New Day Dawns For CBS’ Embattled ‘Love & War’ : Television: After a rocky first season, Diane English’s series returns in its coveted slot following popular ‘Murphy Brown.’ Most critical to the new show is the replacement of Susan Dey with Annie Potts.

The old saying goes, “All is fair in love and war.”

But whether CBS’ “Love & War” will fare well after its battle-scarred first season is another story.

Despite a tumultuous season marred by behind-the-scenes turmoil and a disappointing reception, the romantic comedy returns to CBS Monday at its same coveted time slot--immediately following “Murphy Brown” at 9:30 p.m.

Armed with a new leading lady, a new emphasis on the supporting cast and a new direction, series creator and co-executive producer Diane English and CBS hope they can erase the bad memories of the maiden season.

“Every day I would think, ‘Now the worst of it is over, nothing else can happen,’ and then something else would happen,” English recalled last week at her large Studio City office, which is decorated with framed magazine covers and awards. “It was like we were the Coyote and we kept getting up after getting squashed by the Road Runner.”

Rarely has a series been given another opportunity to succeed after being so plagued by difficulties during its maiden season. Consider:

* Although “Love & War” finished at No. 15 overall and was the season’s highest-rated new show, its ratings, on the average, were down about 18% from “Murphy Brown.” Expectations for the series had been higher, in large part because of English’s involvement and its time slot after her Emmy Award-winning hit “Murphy Brown.” “People just expected us to be in the Top 10,” series star Jay Thomas said.

* A labor dispute between English and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, initiated after she replaced the union crew hired to shoot the pilot, distracted attention from the show itself.

* Soon after the season started, John Hancock, 51, who played the cook at the restaurant where much of the series was set, died of a heart attack.

* At the end of the season, female lead Susan Dey abruptly departed. CBS executives said she’d been forced out; English says it was a mutual decision, fueled by the recognition that “we weren’t making magic happen.”

Despite the problems, Peter Tortorici, senior vice president of programming for CBS, said the network never had reservations about renewing it.

“The show did very well,” Tortorici said. “It merited every consideration of being brought back, based on what they accomplished. There’s no question now that it’s a very, very different show, but it retains the core of what it was about in the first place--a gender comedy about why men and women want to be with each other and why they also want to kill each other.”

English and others with the show acknowledge, however, that “Love & War” might not have been renewed if it had been produced by someone else. “Yes, I have a relationship with CBS that others don’t have,” she said, alluding to her multiseries contract with the network that is said to be worth about $40 million. “They owed me that second chance.”

In its first season, “Love & War” revolved around the relationship between brash newspaper columnist Jack Stein (Thomas) and upscale but somewhat unstable divorcee Wallis Porter (Dey), who bought his favorite watering hole, the struggling Blue Shamrock.

In this season’s opener, Wallis has suddenly left for Paris, leaving Jack heartbroken and bitter. She has turned over the Blue Shamrock to chef Abe Johnson (Charlie Robinson), who frantically has to find a new chef. The job goes to fiery Dana Palladino (Annie Potts), a no-nonsense gourmet who immediately butts heads with Jack, although they obviously have an attraction for each other.

English said that the show will focus more on the ensemble that gathers at the restaurant and that the relationship between Jack and Dana will move much more gradually than the relationship between Jack and Wally, who went to bed in the second episode.

Also, the struggling restaurant is now a booming, noisy success. And the show’s trademark device of breaking “the fourth wall”--having characters step out of a scene and comment directly to the audience--has been banished.

Most critical to the new show is the replacement of Dey with Potts, who starred as Mary Jo Shively for seven seasons on “Designing Women.”

Potts had said last season that she wanted to take a break from series work, but, when the offer came to join “Love & War,” she said she had little hesitation about stepping into a troubled situation and blending into a cast already familiar with each other.

“What was pertinent to me was that I would be in a working situation that was happy to me, and a creative situation that would be happy and productive to the point that I would want to sign my life away for six years,” she explained.

Being one of the lead characters was another selling point: “I love to be an ensemble character. I know how to do that. But I felt I never got a shot with the other show to do what I do best. I think Diane wants very much to give me an opportunity to do that.”

Thomas said he felt the working atmosphere on the set has improved greatly.

“Everybody has gotten what they wanted,” the actor said. “The supporting cast is much more in the show now. Annie wanted to be in a more focused situation than she was on ‘Designing Women.’ I wanted my character to go back to what he originally was--a loudmouth. We’re back on track after our strange year.”