which the service has promoted heavily for the last two weeks during its 50-hour telecast of the U.S. Open tennis match in New York.

In addition to the prime-time “Sanchez,” “Klein” and “Airwolf” series premiering the week of Sept. 29, USA will debut five new daytime shows and is funding production of new segments of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Another 13 hours a week are devoted to shows “exclusive” to USA, such as episodes of the former NBC series “Riptide,” which are not yet in syndication.

At pay-cable services such as Showtime/The Movie Channel and HBO, meanwhile, business is flat, but original programming is not.

Showtime and Home Box Office, the leader in the field, heavily program original shows that can’t be seen elsewhere. Both supplement their movie lineup with original films; Showtime leans more heavily than HBO toward network-style series, with entries like “Hard Knocks” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” premiering this season.

HBO tilts toward the more offbeat, with limited series like “Really Weird Tales,” produced by “Second City TV” alumnus Joe Flaherty.

“Ironically, the great beneficiary of business slowing down a little is the consumer,” said Peter Chernin, executive vice president of Showtime/The Movie Channel, confirming that pay-cable’s response to competition has been to improve programming.

The consumer is likewise benefiting from pay-per-view, cable’s challenge to videocassette rentals. Pay-per-view systems like Viewer’s Choice, owned by Showtime, and Request Television, are something like electronic versions of the drive-in movie. They enable cable customers to sign up, usually via telephone, to watch a specific movie at a pre-announced time; the customer is billed a one-time charge of about $5 no matter how many people squeeze in front of the set.

(In the Los Angeles area, both Viewer’s Choice and Request are offered by Valley Cable TV in the West San Fernando Valley. Viewer’s Choice is also available in Glendale; Request is carried in the East Valley and through much of the South Bay and Orange County.)

According to Scott Kurnit, general manager of Viewer’s Choice, pay-per-view is available to about 2.5 million homes and growing steadily. But it has actually increased total home viewing of movies, not merely stolen from videocassettes’ share, Kurnit said. That’s because pay-per-view does draw from the movie rental business on blockbusters, which are often unavailable at video stores, but its ads for smaller, more easily rented films actually boost cassette business.

“We grow the business significantly for the producers and the studios and we make cable better,” Kurnit said.

Will this burgeoning use of the home screen really improve the quality of television programming?

It already has, TV executives say.

“The three network operations--their programming is so far above any other quasi-mass medium or popular medium of entertainment, it’s light years above anything else,” said Diller, whose Fox Inc. produces TV and movies in all their forms.

If FBC’s shows seem like network clones, it’s because “the first thing FBC had to do is establish itself as a credible player,” he said. “The programs we’re acquiring are certainly less adventurous than they might be once we’re established.”

Lorimar-Telepictures’ Salzman believes that the increase in viewing options “expands the creative pool beyond those familiar and safe choices. . . . It opens the business to more people.”

In theory, producers of syndicated shows are free of certain network constraints. “We can treat the series as a body of work, instead of writing show by show,” said Lenny Ripps, supervising producer of “What a Country!” The reason: Stations have committed to airing 26 episodes this season, at least twice as many as the networks typically order. Changes in characters’ development can be plotted in advance, since writers know the series will be around.

The networks have changed within their own universe as well, with possible ramifications for viewers. ABC and NBC this year have new corporate owners--Capital Cities Communications and General Electric, respectively. Diller points to ABC’s decision to go with “Our World,” an inexpensive show that’s a sure-fire loser, Thursdays at 8 p.m. opposite NBC’s “The Cosby Show.”

“You’re seeing something that I thought would never happen, which is ABC against the Thursday night competition saying ‘We’re not going to compete.’ ” That could be a tiny step, Diller suggested, toward the networks regaining personalities as distinctive as they were before the ratings race kicked into high gear.

Industry observers also point to the potential effects of NBC’s having become No. 1 in that very race: The network’s programming whiz, Brandon Tartikoff, is expected to continue pursuing some less-safe ideas--for his own personal enjoyment, if nothing else--that a CBS or ABC in the top spot might shy away from. Yet, the latter two aren’t No. 1, so they too have to be innovative.

Chalk another one up for the viewer.