Woman in the News : Television: Rather than mirroring an actual news operation, star-anchor Helen Shaver says, ‘WIOU’ is really about quirky personalities.

In CBS’ new drama series “WIOU,” actress Helen Shaver plays a veteran journalist who works for a failing local TV news operation that is trying, as the network says, “to make a ratings comeback.”

It is ironic that the one-hour series, which debuted recently and airs tonight at 10, has arrived in time for the November ratings sweeps madness, when local newscasts are often at their most shameful in creating and exploiting sensational stories.

Shaver remembers attending a dinner for CBS affiliate stations at which, she says, “They were worried, a few of them,” about the image that “WIOU” might project to the public about their profitable local news programs and personalities. “WIOU” is CBS’ lead-in for the late-night news.

“One guy at my table said, ‘Do you think it’s wise to show the wrinkles so early--in the pilot--to show that these people are not all noble, with altruistic ideals?,’ ” Shaver recalls. “And I said to them, ‘You can’t do ‘Ben Casey’ or ‘Marcus Welby’ today. Nobody would believe it.’ ”

In the pilot, a lecherous male news star put his hand on Shaver’s thigh as they co-anchored a broadcast, and she embarrassed him on the air by broadcasting his action. Such on-the-air disclosure is not likely to happen too often, if at all, in real life--but Shaver’s education in being a female reporter-anchor in TV includes some input on sexual harassment.

“I went down and spent an afternoon with Tritia Toyota (longtime anchor at KCBS Channel 2),” Shaver says. “I checked out the sexual harassment thing with her and found out that indeed she had gone through similar things--you know, of people putting their hands where they had no business.

“She said there was a guy--she never named him--and she told him, and she told him, and finally one day she brought a bat into the stage where they were shooting. And she said she didn’t embarrass him on camera, but she let him know. She embarrassed him in front of the crew, and it finally stopped. So it is something that definitely goes on.”

In speaking to the affiliates, Shaver, a much-admired actress who has starred in such network series as “United States” and “Jessica Novak”--in which she also played a TV reporter--was attuned to the concerns of the local stations.

She understands that local news is “the way they make their money. So to show the wrinkles and warts and people fighting for a spot might take the shine off of their local celebrities, who are the on-camera people of local news. But my feeling truly is that it just adds more because you get more facets of the people.”

The Canadian-born actress, who also won plaudits for her roles in such films as “The Color of Money,” “Desert Hearts” and “In Praise of Older Women,” is part of a strong cast in “WIOU.” John Shea is the news director, Mariette Hartley a producer, Harris Yulin the lecherous anchor and Dick Van Patten a weatherman who’s a bit reminiscent of Willard Scott.

But one of the problems is that sympathetic characters have been hard to come by in dramas about TV news, a fiercely competitive arena for fame and money, dominated by onscreen personalities who are the equivalent of movie stars in the new electronic age. The film “Broadcast News” captured this hard edge.

Perhaps logically, comedy series spoofing TV news, such as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Murphy Brown,” have fared better than drama.

Shaver is convinced that the characters in “WIOU” are “going to be sympathetic, because the show is not only about making the news. The characters are such specific, quirky, interesting people.” Yulin, for instance, is wonderful as the anchor jerk.

As for Shaver, she obviously has specific qualities that would make people cast her as a television reporter in two series. What does she think producers and directors see?

“Well, I went through a number of auditions with (director) Adrian Lyne for the movie ‘9 1/2 Weeks,’ a role that I really wanted. In the end, he looked at me and said, ‘You’ve got too much intelligence in your eyes. I want more of a blank page to write on.’ And so, I think one of the things they see is intelligence.”

Shaver also was up for the lead female role of the lawyer in James Earl Jones’ new ABC series, “Gabriel’s Fire,” in which he plays an ex-convict who becomes an investigator.

“I met at length with the ‘Gabriel’s Fire’ people,” she says, “but in my bones I could feel a formula coming. You know? I mean, what’re you gonna do? You’ve got a lawyer and a private eye. You’ve got to solve a mystery every week--whereas in this, you’ve got the arena that allows legitimate drama.”

Although Shaver hasn’t modeled her anchor-reporter role after anyone, she was impressed by the on-air presence of Jessica Savitch, the personally troubled late NBC personality who nonetheless set a style for many women in television news.

“I used to look at Jessica Savitch,” says Shaver, “and I thought she was quite something.”

In “WIOU,” Shaver’s character faces dilemmas that are not uncommon to TV’s real women anchors and reporters. “In one episode, I say to my co-anchor, ‘You’re not going to make me subservient by having me do all the lead-ins to all this stupid fluff. I’m not doing all the dumb lead-ins.’

“This woman I play still has a streak of stubbornness. There’s this thing we all like to pretend doesn’t exist, but still exists, that they never do to men but they still do to women, which is basically say: Be a good girl. And she’s the kind of woman who’ll go, ‘Why do I have to be a good girl? I’m a good reporter. Don’t talk to me like that.’ That’s who this woman is.”