Faces to Watch in ’92 : These are the people Calendar’s critics and writers think you’ll be hearing about in 1992. In some cases, they’re familiar people who will experience a transitional year. Some are newcomers who could have a breakthrough year. : KATE BURTON

When “Home Fires,” NBC’s latest sitcom, premieres this spring, it will have not only the creative team of “St. Elsewhere” (Bruce Paltrow, John Tinker, Tom Fontana) behind it, but also a secret weapon in a little-known New York stage actress named Kate Burton. Burton has more than her nine years on and off Broadway going for her: the daughter of a fiery Welsh actor named Richard Burton has her own brand of talent. “I’ve been following in his footsteps for quite a while and it’s not really a novelty any more,” said Burton, who co-starred with her late father in his last project, the 1984 miniseries “Ellis Island.” The Burton name gets her auditions, but that’s about all, according to Burton. “It’s worked for me because I got my foot in the door more, but there are lots of times where I know I’ve been cast in spite of my parentage, not because of it: directors who didn’t like my father either as an actor or a person, but who cast me anyway.” “Home Fires,” which centers around a family of four in the ‘90s who are all in psychological therapy, could offer the role that brings the stage-TV-film actress more than name recognition.