Preview ’90 : What’s New at Night

Welcome to the 1990 fall television season, jampacked with 35 new series--the most ever--from NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox (which added to the programming payload by expanding from three to five nights a week this season).

Our advice is to catch them while you can. If history is any indication, most of these shows won’t be around for long.

What follows is a comprehensive viewer guide to the networks’ new shows, their stars and how conventional wisdom rates their chances for survival.

“Hull High”

Sundays 7-8 p.m., NBC. Premiered last month. NBC has not announced when it will move into its time slot.

The press material supplied by NBC says “Hull High” is an inner-city place where “music lurks around every corner and there’s no telling what pandemonium might break loose.” One source said the weekly dramatic series was not initially developed as a musical, but a beat was added once producers caught wind of Steven Bochco’s “Cop Rock” on ABC. NBC brought on veteran choreographer Kenny Ortega of “Dirty Dancing” fame to spice up the act.

Tout sheet: “Hull High” is aimed at an MTV generation, but MTV isn’t that far away on the dial if this fast-cutting fantasy series doesn’t speak to its target youth audience.

“True Colors”

Sundays 7-7:30 p.m., Fox. Premiered last week. Moves into regular time slot Sunday.

This sitcom about an interracial marriage illustrates Fox’s willingness to take chances. Frankie Faison plays a black dentist with two teen-age sons married to a white teacher (Stephanie Faracy) with a teen-age daughter and loud, live-in mother. The materialistic 17-year-old son is at odds with the idealistic 15-year-old daughter, and the rapping 14-year-old boy can’t be understood by the disapproving mother-in-law. And so on.

Tout sheet: Will audiences wonder if Fox is trying so hard to live up to its image as the rebel fourth network--dreaming up shows the Big Three would never dare to run--that vision is getting in the way of execution?

“Parker Lewis Can’t Lose!”

Sundays 7:30-8 p.m., Fox. Premiered last week. Moves into regular time slot Sunday.

If you have to turn a film into a TV series, this could be the way to do it--by merely borrowing a film’s gimmick, not its title. Strikingly similar to the title character in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (which gets sitcom treatment later in the week on NBC), Parker Lewis is an infinitely cool high school kid (Corin Nemec) who works the system to his advantage.

Tout sheet: Shot with style and backed by a slick soundtrack, “Parker Lewis” has the look and feel of a smart John Hughes comedy. Nemec is a likable new kid on the block who may help get Fox’s Sunday night comedy jam rolling early.

“Lifestories”

Sundays 8-9 p.m., NBC. Premiered last month. Repeats Wednesday at 10 p.m. NBC has not announced when it will move into its regular time slot.

The hook of this new reality-based drama, set in the familiar world of medicine and narrated by Robert Prosky, is that it shifts the focus to the patient’s point of view. Don Ohlmeyer and “Hill Street Blues” creative alum Jeffrey Lewis present a true-to-life picture of how illness affects patients medically and personally, including its ethical, emotional, financial and spiritual aftermath.

Tout sheet: Brandon Tartikoff has talked up “Lifestories” as ground-breaking entertainment. The question is whether audiences will take to the frank coverage of health mixed with heart-tugging storytelling.

“America’s Funniest People”

Sundays 8:30-9 p.m., ABC. Premiere date to be announced.

Last season, ABC tried and tried to find a half-hour follow-up to its smash home-video hit, but nothing seemed to hold viewers except another episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” “America’s Funniest People” is an attempt by “Videos” producer Vin Di Bona to keep his audience tuned in by staging a cross-country comedy tour to search out real people and get them to do wacko things. Di Bona even borrowed another “Full House” co-star, David Coulier, to co-host.

Tout sheet: “America’s Funniest People” was designed as a bridge to the “ABC Sunday Night Movie,” not as a stand-alone hit show. It will retain a percentage of the “Videos” audience, but will people set their VCRs for this one?

“Get a Life!”

Sundays 8:30-9 p.m., Fox. Premieres Sept. 23.

After meeting David Letterman as an NBC tour guide, Chris Elliot soon became The Guy Under the Seats on “Late Night With David Letterman.” A series of popular guest spots and a couple of cable specials later, he’s now The Guy With His Own Sitcom. In “Get a Life!” Elliot plays a care-free adult still living with his parents--including real-life dad and radio star Bob Elliot--and working as head newspaper delivery boy with his own staff of paperboys.

Tout sheet: Elliot’s subtle humor may get lost in this goofy sitcom. But Elliot has his admirers, and padded comfortably between Fox’s solid “In Living Color” and “Married... With Children,” “Get a Life!” has a solid shot, especially if viewers find “America’s Funniest People” a bore.

“Good Grief”

Sundays 9:30-10 p.m., Fox. Premieres Sept. 30.

This exceedingly Fox sitcom features two brothers with different ideas about how to run the family mortuary. One brother is somber and serious, an undertaker’s undertaker. The other is a wild type who wants to turn the business into a sort of supermarket mortuary, with bargain-discount days, red-tag sales and balloons for the kids. “Good Grief” reunites producers Stu Silver and Marsha Posner Williams, who worked on “Soap.”

Tout sheet: At press time, “Good Grief” was still waiting to be cast. But on the basis of its off-kilter premise, it has a good chance to hold the audience of its hit lead-in show, “Married... With Children,” because by 9:30 p.m. the networks already will be 30 minutes into their Sunday night movies.

“Against the Law”

Sundays 10-11 p.m., Fox. Ninety-minute pilot premieres Sept. 23 at 9:30 p.m.; moves to its regular time slot Sept. 30.

In this one-hour drama, Michael O’Keefe dyed his hair dark to star as a rebel-with-a-cause in the guise of a Boston attorney with a conscience. Fed up with hypocrisy, white-collar corruption and the suffocating politics practiced in his father-in-law’s blue-blooded law practice, O’Keefe breaks free from the firm and divorces his no-good wife to boot. Then he sets out to defend the nation’s defenseless, driving judges to distraction with his flamboyant courtroom antics.

Tout sheet: “Against the Law” enters the forbidden zone Sundays at 10 p.m. Last year Fox failed miserably in that time slot with comedy (“The Tracey Ullman Show” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”) and later with action-adventure (“Booker”).

“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”

Mondays 8-8:30 p.m., NBC. Premieres Monday.

NBC promises that rap music star Will Smith, known better as the Fresh Prince, will be the fall pearl in the network’s crown, especially among young viewers. In “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” from first-time TV producer Quincy Jones, a street-wise kid from Philadelphia is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in Bel-Air, where he must adjust to their upper-crust ways.

Tout sheet: Virtual Nielsen guarantee. Smith is already a hit with kids. In just two years the 900-number for D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince has grossed an unprecedented, and unbelievable, $10 million.

“Uncle Buck”

Mondays 8-8:30 p.m., CBS. Premieres Sept. 17.

Stand-up comic Kevin Meaney is no John Candy, but he tries to be an amiable TV version of the big-screen Uncle Buck, a bad-mannered, good-hearted uncle who acts more like a kid than an adult. In this mildly ribald series--which raised some critics’ eyebrows when the 6-year-old girl in the pilot episode says, “You suck”--Meaney assumes the head of his late brother’s household, including three free-speaking kids he must keep in line.

Tout sheet: “Uncle Buck” is going after the same audience that the red-hot “Fresh Prince” is shooting for at the same time on NBC, and the question is whether ol’ Buck will be def enough to keep up.

“Ferris Bueller”

Mondays 8:30-9 p.m., NBC. Premiered last month. Moves into regular time slot Monday.

In the pilot, Charlie Schlatter, who did a pretty good George Burns imitation in the film “18 Again,” shreds up a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick and takes over his title role from John Hughes’ film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The TV series focuses on Bueller, a high school super-hero who schemes to prevent education from interfering with his pursuit of happiness.

Tout sheet: Schlatter is an appealing stand-in for Broderick, but his TV shtick is endless. Hip high-school kids may prefer the more believable “Parker Lewis” on Fox over NBC’s slick new Bueller.

“The Trials of Rosie O’Neill”

Mondays 10-11 p.m., CBS. Premieres Sept. 17.

This hourlong drama was rushed into production ahead of schedule after Connie Chung pulled out of her “Face to Face” and decided to devote time to having a baby. Sharon Gless stars as a corporate lawyer in her early 40s. After weathering a rough divorce, Rosie re-enters the work force as a public defender.

Tout sheet: It looks as if “Rosie O’Neill” is giving Gless exactly what she left behind in “Cagney & Lacey”--and for which she won two Emmys--a strong, meaty role in which she plays a mature and intelligent woman in a man’s world. Chung’s maternal instincts could be a blessing in disguise for CBS.

“Baby Talk”

Tuesdays 8:30-9 p.m., ABC. Premiere date to be announced.

Like the movie “Look Who’s Talking,” “Baby Talk” is about a young single mother with a wisecracking baby whose thoughts the audience can hear. While searching for the perfect father, the mother ignores perhaps the best candidate, the handsome contractor remodeling her apartment. Tony Danza voices the baby.

Tout sheet: The original pilot for this series was not shown to the press and was subsequently reshot and recast, usually a bad sign. Exceptional writing is the only thing that can keep “Baby Talk” from slipping into the TV lunacy of talking horses, cars, robots and Alfs.

“Law & Order”

Tuesdays 10-11 p.m., NBC. Premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. and repeats next Thursday at 11:30 p.m. NBC has not announced when it will move to its regular time slot.

Ever wonder what happened to criminals after they were caught on “Hill Street Blues?” Did you ever deliberate over how defendants got into such a mess in the first place on “L.A. Law?” If so, “Law & Order” may be for you. This two-tiered episodic series shows criminals getting busted in one New York City police precinct and then follows their prosecution in the criminal courts by a crack district attorney’s office. Michael Moriarty studies the law; George Dzunza keeps the order.

Tout sheet: The challenge for “Law & Order” rests in its ability to interweave two comprehensive serial dramas into one.

“Lenny”

Wednesdays 8-8:30 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

Lenny Callahan is a large, loud, blue-collar family man with an attitude. Sort of a male “Roseanne.” In this high-decibel sitcom, comic Lenny Clarke stars as a father who tells jokes and doses out unpopular opinions on his way to raising three daughters, parenting his parents and taking care of his deadbeat brother.

Tout sheet: Hey, it worked for “Roseanne.”

“The Fanelli Boys”

Wednesdays 9-9:30 p.m., NBC. Premiered Saturday. Moves into regular time slot Wednesday.

Get ready for sibling rivalry, Italian style. Ann Guilbert plays Theresa Fanelli, the fussy widowed matriarch of a Brooklyn-based middle-class family, who orders her four adult sons to move back home to straighten out their lives and eat pasta like mom used to make it. This sitcom comes from the writers and producers of NBC’s “The Golden Girls.” Joe Pantoliano, Chris Meloni, Ned Eisenberg and Andy Hirsh play the Boys.

Tout sheet: The cast is good, word of mouth is strong and the formula is similar to “The Golden Girls.” The variable may be how amusing Middle America finds pasta-sized portions of Italian humor.

“Married People”

Wednesdays 9:30-10 p.m., ABC. Premiere date to be announced.

Take a split-level New York brownstone. In the middle floor we’ll put two baby boomers (local deejay Jay Thomas and Bess Armstrong) who are juggling pressures at work and the anxiety of impending parenthood. In the tiny attic apartment we can stuff two teen-age newlyweds fresh from the wheat fields of the Midwest. On the ground floor we can have an older black couple, make them landlords who have been married for 37 years and get a kick out of the antics going on over their heads. Three floors, three generations of romance.

Tout sheet: Rocky times could be ahead for these couples. “Married People” airs opposite NBC’s popular “Dear John.”

“Cop Rock”

Wednesdays 10-11 p.m., ABC. Premiere date to be announced.

If it isn’t already, “Cop Rock” is destined to become the most talked about show of the new season on any network. “Hill Street Blues” and “L.A. Law” creator Steven Bochco can only hope that talk is good once his musical police drama hits the airwaves. Part opera, part rock concert, part crime drama--and all show business--the series focuses on a group of urban cops dealing with street crime who at any minute are likely to break out into elaborately choreographed ballads, raps and rock songs.

Tout sheet: Great musicals come along once every few years, but once a week? It’s a tough assignment. If the series takes itself seriously, doesn’t let music overshadow story and consistently cranks out top-notch tunes, “Cop Rock” could be the start of something big.

“WIOU”

Wednesdays 10-11 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

This sensitive, hard-hitting drama takes place at WNDY, a fading big-city TV station nicknamed WIOU because of its last-place ratings. Among its eclectic cast of characters is a maverick news director (John Shea), a dippy weather reporter (Dick Van Patten) who’s a favorite among senior citizens, a dirty old anchor not yet ready to be put out to pasture (Harris Yulin), a late-30s female reporter (Helen Shaver) who wants a shot at anchoring before it’s too late and a fresh young sexpot (Kate McNeil) challenging her.

Tout sheet: Mixing drama and humor a la “L.A. Law,” “WIOU” is a gem that may get buried between the glitter of “Cop Rock” and the comfort zone of “Hunter.”

“The Flash”

Thursdays 8-9 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

This comic-book hour stars former soap opera star John Wesley Shipp as a brilliant forensic scientist who gets soaked with super-charged chemicals after a lightning bolt strikes his lab. Voila! Suddenly, housework is a breeze and he jogs at 300 miles per hour. When a “Mad Max” motorcycle gang knocks off his brother, Shipp dons a black latex suit and becomes the crime-fighting “Flash.”

Tout sheet: Super-heroes work on the big screen, backed by big budgets, but as TV shows they mostly died in the ‘70s. Remember “Man From Atlantis”? How about “Sword of Justice”? “Manimal”? Still, CBS is betting lots of bucks someone will watch the special effects-laden series.

“Babes”

Thursdays 8:30-9 p.m., Fox. Premieres Sept. 13 in regular time slot.

This sitcom is about three fat sisters who share a small apartment in New York City. What sounds like a new low in TV comedy actually isn’t as crass as it sounds. “Babes” is a largely inoffensive sitcom that views the world through the eyes of three overweight women--Wendie Jo Sperber, Lesley Boone and Susan Peretz--whose healthy attitudes, self-esteems and sex drives outweigh their cellulite.

Tout sheet: “Babes” has possibly the best lead-in it could want in “The Simpsons.” As long as “Babes” remains true to its hefty stars and avoids the inevitable fat jokes, “Babes” could find some loyal followers.

“Gabriel’s Fire”

Thursdays 9-10 p.m., ABC. Premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m., then moves into regular time slot Thursday.

In this dramatic vehicle created for James Earl Jones, the resonant actor rumbles as Gabriel Bird, a policeman sentenced to life in prison without parole during the turbulent 1960s. Bird is unleashed thanks to a principled defense attorney, played by Laila Robins, who uncovers new evidence in his case. The formidable impression Bird makes prompts the attorney to hire the ex-con and ex-cop as her investigator.

Tout sheet: Some critics have already slapped their mark of excellence on this series. Though perhaps not a Top 20 show, “Gabriel’s Fire” should be around for a long time once Viewers For Quality Television rally behind its sensitivity and production values--that is, if enough viewers turn away from its Thursday night competition, the venerable “Cheers.”

“Sons and Daughters”

Thursdays 9-10 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

Welcome to “The Waltons” as yuppies. Bing Sr. and Jr., Astrid, Spud, Rocky, Lindy, Ike and Dakota are all character names intended to be taken seriously in this hourlong serial drama about the Hammersmiths, a huge family with all kinds of problems. But CBS promises that their humor, resiliency and deep love for one another will pull them through on a weekly basis. Notable family members include Lucie Arnaz, Rick Rossovich and Don Murray.

Tout sheet: We’ve never met a family like this. Opposite “Cheers” and “Gabriel’s Fire”? Goodnight, John Boy.

“Class of Beverly Hills”

Thursdays 9-10 p.m., Fox. Ninety-minute pilot premieres Oct. 4 at 8:30 p.m., then moves into regular time slot Oct. 11.

Like “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” and countless TV shows before it, “Class of Beverly Hills” is a fish-out-of-water story about an average Midwestern family that moves to America’s richest community and must work to fit in. Unlike its predecessors, however, this one-hour drama is a more protracted look at the teen-age brother and sister who find themselves in a cold, strange new world. The series comes from Tim Hunter, who directed the disturbing film “River’s Edge.”

Tout sheet: “21 Jump Street” was another Fox series that took high school problems seriously. Respected as it was by critics and its core followers, it never caught on with the mainstream. “Class of Beverly Hills” has to overcome that legacy.

“Evening Shade”

Fridays 8-8:30, CBS. One-hour pilot premieres Sept. 21 at 8 p.m., then moves into regular time slot Sept. 28.

This promising adult sitcom was sold sight unseen to CBS on the strength of its star, Burt Reynolds, and its creator, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason of “Designing Women.” In “Evening Shade,” Reynolds is a pro-football coach who returns with his wife to his Arkansas hometown to coach the high school team and raise their three kids. A bundle of stars--Hal Holbrook, Marilu Henner, Charles Durning, Elizabeth Ashley and Ossie Davis--form an intriguing supporting cast.

Tout sheet: The veteran cast on “Evening Shade” will appeal to the traditionally older weekend viewers, giving the sitcom a chance to stake out Friday nights for CBS much in the way that “The Golden Girls” has for NBC on Saturdays.

“Over My Dead Body”

Fridays 9-10 p.m., CBS. Premieres Oct. 26.

Oh-so-proper Edward Woodward drops the snooty “Equalizer” act to play a burned-out mystery novelist who teams up with a spunky young obituary writer, played by Jessica Lundy. In this sort of “Murder, They Wrote,” Woodward fears he lost his best-selling writing touch and sees Lundy as a source of fresh material to incorporate into his novels. And Lundy, well, she’s just an overeager mystery fan.

Tout sheet: There’s always room in the viewer smorgasboard for another mystery series, and the success of this one will rely on the chemistry between its two crime pundits.

“DEA”

Fridays 9-10 p.m., Fox. Already premiered.

“DEA,” named for the Drug Enforcement Administration, is a dramatic series that traces the professional and personal lives of five agents as they struggle to stamp out the drug trade. Their work entails thankless hours, tedious stakeouts, mountains of paperwork and danger or death lurking around every corner, as they battle drug cartels on a domestic and international level.

Tout sheet: Fox’s Top 40 crime show “America’s Most Wanted,” expanding from a half-hour to an hour, leads off for the moody, gritty “DEA” at 8 p.m. If it catches on, perhaps “DEA” can find the Friday night crowd that “Miami Vice” left behind.

“Going Places”

Fridays 9:30-10 p.m., ABC. Premiere date to be announced.

This is ABC’s second, although indirect, spinoff of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” for TV viewers who’ve ever wondered what it’s like behind the scenes of a video program. “Going Places” is about three friends from Chicago, the most notable being Heather Locklear, and a street-smart New Yorker who move to L.A. to work on a “candid video” series. It’s “Four’s Company” as they all share a broken-down beach house and dream up zany skits together.

Tout sheet: Since there’s no pilot yet available for viewing, this ABC sitcom, from the producers of “Full House,” has to stand on its own synopsis.

“Parenthood”

Saturdays 8-8:30 p.m., NBC. Premiered last month. NBC has not yet announced when it will move to its regular time slot.

Brandon Tartikoff sealed up “Parenthood” as a TV series long before the feature film ever hit theaters last summer and grossed about $100 million. Ed Begley Jr. of “St. Elsewhere” replaces Steve Martin as the father who tries to know best, and sometimes falls short. The series, from director Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, who produced the film together, follows the child-rearing efforts of an oddball, extended family.

Tout sheet: The TV pilot shines because it was written by the film’s screenwriters, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and fairly follows the film’s plot. But a new set of TV writers takes over after that, and the buck stops with them.

“The Family Man”

Saturdays 8-8:30 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

“The Family Man” is essentially a remake of “My Three Sons,” except that Tramp the family dog has been replaced by a little girl. Gregory Harrison--a firefighter by day, Mr. Mom by night--is a Southern California widower doing his darndest to raise three boys, ranging in ages from 11 to 16, and a younger daughter. There’s even a bumbling father-in-law, shades of “My Three Sons’ ” Bub, in this case played by Al Molinaro.

Tout sheet: The problem with a new TV show that resembles an old TV show is that when the new TV show comes out it only reminds you of how good the old TV show really was.

“Working It Out”

Saturdays 8:30-9 p.m., NBC. Premiered last month. NBC has not announced when it will move to its regular time slot.

Divorcees of the world, commiserate. Producer Bill Persky of “Kate and Allie” left Kate behind but took Allie (Jane Curtin) with him to “Working It Out,” a new sitcom that explores the budding relationship and emotional baggage of a divorced man and woman, both with their own kids. Curtin, now performing the kind of TV routines she once parodied on “Saturday Night Live,” meets Stephen Collins in a cooking class, where it’s love at first bite.

Tout sheet: Perhaps the most generic new show on NBC’s fall lineup, “Working It Out” may live or die by the draw of its two lead actors, Curtin and Collins.

“Haywire”

Saturdays 8:30-9 p.m., Fox. Already premiered.

Like the one-two punch of America’s “Funniest Home Videos” and “Funniest People” on ABC, Fox has developed a half-hour follow-up to its video show “Totally Hidden Video.” The show, “Haywire,” is intended to be another outlandish, anything-goes series that travels around the country with a van and video crew to get people to clown and kvetch on camera for cash and prizes.

Tout sheet: There’s one problem with Fox using “Totally Hidden Videos” as a lead-in to “Haywire.” Unlike “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Fox’s video update of “Candid Camera” is a ratings flop.

“E.A.R.T.H. Force”

Saturdays 9-10 p.m., CBS. Premiere date to be announced.

“E.A.R.T.H. Force” basically does the same stuff that “The A-Team” did, only this team is doing it for the planet. The acronym for the hourlong adventure stands for Earth Alert Research Tactical Headquarters. This crack team of hand-picked professionals, led by combat-surgeon Gil Gerard, consists of a beautiful female tactical coordinator, a research-minded oceanographer, a nuclear physicist and a mercenary. Together they right ecological wrongs.

Tout sheet: “E.A.R.T.H. Force” could draw an audience of kids on Saturday night who don’t care for the adult themes of “The Golden Girls” or “China Beach” and just want to see neato gadgets and things getting blown up.

“American Chronicles”

Saturdays 9:30-10 p.m., Fox. Already premiered.

“American Chronicles,” a beautifully produced half-hour visual essay devoted each week to a different slice of Americana, is something you might expect to see on public television. The fact that it comes from producers David Lynch and Mark Frost of “Twin Peaks” is a mild surprise. Set to New Age music and accompanied by scant narration, the impressionistic series offers a languid, almost poetic look at some aspect of our culture.

Tout sheet: This quasi-documentary series, like great literature, should be mandatory viewing in high school social-study classes across the nation. But based on America’s past viewing choices, it will get steamrollered over in any prime-time slot, any night of the week.

“American Dreamer”

Saturdays 10:30-11 p.m., NBC. Premieres Sept. 20 at 9:30 p.m. NBC has not announced when it will move to its regular time slot.

Gary David Goldberg, the man behind “Family Ties,” returns to TV as executive producer of a thoughtful new sitcom. “American Dreamer” stars Robert Urich as a loving father who gives up his career as a foreign TV correspondent to raise two children and write a newspaper column. In the homespun tradition of “Our Town,” Urich reaches out and touches the audience each night by speaking directly into the camera.

Tout sheet: Urich, turning in his action badges from “Vegas” and “Spenser for Hire,” takes a humble stab at humor as a normal guy. If anyone can expose Urich’s tender side, it’s Goldberg, who also produced the acclaimed “Lou Grant.”