ABC TRIES A DAVID-AND-GOLIATH STORY

Some people are going to like ABC’s “The Kingdom Chums” (tonight at 8, Channels 7, 3, 10, 42). And some, decidedly, are not.

The ones who will like the hourlong children’s show are those who believe America’s moral fiber needs firming, who like a story with a lesson and who are comfortable with animated characters who sing out “Praise the Lord” and talk about “love light.”

The ones who won’t are those who don’t like animation at any level less than Disney’s, who cringe at moralizing, who dislike the merchandising link. Yes, Kingdom Chums will be in your toy store soon and eventually at your video outlet.

“The Kingdom Chums” is a project of Squire D. Rushnell, ABC’s vice president for long-range planning and children’s television. Rushnell, who is the father of a 3-year-old boy, “came into this garden of children’s television about 12 or 13 years ago, and I felt that there were a lot of weeds in this garden. . . . I think that we can make it better.”

So while Rushnell’s wife awaited the arrival of their son, he wrote the book version of “The Kingdom Chums,” which tells the David-and-Goliath story by using live children who, with their stuffed animal toys, are swept into their home computer and taken back in time, as animated characters.

“I did the book first,” Rushnell explained. “My feeling on this property at the beginning was we should legitimize it as a book before it became a television property. But I never intended to be a writer. . . . I took a week off when my wife was pregnant and I said, ‘You have the morning sickness, and I’ll throw up a book.’

Rushnell’s story begins at the All-Nations School, which he says is based on the United Nations school in New York, and focuses on a sixth-grader from Israel, Sauli Ben Shalom, and his pal Peter and Peter’s kid sister, Mary Ann.

Sauli, the victim of class bullies, needs a big dose of courage. Through the example of a raccoon named Little David, who confronts a huge, fearsome Goliath, the children learn that “if you have belief in the power that’s within you, you can go up against more powerful forces,” explained Rushnell. “These stories are designed to present strong role models and value lessons for our young viewers.”

Rushnell is also a businessman, and his “The Kingdom Chums” toys are to be sold as what he calls “a support system” to the programs he is planning. Among them are Magical Moses the Tiger of Joy, Christopher the Lion of Love, and David the Raccoon of Courage.

Rushnell defended the merchandising by explaining that “never in history has there been a successful cartoon character in the movies or in television that didn’t have some kind of product association--Mickey Mouse, Big Bird. It is only those that fail that have no product association.

“The amount of income we would receive is hardly worth bothering with. If we were wildly successful, and it has a year like the Care Bears’ first year, the revenues that would come back to ABC would be $750,000. The program costs about $1.25 million. We will make more income from the ad revenues.”