Get Ready for the Newest New TV Season : Programming: Series premiering in January include a Brian Dennehy drama, comedies starring Henry Winkler and George Carlin and the return of ‘Burke’s Law.’

New year. New television shows.

Not so many years ago, they used to call this time of year the second season. It was TV’s time for midseason replacements, time-period tinkering, maybe even a re-introduction to an about-to-be-forgotten series--the fall after the fall, if you will.

But that was before the networks got so insecure about their declining audience shares and so desperate for success that they got trigger-happy with their series. For a while, it looked like there was a new prime-time season every month.

Fortunately for viewers and the networks, things seem to be settling back into old, familiar and sensible rhythms.

And, as it so happens, there are even a few series worth looking forward to.

Here’s the first batch of what’s coming your way in ‘94:

ABC

“Birdland”: What if you turned “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” into a weekly drama series? Well, if you put Brian Dennehy in the starring role, you might actually have a winner.

Dennehy is compelling and convincing in this worthy long shot of a program as Dr. Brian McKenzie, the rule-bending chief of psychiatry at Riverside Hospital in Oakland, a place where dozens of hopeless cases come to roost.

A hard sell, but the premiere, which deals with an emotionally troubled 16-year-old suspected of murder, should get “Birdland” off the ground if ABC can promote it properly.

“Birdland” will premiere Wednesday.

CBS

“Burke’s Law”: “Never make fun of an older woman. One day you’ll be married to one. Burke’s Law.”

No, your television set is not having an acid flashback. That is Gene Barry and he is--30 years later--once again playing Amos Burke, suave, super-rich chief of homicide.

Only slower.

Fans who remember the original ABC series might get a nostalgic kick the first couple of times Barry winkingly offers up one of his signature rules of the road. But the show, not to mention the actor, looks very, very tired.

More “Matlock” than macho man, Amos has a partner to do all the heavy lifting and romancing these days. It’s his son, natch, played by Peter Barton. From Aaron Spelling Productions, this hourlong mystery-drama throws everything from a made-for-TV rock video, to “Baywatch”-type hunks and babes and synchronized swimmers into the opener. But does the show have legs?

They’re shaky at best.

“Burke’s Law” will premiere Jan. 7.

Fox

“Monty”: Henry Winkler as Rush Limbaugh? Isn’t one enough?

The former Fonz stars and produces this half-hour comedy about a right-wing, cable talk-show host named Monty Richardson. Richardson is 100% Rush (we think Limbaugh should sue, or get a cut of the royalties if there are any).

And a lot of loutish types are going to love Monty’s monologues on “Rightspeak” the way bigots loved Archie Bunker. And since this is Fox Broadcasting, don’t forget that political incorrectness is considered a plus.

So there will be laughs when Monty lets animal-rights activists have it.

The rest of the audience will have to be satisfied when his liberal-minded family (Kate Burton, David Krumholtz, China Kantner and David Schwimmer co-star) hits him from the left at home.

“Monty” will have its debut on Jan. 11.

“The George Carlin Show”: Another comedian. Another sitcom. Used to be all the stand-ups were doing their comedy-club shticks on cable.

Now the networks have got them all starring and executive-producing their own sitcoms. So instead of suffering through a minute or two of the same old jokes, viewers have to sit through an entire half-hour.

They can’t all be “Roseanne.”

That goes for “The George Carlin Show,” too. But don’t flip by too fast. There’s something about this sitcom--no doubt it’s the largely intact observational humor of Carlin--that makes you want to come back for more.

Carlin plays a cab driver who spends a lot of time philosophizing in the “Cheers”-like setting of a local bar. Which leads to such gems as:

“Hope sucks. People who have hope, they’re constantly worried about when it’s going to kick in. They don’t get to have a good time. On the other hand, a guy gives up hope, he’s free to enjoy himself.”

“The George Carlin Show” will premiere Jan. 16.

NBC

“Viper”: Vrrooom. Vrrooom. Screeeeeeccch. Crash. Ka-BOOM!

Shades of the Batmobile, Batman!

The network that gave you “Knight Rider” gears up for Friday nights with a “techno-drama” that takes place in the “plausible near future” in a city controlled by a group known as the Outfit.

Civilization’s last hope?

The Viper Project, a high-tech car with chameleon qualities, all the bells and whistles you can imagine and a hunky good guy named Joseph Payne Astor (series star James McCaffrey).

Teamed with the car’s wheelchair-riding creator (co-star Dorian Harewood) and a comic-relief sidekick Frankie Waters (Joe Nipote), the Viper Project is forced to go underground, where all sorts of cartoonish dialogue and acting ensue, with occasionally entertaining results for the right kind of viewer.

A ‘70s car-crash show headed for a ‘90s prime-time wipeout.

“Viper” will have a two-hour preview Sunday before moving into its regular time period Jan. 7.

“The Good Life”: Stand-up comic John Caponera, a guy you’ve probably never heard of but may have seen, stars in this domestic comedy about average guy John Bowman, the co-manager of a lock-distribution warehouse.

Eve Gordon is his slightly more sophisticated wife, Maureen. They live in Chicago, have three kids, a dog, two cars and a vague idea of how life works.

It’s more making ends meet in middle-class America with less-than-light-handed touches.

“The Good Life”? No. “A Mediocre Existence” is more like it.

“The Good Life” will air Monday before moving into its regular time slot Tuesday.