UPN, WB: In the TV Game for the Long Haul : Television: Although the new networks may be hard to find on the channel selector, both have former Fox executives who think they have the savvy to build another winner.

Executive producer and actor Richard Dean Anderson will give birth to “Legend” tonight, his first weekly TV series since “MacGyver” ended on ABC three years ago.

The Old West period piece combines a huge budget, mechanical gadgets and special effects to tell the story of a boozing dime novelist who assumes the identity of his mythical character.

There’s only one small thing about the ambitious “Legend” and that’s the broadcast network on which it airs: UPN.

“To be honest, the hotel I’m staying at down here doesn’t get UPN,” Anderson said in a telephone interview from Mescal, Ariz., where the show films. “So I haven’t even seen UPN, which is a little disconcerting.”

UPN (seen locally on KCOP-TV Channel 13) and WB (on KTLA-TV Channel 5) may not yet be synonymous with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, but not for a lack of trying. Despite start-up numbers that register a blip on the ratings scale--with the notable exception of UPN’s “Star Trek: Voyager”--the two aspiring broadcast networks are deeply immersed in developing new series with top producers to expand their programming schedules for the fall season.

At the moment, UPN airs two weeknights of programming on Mondays and Tuesdays; WB airs one night on Wednesdays. Tonight’s two-hour introduction of “Legend” represents the first bit of schedule tinkering from either network since their debuts in January. Next Tuesday, star Richard Grieco’s “Marker” will move back an hour, replacing “The Watcher” at 9 p.m. and making room for “Legend” at 8 p.m.

Both networks were launched in January with a promotional blast, and have already lost $40 million to $50 million or more between them, according to analysts. But both are backed by the deep pockets of studios--Paramount behind UPN and Warner Bros. behind WB--that hope to build a national network of TV stations to broadcast programs they produce.

After three months on the air, UPN has performed best with its two sitcoms and three hourlong dramas, thanks largely to the loyal following for Paramount’s third “Star Trek” spinoff, while WB has struggled to elbow its way into the competition with four sitcoms.

Through April 2, UPN has averaged a 4.5 rating (or 4.3 million U.S. households)--the rating falls to a 3 without the “Voyager” factor--while WB has averaged a 1.9 rating (1.8 million homes). By way of comparison, the season’s top-rated network, ABC, has averaged a 12.1 rating (11.5 million homes) and the No. 4 network, Fox, has averaged a 7.7 rating (7.3 million homes).

“After the first lap, both (UPN and WB) are probably doing as well as their parent companies expected,” said media analyst Jeffrey Logsdon, managing director for the Seidler Co. “Obviously, the UPN network has had a great locomotive in ‘Star Trek: Voyager,’ and I think that the Warner stuff has shown some modest improvements as time has gone along.”

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While both networks are still determining their next step in prime time, they have confirmed definite plans for new children’s programming this fall.

In September, UPN will introduce a one-hour block of children’s programming on Sunday mornings, including “Space Strikers” from Saban Entertainment. Mike Sullivan, president of entertainment for UPN, would not commit to an exact date for UPN’s rollout of a third night, but he said the network was eyeing Sundays and Wednesdays for possible expansion.

“Generally, we’re off to a real good start,” Sullivan said. “You can compare it historically with Fox at the beginning. We certainly are more competitive now than they were at this time. We’re doing better in household ratings and premium demographics than Fox.”

For UPN, everything springs from “Voyager.” According to a recent study by Seltel, a company that represents independent TV stations, UPN affiliates airing “Voyager” during the February sweeps improved their ratings by 63% over what the stations were airing in those time slots the previous year.

But the rest of UPN’s shows on average performed 42% worse in their time periods than the year before, and WB’s shows were off 49% in their time slots.

So UPN is searching for compatible dramas to hook the “Star Trek” crowd, mostly young men, using “Voyager” on Mondays at 8 p.m. as a promotional platform. With that in mind, “Legend” was created by Michael Piller and Bill Dial, two veteran producers of the “Star Trek” TV franchise.

Meanwhile, Leonard Nimoy, a.k.a. Spock, and Paul Bernbaum are executive producing one of two new UPN dramas now in production. Their show, “Deadly Games,” stars Christopher Lloyd as an evil video-game character who comes to life. The other drama, an ensemble called “Live Shot,” focuses on the behind-the-scenes activity and personalities of “Re-Action News,” a local TV newsroom. Both shows are pegged for fall.

“The immediate challenge for us is to do better on Tuesday,” Sullivan said. “If we can improve our time period performance at 9 p.m. with ‘Legend,’ it will give us a beachhead on Tuesdays, which is another important step in our growth.”

WB is similarly primed for expansion. Backed by Warner Bros.’ prolific animation studio, WB has ambitious plans come September for a children’s network. Kids’ WB will unfurl three hours of programming on Saturday mornings and one morning hour Monday through Friday. The shows include a new series from Steven Spielberg, “Freakazoid,” and the first new “Sylvester & Tweety” episodes produced in three decades.

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In addition, WB plans to launch a second night of prime time this fall, although the network has not specified which night. WB’s fall development includes “Savannah,” an Aaron Spelling drama about three Southern belles who take on Manhattan; a remake of the 1960s private-eye drama “77 Sunset Strip,” and the preternatural crime-drama “Head Cases,” featuring a group of cops who use their psychic abilities to solve cases.

WB chief executive Jamie Kellner denied the suggestion that WB is now pursuing dramas, as opposed to comedies, after seeing UPN’s success with “Voyager” and, to a lesser extent, “Marker.”

“When you’re a new emerging network, your job is to find the hole, find the gaps, find the groups the other networks are not serving, and then step in and provide programming for those groups,” Kellner said.

WB has had a tougher go in the ratings without the benefit of a “Voyager.” In addition, WB’s lower ratings reflect its weaker lineup of TV stations--the network relies on Chicago’s cable superstation WGN to fill out its national coverage.

The fledgling WB has drawn criticism from advertisers for trying too hard to be like Fox, going after young Americans with raw, ribald sitcoms that borrow heavily from Fox’s old talent pool. “The Wayan Bros.” co-stars two siblings from Fox’s “In Living Color,” and “Unhappily Ever After” was created by a producing team from Fox’s “Married . . . With Children.”

Part of the problem, Kellner said, has been maintaining the consistency of WB’s schedule. “We put episodes of certain series on the air that were not up to the standard or not up to the level of other episodes of those shows,” said Kellner, the former Fox CEO who gave his new network a “B” grade for the first quarter.

“There was an unevenness, which is damaging when the audience tunes in one week and tunes in the next week and wonders what happened. That’s part of the network business, but we didn’t have the big established network shows to keep the viewer coming back,” Kellner said.

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The drive to establish a fifth broadcast network has been questioned by critics, because Fox snatched the majority of independent TV stations with strength in their marketplace to build its 8-year-old network. But WB and UPN are stocked with former Fox executives who believe they have the savvy to do it again.

Media analyst Jessica Reif with Merrill Lynch estimates that WB will lose $70 million its first year. UPN’s expenditures and operating losses will “significantly exceed $150 million” in its first two years, according to the 1994 annual report of BHC Communications, owner of the station group that joined with Paramount to launch UPN. The parent companies of both networks, however, have committed to sustaining such losses for several years until their networks can get off the ground.

“It’s just a rocky road and it’s going to take a long time,” Reif said. “They both have excellent management. These people know the television business inside and out. I don’t think anybody thought it would be easy.”