'NYPD'S' 8TH SEASON HAS BLUES ... SO FAR.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

Even though the novelty of seeing those well-toned naked butts on ``NYPD Blue'' has long since passed, it's heartening in a way to see that the producers are still willing to coerce their stars into baring their backsides. Alas, the reasons for said nudity no longer feel like anyone here is going for the old ``gritty reality''; it's more like a tradition, like Lucy's ``Waaaah'' or the Fonz's thumbs-up on ``Happy Days'' or ``South Park'' killing off Kenny. Those buttocks have become comforting old friends.

``NYPD Blue'' enters its eighth season with a couple of strikes against it. The nuanced downer ``Once and Again'' lost a significant chunk of its audience in this, its second season, in the Tuesday night time slot; the old cop show may find it hard to coax viewers back. More distressingly, the show's heart and soul, co-creator David Milch, has abandoned ship, and his absence is felt in subtle ways in the first two episodes of the new season. For one thing, the dialogue doesn't quite have Milch's brittle snap - Andy (venerable Emmy winner Dennis Franz) says ``jackpot'' too easily when he means something quite the opposite; characters offer to ``reach out'' more awkwardly than when Milch had them say it. For another, the scenarios and the players' reactions to them have become fairly rote.

Tonight's episode picks up a couple of threads left over from last season - Andy's son may have leukemia; the whole squad is looking at an Internal Affairs review over their protecting the departed Kirkendall's propensity for falling for scumbags. There are also a couple of new cases, as well - a fast-food massacre (similar to the departed ``Deadline's'' season opener) and the rescue of an addict's 5-year-old from a drug dealer. Next week, the precinct focuses on an apparent serial killer gunning for cab drivers.

The cliffhanger story threads are clipped rather too conveniently, and Kirkendall's exit means that the series has only one remaining female regular, Emmy winner Kim Delaney, whose Detective Diane Russell finally quits mourning Bobby Simone and hooks up with exactly who you'd expect. The emotional impact is nonetheless fairly muted.

Change is in the air - James McDaniel, a reliable presence as Lt. Fancy, will leave this season, as will Delaney for another series from co-creator Steven Bochco. Henry Simmons - whom I've heard described by female friends as ``impossibly handsome'' - as Baldwin Jones was a fortuitous addition last year, but it'd be nice if they gave him more to do; Emmy winner Gordon Clapp is likewise underused.

So far, the only update of note comes in next week's episode, in which Andy is uncharacteristically chipper and upbeat. Unfortunately, all that does is underscore why we like him grumpy. Entering its eighth season, ``NYPD Blue'' remains reliable entertainment, but it has lost its ability to surprise and deeply involve viewers the way it once did.

< ``NYPD BLUE''

What: Eighth-season premiere of the cop drama.

The stars: Dennis Franz, Rick Schroeder, James McDaniel, Kim Delaney, Gordon Clapp, Henry Simmons.

Where: ABC (Channel 7).

When: 10 p.m. Tuesdays.

Our rating: Two and one half stars

NBC's 'Three Sisters': relatively boring

One wonders what thinking went into the meeting in which ``Three Sisters'' received its title. Obviously, NBC had had success with a drama titled ``Sisters,'' so they couldn't use that, but did anyone even bother to note the unfortunate, irrelevant reference to Anton Chekhov's bleak drama? Or did they figure that no one in the target demographic would even make the connection?

As much thought has been expended on the mechanics of the sitcom itself as its title. Certainly, there's no denigrating the show over truth in advertising: It indeed concerns three sisters, though for some ungodly reason, it's narrated by the married sister's husband, a minor but majorly uninteresting character (David Alan Basche). He spouts things like, ``When my wife and her sisters make plans, the planning of the activity becomes the activity,'' an observation so mind-numbingly mundane it wouldn't pass muster for a ``Love Is ...'' cartoon panel.

As for the sisters themselves, well, you've seen their sorts before. Katherine LaNasa stars as Bess, the nominally normal one - which is to say in sitcomland, she's competent to the point of being irksome - who's married to that virtually invisible husband and pregnant besides. Nora (Vicki Lewis) is one of those characters capable of summing themselves up in a single mirthless quip: ``I'm sardonic to the point of bitter, haven't had sex in two years and my gay ex-husband isn't gay.'' Annie (A.J. Langer) is the cute ditz. Show-biz vets Dyan Cannon and Peter Bonerz, who should know better, play their self-absorbed parents trying pathetically to retain some vestige of their youth.

This is the level of discourse ``Three Sisters'' manages:

Annie (to Bess, in a restaurant): ``You didn't pee in your pants again, did you?''

Bess: ``I don't know. I should check. Sometimes pregnancy sucks.'' Truly Chekhovian.

``Three Sisters'' comes from Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Helme, who've written for ``Roseanne'' and ``Ellen.'' It's not, to its credit, abjectly cynical in its hackery - it aspires, at times, for a sweetness that Langer and LaNasa are particularly capable of providing (by contrast, Lewis already seems bored with the programmatic formula). Humorwise, however, the show is more parched than Nora's love life: In three episodes available for screening, there wasn't a single solid laugh to be had.

``THREE SISTERS''

What: Sitcom about young, attractive siblings of disparate temperaments.

The stars: Katherine LaNasa, Vicki Lewis, A.J. Langer, David Alan Basche, Peter Bonerz, Dyan Cannon.

Where: NBC (Channel 4).

When: 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays.

Our rating: Two stars

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Rick Schroeder, left, Kim Delaney and Dennis Franz are back for another season of dramatic detective work in ``NYPD Blue,'' but the show itself is lacking suspense.

(2) Katherine LaNasa, left, Vicki Lewis and A.J. Langer play very different siblings in ``Three Sisters.''