Daily News from New York, New York • 204

lllllllliit David Bianculli cn OUR PICK: "The Hugh leys" go musical, with a fractured fairy-tale episode called "Two Jacks and a Beanstalk," dipping into the sweeps-month costume closet. ABC, 9:30 p.m. as 'Beach' gets notes, but not the music he music of the Beach Boys came along in the innocent era of the early '60s after Elvis, be-I I fore the Beatles and before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Brian Wilson and the rest of the group sang bouncy little tales about surfing and drag racing, and other adolescent fancies that TODAY'S -t i I 1 Kiin-iUt i 7 TA '1(1 jf 'T I i''1 I Ma were fun, fun, fun.

Within a few years, both the music and the personal lives of the Beach Boys got more complex, covering everything from family squabbles and nervous breakdowns to drug-enhanced side trips with the Beatles and Charles Manson. Sometimes the music suffered; other times, even when it went unreleased, it soared into uncharted territory. As both musical nostalgia and soap opera, it's a story ready-made for television and Sunday and Monday nights at 9, ABC takes a crack at it by presenting "The Beach Boys: An American Family." This miniser-ies biography has its facts straight and respects both the music and the creative process behind it. As drama, though, it stalls more often than it soars. One unavoidable issue regarding this ready-made TV story is that it's already been made and by the same network.

Ten years ago, ABC presented a telemovie called "Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys," covering the exact same territory. Why tread the same ground, especially when highlighting the identical hit songs? The obvious answer, other than a desire to reach a different or larger audience a decade later, is that the longer running time allows for more depth. The executive producers of "An American Family" Craig Zadon and Neil Meron (responsible for the modern TV musical adaptations of "Gypsy," "Cinderella" and and "Full House" alumnus John Stamos (who has toured as a drummer for the Beach Boys since 1983) all have resumes suggesting their strong connections to the music. Not surprisingly, the composing and recording of that music is given much more emphasis in this new ABC effort. That means other things, like character development, continue to take a back seat.

Kevin Dunn, who portrays the boys' dominat- "Beach Boys" is big S3 a. THE BEACH BOYS: AN AMERICAN FAMILY. Sunday and Monday nights at 9. ABC. ing father, Murray, spends much of the drama reduced to playing him like some two-dimensional "Daddy Dearest" only to come around at the end.

(Alley Mills of "The Wonder Years," as the sympathetic mom, is blandly ineffectual throughout.) The core band members Frederick Weller as Brian, Nick Stabile as Dennis. Ryan Northcott as Carl and Matt Letscher as cousin Mike Love all get their big scenes, and writer Kirk Ellis and director Jeff Bleckner (one of TVs best, though you can't tell it here) try to humanize each one, rather than focus solely on group leader Brian. Yet even there, the miniseries misses a lot. Love's visit to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, during which he hung out with the Beatles, is mentioned in dialogue rather than dramatized and when Dennis temporarily falls under the spell of a wild-eyed hippie named Charlie, things pick up a lot more than they should. When it takes the character of Charles Manson to invigorate your miniseries, your miniseries has a significant problem.

Musically, the hits are all accounted for, as are such famously tabled projects like the "Smile" album. Historically, the Beach Boys are put in proper perspective. another band that plays its own instruments." demands Murray while negotiating with a Capitol record executive; he then adds, "Name another band that writes its own Dramatically, though. "The Beach Boys: An American Family" is a bit flat. on history but short on drama.

Grammy presenters David Duchovny and Jennifer Lopez GDn. 2's unan inn the news a iR crime-story newscasts and relied on flashy graphics. However, while working recently as the station manager at KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Cheatwood has downplayed those aspects. In taking over at Ch. 2, Cheat-wood gets a news unit that has been third for years for a variety of reasons.

Moreover, he gets a news team that has undergone a handful of format reincarnations in recent years, none of which have been particularly successful in the ratings. "The reaction in the newsroom has been extremely positive," said Petitti of the Cheat-wood announcement. "I think people feel really The guy has a track record of winning." By RICHARD HUFF DAIiy NEWS STAFF WRITER Joel Cheatwood, who once launched a firestorm of criticism by making Jerry Springer a commentator on a Chicago newscast, has been named news director for WCBSCh. 2. In addition to taking over the reins at Ch.

2 he replaces Bill Carey, who resigned in October he will serve as vice president of news for the CBS-owned TV stations. Cheatwood brings with him a track record of turning around slumping newscasts. "We face a unique challenge," said Tony Petitti, Ch. 2 general manager. "He can come in- and continue to move the thing forward and try to differentiate That's where Joel is his strongest.

He can assess the market and give us a direction in the market." Cheatwood's reputation precedes him. At one point in his career, he was known as "Hurricane Joel" for his work in beefing up the newscast and ratings at a station in Miami. After a stint in Boston he took a bottom dweller there to second place he moved to Chicago, where he tried Springer in the local newscast. Two anchors resigned in protest. Early in his career, Cheatwood was known as a manager who created heavy in 8.