Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 234

Networks' Fall Offerings They give us a little magicy a little mirth and a lot of mediocrity By Robert Bianco TV-Radio Editor, Post-Gazette Iah, humbug. It would be nice to be able to say the upcoming season is TV's best ever. It would be fun, in a macabre sort of way, to be able to say it's the worst ever. But it isn't either. In fact, it's hardly anything at all.

Dull mediocrity abounds so much if I I tl I li ILw i fa. r. i ii nn i so, that September's two most eagerly anticipated TV events, Ken Burns' "Baseball" and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, have nothing at all to do with the networks (although you can bet the network newsmagazines will be all over O.J. like white on rice).

Is this any way to run a multi-million dollar business? Still, it is an ill season that blows no good. ABC already has given us a terrific family drama, "My So-Called Life." CBS has an amusing sitcom, "The Five Mrs. Buchanans," with a weakish pilot but an incredibly strong cast. NBC has an old-fashioned legal drama for Melissa Gilbert and Cicely Tyson, and an old-fashioned star turn for Bill Cosby. And Fox, of all networks, has a touching family show, "Party of Five," that actually seems interested in presenting real, whole human beings, instead of just models with sex drives.

Five shows to get semi-excited about maybe seven, if you stretch it to include the battling medical dramas, "E.R." and "Chicago Hope." (I don't, but then, I've never really been a big fan of the genre.) That's not a lot on which to pin a season, but it's not a debacle, either. It's mediocre, which seems to be where we came in. At any rate, here they are: the good, the bad, and more often than either the barely classifiable. You'll find them listed below in order of predicted quality, based on the pilots, L.A. interviews and backstage buzz.

As always, watch fast; mediocrity tends to have a limited shelf life. So-Called Life" (ABC, Thursdays at 8): What more can one say about this beautifully acted, sensitively written drama from "thir-tysomething's" Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz? That it's the best show of the new season? Hardly praise enough. How Melissa Gilbert, left, and Cicely Tyson star in "Sweet Justice," Saturdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. about that it's the best family drama since "thirtysomething" itself high praise, indeed, unless you're one of those people who hated "thirtysomething." How about promising you that upcoming episodes are just as good, and in some cases better, than the pilot? Better yet, how about just saying "watch (Already airing.) 2 "The Five Mrs.

Buchanans" (CBS, Saturdays at 9): This funny, if formulaic, sitcom follows four disparate women (Judith Ivey, Beth Broder- ick, Harriet Harris and Charlotte Ross) who are united by two powerful bonds: their marriages to the four Buchanan boys, and their fear of the family's dragon-lady matriarch, Mother Buchanan (Eileen Heckart). The pilot is a little harsh and jokey, but the actresses are all wonderful, and the producers (veterans of "The Golden seemed in their LA press conference to have a good grasp of where the show needs to go. Let's hope so. Even the best season could ill afford to waste talents like Ivey, Heckart and Harris, and this sit- 6 TV WEEK Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.