Superstation TBS, the Atlanta TV channel that...

Superstation TBS, the Atlanta TV channel that is carried on a host of cable systems across the United States, is about to take a long look at the U.S.S.R.

Two years in the making, “Portrait of the Soviet Union” is a three-part, seven-hour program that will have its initial airing this week. TBS board chairman Ted Turner says the idea is not to show the Soviet people as political forces but as human beings with the same concerns as citizens anywhere: a desire for a fair share and a good future for their children.

The initial two hours on Sunday (6-8 p.m.) cover “Mother Russia” and “Siberia: Ice on Fire.” Monday’s segment runs three hours (5:05-8:05 p.m.) and focuses on the sophisticated societies of the Georgians and Armenians, on the descendants of the Mongol warriors and on Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. The conclusion on Tuesday (5:05-7:05 p.m.) profiles people in the Ukraine, Moscow and Leningrad and speculates on the future of this nation.

The programs will be repeated March 29-31 at 9 each night, plus a daytime airing beginning April 10.