Humanity Loses to Reality : Programming: Lean times have forced the major TV networks to weigh large-cast dramas against less costly shows.

While America was celebrating junk bond dealers and other high-rolling hucksters in the 1980s, a quiet, wonderful thing was happening on TV.

A steady flow of humanistic ensemble dramas, reaffirming solid values, began to fill the screen--among them, “Hill Street Blues,” “St. Elsewhere,” “L.A. Law,” “thirtysomething,” “China Beach,” “A Year in the Life” and “Tour of Duty.”

In view of the money-grubbing ‘80s, the flow of meaningful ensemble dramas looks even better in retrospect--a surprising reminder that TV, much-maligned, was producing a body of film work of major social import during the decade of greed.

Television has had more than one golden era and this, in its own way, was one of them. But now it is being blown away by leaner, meaner TV times--in which large ensemble casts are proving too expensive to maintain and the hottest ticket in production offices is cheaper, harder-edged “reality” shows.

It seems more than coincidental that the rise of reality programming and the decline of serious, well-crafted TV fiction has come since the arrival of the Fox Broadcasting Co. in the late 1980s and its success with such series as “America’s Most Wanted” and “Cops.” Effective TV, no doubt, but somehow a nastier look at the human race.

A few worthy ensemble shows remain--”L.A. Law,” for instance, although it is losing such regulars as Susan Dey, Harry Hamlin and Jimmy Smits. Then there is the new entry “Law & Order,” which NBC renewed Friday for another season. It is beginning to draw sizable audiences.

But it seems doubtful that ABC’s “thirtysomething,” a landmark show about contemporary life, will last more than another season--if that long. ABC’s “China Beach” and “Equal Justice” are on the ropes. CBS’ “WIOU,” about a local TV news operation, has been whipped in the ratings, partly because of erratic scheduling that indicated a lack of commitment by the network.

At a recent presentation of fall pilot projects for advertisers, a CBS executive noted pointedly that ratings have dropped for ensemble shows--and made clear that the network was seeking escapism rather than “ Angst -ridden” 10 p.m. dramas about “the meaning of life.” Like “thirtysomething,” maybe? Or “St. Elsewhere”?

The new game in town is more defined by the success of such reality shows as “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Rescue 911.” There’s a truckload of reality series projects at the Big Three networks and Fox as they work up their fall schedules, due later this spring. Just the other day, for instance, Michael Landon was announced as host of an upcoming, one-hour reality special called “America’s Missing Children.”

NBC, meanwhile, says the creators of “Unsolved Mysteries” have a pilot called “I-Witness,” in which viewers call a 900 number “to guess ‘whodunit’. . . . At the beginning of the following episode, the culprit and that week’s prize-winners will be named.”

Fox has a pilot called “The Best of the Worst,” explaining, “If it’s terrible, it’s celebrated in this half-hour.” From the people behind “Cops,” the network also has “On the Edge,” which looks at “people whose jobs push them to the precipice.” In addition, Fox has “Fantasy Park,” which “gives call-in participants a chance to win spectacular fantasies.”

Just how many of these and other reality-style shows make the fall lineups remains to be seen. And shows such as “Cops” and “Rescue 911” have had splendid, intensely humanistic passages. But what is clear is that the overall reality trend, with some of its bizarre pilots, is part of the big TV picture: the slashing of costs--in news, for instance--as the networks try to survive.

Network entertainment is feeling the pinch more than ever. It has, of course, relied on reality programming throughout its history, from “Candid Camera” to “Real People.” But what is deeply troubling is TV’s apparent downgrading of one of its birthrights--the telling of good and grand stories the way that no other medium can in terms of length and scope, from series to miniseries.

Not every endangered ensemble series is Angst -ridden or particularly humanistic. But many of them are good storytelling nonetheless--like “Twin Peaks,” for instance, and, yes, the weekly prime-time soaps such as “Dallas” and “Knots Landing,” which have entertained viewers for more than a decade.

Probably none of these shows could be initiated now because of the large casts, with the problem of escalating salaries. “Twin Peaks,” which returned to ABC with a weak ratings performance Thursday, is on thin ice. “Dallas” is all but expired. “Knots Landing” amazingly continues to draw a large audience.

In the 1980s, while shows like “Hill Street Blues,” “St. Elsewhere” and “Cagney & Lacey” were delivering notable, life-affirming stories, the soapers “Dallas,” “Dynasty” and “Falcon Crest” were reflecting the glitz and worship of money that epitomized the worst of the decade. Yet what all these shows had in common was terrific storytelling, from serious to campy.

At the same time, magnificent miniseries such as “The Winds of War” offered storytelling of incomparable size. And the public appetite for great TV storytelling was proven again not long ago with the huge ratings reception for CBS’ “Lonesome Dove.”

e networks haven’t entirely abandoned major miniseries--NBC, for example, says it is planning a six-hour production about Jacqueline Onassis entitled “A Woman Named Jackie.” CBS says it is thinking of a sequel to “Lonesome Dove.”

And here and there among the series pilots, one can spot projects with strong ensemble potential: NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away,” about a white attorney, his family and black housekeeper caught up in the civil-rights movement in a Southern city in the 1950s; ABC’s “Home Front,” about soldiers coming home from World War II, and Fox’s “Lakota Moon,” about a tribe of Native Americans in Montana in 1826--perhaps a natural series after the success of the film “Dances With Wolves.”

Money talks, however, and reality shows might be the growing form of TV storytelling. But the networks will die if they don’t do what they do best--embrace the public with well-wrought characters who are welcomed into homes each week.

Countless comedies do it, of course, from “Cheers” to “Roseanne.” But comedies are easier for a network to deal with than dramas: Viewers can pop in any time, and sitcoms do better as reruns--both on a network and in syndication sales. Solid dramas like “Hill Street Blues” and “Lou Grant” do poorly in syndication. Soapers such as “Dallas” are syndication disasters because everyone who’s interested already knows the plots.

But storytelling is what TV is really all about. In that sense, the 1980s were a remarkable decade. And if cost-cutting determines future programming--well, you get what you pay for.