WEEKEND TV : FALL WITHOUT FOOTBALL IS LIKE . . .

Though the National Football League strike means no live professional football games this weekend on television, the ongoing kickoff of the fall TV season guarantees plenty of new and perhaps even some exciting moments for television junkies.

No fewer than eight new series will premiere over the weekend, capped by ABC’s variety show, “Dolly,” starring Dolly Parton, which will arrive Sunday at 9 p.m.

Other shows premiering include “Jake and the Fatman” and “The Law and Harry McGraw” on CBS, “J. J. Starbuck” on NBC, Dennis Weaver in “Buck James” on ABC, Fox Broadcasting’s new series “Second Chance,” a revival of “Sea Hunt” and the syndicated series “D. C. Follies.”

NBC News will continue its extensive broadcasts from China this weekend as its “Nightly News” and both of its Sunday news programs, “Meet the Press” and the new “Sunday Today,” will feature news, interviews and features direct from the world’s most populous country.

The rest of the pro football-less weekend stacks up like this:

TODAY: ABC completes its Saturday morning children’s programming with premieres of “The Care Bear Family” at 7 a.m., “Little Clowns of Happy-town” at 7:30, “Pound Puppies” at 8:30 and “Little Wizards” at 9. Meanwhile, NBC offers the premiere of “ALF,” an animated version of its prime-time series, at 10 a.m. (4)(36)(39). . . .

“Tax Changes ‘87: What You Need to Know,” hosted by Edwin Newman and featuring guest experts from the IRS, is an hourlong PBS special designed to answer viewer’s call-in questions about the Tax Reform Act of 1986, 11 a.m. (28). . . .

Ron Ely stars in the syndicated premiere of “Sea Hunt,” a revival of the old Lloyd Bridges series about an underwater adventurer, 4:30 p.m. (4). . . . “D.C. Follies,” another syndicated series also premieres today, 6:30 p.m. (7). . . .

Fox will air its new series, “Second Chance,” starring “Hill St. Blues”’ Kiel Martin as a deceased man who gets a second chance at life as a teen-ager, 9 p.m. (11)(6). . . .

Bill Bixby and Patty Duke guest in a preview of NBC’s “J. J. Starbuck,” starring Dale Robertson as a Texas billionaire who roams the country solving difficult crimes, 9:30 p.m. (4) (36)(39). . . .

CBS debuts “Jake and the Fatman,” featuring William Conrad and Joe Penny as district attorney and detective, respectively, at 10 p.m. (2)(8).

SUNDAY: NBC’s “Sunday Today,” with co-anchor Boyd Matson reporting from China, will feature segments on the cultural differences between the United States and China, the history of Shanghai, advertising in China and China’s body-building craze, 7 a.m. (4). . . .

“Sunday Morning” on CBS will air reports on the Monterey Jazz Festival, Rachel Carson and the ecological forebodings in her book “Silent Spring” and Columbia University football fans whose hapless team has lost 32 consecutive games, 8 a.m. (2) (8). . . .

“Meet the Press” will broadcast a Tom Brokaw interview direct from China with Chinese premier Zhao Ziyang, 8:30 a.m. (4). . . .

Third World debt is the topic on “Business World,” with guest Jose Angel Gurria Trevino, the chief negotiator of the Mexican Finance Ministry, 11 a.m. (7). . . .

“This Week with David Brinkley” focuses on the Persian Gulf with Defense Secretary Capsar Weinberger, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), 11:30 a.m. (7)(3)(10)(42). . . .

The budget deficit compromise will be the topic on “Face the Nation” with guests Secretary of the Treasury James Baker and Rep. William Gray (D-Penn.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, 2 p.m. (2). . . .

The nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court will be debated on “At Issue” with guest Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, 2:30 p.m. (2). . . .

Supervisor Deane Dana is interviewed on “News Conference,” 3 p.m. (4). . . .

Sylvia Cunliffe, general manager and city purchasing agent for the Los Angeles Department of General Services will guest on “Newsmakers,” 3 p.m. (2). . . .

The “60 Minutes” stories will include a Mike Wallace interview with Washington Post columnist Bob Woodward about his new book on the late CIA director William Casey and a report on a custody battle over a young American Indian boy between his foster parents and his natural mother and her tribe, 7 p.m. (2)(8). . . .

The season premiere of Fox Broadcasting’s “21 Jump Street” will deal with “crack,” the cheap and accessible form of cocaine, 7 p.m. (11)(6). The show will be followed by a Public Service Announcement and an “800” telephone number for viewers to call if they need help. . . . The season premiere of “The Tracey Ullman Show” with guest Steve Martin follows at 9 p.m...

“Masterpiece Theatre” will repeat “The Tale of Beatrix Potter,” a dramatization of the life of the woman who created the stories of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nitkin and Mrs. Tittlemouse, 8 p.m. (50)(24), 9 p.m. (28)(15). . . .

“Dolly” premieres on ABC with Dolly Parton hosting Oprah Winfrey, Pee-wee Herman, Hulk Hogan and Dudley Moore, 9 p.m. (7)(3)(10)(42). The debut of “Buck James,” starring Dennis Weaver as a trauma surgeon in a southwestern hospital, follows at 10 p.m.

CBS will air a two-hour preview of “The Law and Harry McGraw,” starring Jerry Orbach as a slightly seedy Boston private eye, 9 p.m. (2)(8). . . .

“All the World’s A Stage: One Man’s Journey Through the Theatre,” a 13-part series with playwright Ronald Harwood, premieres on KCET, 10 p.m. (28).