TELEVISION REVIEWS : Bea Arthur, Richard Kiley Paired in ‘My First Love’

NBC’s “Golden Girl” Bea Arthur does some happy moonlighting in ABC’s “My First Love” Sunday at 9 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10, 42.

Turning the tables on a youth-infatuated culture, this seniors romance, directed by Gilbert Cates, finds Arthur, a widowed driving school instructor, meeting up with high-school crush Richard Kiley, a successful, divorced doctor.

Her adult daughter disapproves, but Arthur’s friends, particularly sympathetic Barbara Barrie and salty Anne Francis, urge her on. In an idyllic weekend, Arthur and Kiley recapture the spirit of their teen-age romance.

It’s just like old times and it looks like a happy ending is in the offing, but there’s a hitch.

Kiley has unfinished business with his young (not quite 40) girlfriend (Joan Van Ark), who is determined to hold on to him. She is sure her youthful beauty will triumph over Arthur’s more seasoned charm.

We are equally sure that in Ed Kaplan’s amiable teleplay, youth will not be served.

Nonetheless, both women are allowed their vulnerability: Van Ark as a woman whose biological clock is ticking ever louder and who yearns for family and stability, and Arthur as a widow who isn’t sure about playing the mating game again.

The fit and vigorous Kiley is a pleasure to watch, but is less sympathetic as a bachelor who has kept the unhappy Van Ark on a string for four years and been unable to fully commit himself.

But this is Arthur’s show all the way and she makes the time worthwhile, even when the second half of the script doesn’t measure up to the first. Shy and awkward, feminine and determined, she has never been more appealing.