TV Networks Line Up Their Fall Battle Plans : Commentary: The Emmys signal the start of the season--and the beginning of counter-programming.

The new television season is still three weeks away, but the network jockeying is already in full swing.

Take the Sept. 11 Emmy Awards, for instance--a telecast that signals the start of the 1994-95 season.

ABC will broadcast the awards, but the other networks are all set with competitive counter-programming, even though the Emmys are supposed to honor the best work of the entire industry.

The same thing happened last year when ABC got only mediocre ratings with the Emmys, which were counter-programmed by “The Hunt for Red October” and a Tom Selleck movie.

When the Sept. 11 awards air from 8 to 11 p.m., CBS will respond with a preview of a new sitcom, “The Boys Are Back,” starring Hal Linden and Suzanne Pleshette, followed by a rerun of the film “Steel Magnolias.”

During the same hours, Fox will present first-run episodes of two of its hits, “The Simpsons” and “Married . . . With Children,” plus a pair of new sitcoms, “Hardball” and “Wild Oats.”

NBC, meanwhile, will weigh in with the motion picture “Other People’s Money,” preceded from 7-9 p.m. by a rerun of “Angels: The Mysterious Messengers,” dealing with “the phenomenon of angels through the ages” and hosted by Patty Duke.

But that’s just the start.

ABC, perceived by many as the network to beat in the ratings in the upcoming season, suddenly finds itself facing some unexpected problems that its competitors want to exploit.

Tuesday nights, for instance, have been an ABC bulwark with such high-profile hits as “Roseanne” and “NYPD Blue.” But both series now must cope with new challenges.

With “NYPD Blue” star David Caruso set to leave the series after the first few episodes this fall to pursue a movie career, and former “L.A. Law” regular Jimmy Smits signed to come aboard, the honored but beleaguered show faces another shakedown season.

It was tough on “NYPD Blue” last season, what with advertiser, station and pressure group resistance because of the cop show’s rough, tough, racy tone. But most advertisers and stations finally came around. And in a moral victory, the program recently earned 26 Emmy Award nominations, the most ever for a weekly series.

What’s interesting is that Caruso’s departure began to seem pretty definite just before the voting last weekend by Emmy Award peer groups for winners in the various categories. Caruso looked like the guy to beat in the race for best lead actor in a drama series--and he may yet win.

But you also have to wonder what the reaction was by Emmy voters to an actor who seemed anxious to quit TV for movies. He should win, of course, simply based on quality. But will his co-star, Dennis Franz, also nominated and also top-notch, cop the Emmy prize?

Other nominated contenders in the category include Peter Falk of “Columbo,” Michael Moriarty of “Law & Order” and Tom Skerritt, last year’s winner as best drama series actor for his performance in “Picket Fences.”

As for “Roseanne,” competitor NBC figured the series is aging and vulnerable, and thus moved its hot new hit, “Frasier,” starring Kelsey Grammer, directly against it in the fall scheduling.

The idea is that NBC, which has done well with its “Seinfeld”-anchored Thursday schedule, now is also attempting to establish a Tuesday beachhead, and has moved another comedy hit, “Wings,” to that night to try to weaken and eventually out-rate ABC’s lineup.

But that’s also just for starters in the ongoing one-upmanship at the networks. ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert has said that he might try to destroy NBC’s Tuesday move by switching “Roseanne” to Wednesday and putting his monster hit “Home Improvement” up against “Frasier.” An ABC spokeswoman said late this week that Harbert is still considering the move.

It’s all mind games, of course--keeping the competition off balance. But ABC has yet another unexpected concern that could deter its bid for the household ratings throne this season: the baseball strike.

If, by chance, the strike wipes out the remainder of the season, ABC would lose the opportunity to broadcast the World Series, one of three major national events it hoped to use--in addition to its regular programming--to wrest the ratings championship from CBS. The two other events that ABC is counting on heavily are the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.

ABC has said repeatedly that it is already the winner in the most important competition--the ratings for the younger audience that advertisers focus on. But there is no question that taking the overall household ratings as well usually translates into a public relations bonus.

Just the other day, for instance, ABC pointed out prominently in a ratings rundown for last week that it “again had the top two programs . . . in total viewers and households (‘Home Improvement’ and ‘Grace Under Fire’). These two programs have been in the No. 1 and 2 positions for the past seven weeks.”

Defending champ CBS, meanwhile, is an intriguing contender this season. After losing National Football League games and a group of stations to Fox TV, it is in the unusual position of almost seeming an underdog even though it has won the ratings crown the last three years.

Still, it tops the other networks in Emmy nominations with 91, compared to ABC’s 73 and NBC’s 66. And it has a lot riding on a medical show, “Chicago Hope,” which it is touting as the season’s best new series.

Funny thing happened, though, on the way to the season. Both CBS, with “Chicago Hope,” and NBC, with “E.R.,” are pitting medical series against each other at 10-11 p.m. on Thursdays. This is a real network shootout for dominance of the coveted time slot that once belonged to the recently canceled “L.A. Law.”

The competition of the two new shows will be obvious from the get-go. Instead of waiting for their regular premiere dates, CBS will offer a preview of “Chicago Hope” on Sept. 18, and NBC will present a preview of “E.R.” the very next night.

Overall, however, CBS--shaken up by Fox, involved in merger moves with the QVC home-shopping cable channel that fell through this summer and now seeking to sustain itself under a new entertainment president, Peter Tortorici--suddenly seems to have gone low-profile as it tries to regroup.

It will, however, promote its fall schedule with half-hour specials titled “CBS Sneak Peek” after David Letterman’s show the nights of Sept. 12-15.

Having lost pro football and no longer carrying major league baseball, you’d think that this might be a good time for CBS--on the heels of all the attention for the World Cup soccer competition in the United States--to give the sport a major network push and see what happens. Would it catch on? And what’s to lose, after all? Soccer is probably just as hungry as embattled CBS for some ongoing network sports deal.

With baseball sidelined, at least temporarily, would TV sports fans respond on a regular basis to soccer while it’s still hot? Fox, meanwhile, conceivably could benefit from the baseball strike with more attention for its NFL games--if the young network doesn’t botch its coverage in its first major crack at pro football.

‘Tis the season for jockeying as television viewers await a new season.