`GIDEON' ANSWERS THE TV QUESTION.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

A powerful but dying businessman sits before his doctor, doing everything in his power to offend the healer - flouting his provocative, off-handed racism and his imperious money-accruing ways. Yet he insists that though his prognosis is most charitably described as ``poor,'' this doctor must take him on as a patient and save his life. Clearly, this is a guy used to getting his way. The doctor sits, bemused at this man's bravado, but senses, in his refusal to take ``no'' for an answer, a hint that he might be able to battle the ravenous cancer eating away inside of him, a cancer that serves as a pretty good thumbnail sketch of its victim's own toxic personality.

Thus begins ``Gideon's Crossing,'' the fall television season's class act. Granted, it's not a particularly fast pack, but this would top most lists any season. Ben Gideon, compelling played by Andre Braugher (an Emmy winner for his previous series, ``Homicide''), is the compassionate chief of experimental medicine as well as the imposing mentor to a group of interns at a Boston hospital. He's given to the sort of eloquent, soaring and resonant speeches about the duties, responsibilities, challenges and curses of the medical profession that ``The West Wing's'' Jedediah Bartlett spouts about America in general.

In tonight's premiere - which is airing without commercial interruption, a keen measure of how much attention ABC would like to have directed to the series - Gideon treats Kirk Bales (a commanding performance from Bruce McGill), the Type-A businessman. Bales' fate is ruefully ironic: The same qualities that save him likewise doom him in a manner that's unexpected. Bales' plight also provides some back-story on Gideon - he recently lost his wife to cancer; the scene in which Braugher relives his character's anguish to his friend and boss Max (Ruben Blades), is genuinely moving. (Blades complements the scene with subtle work.)

Tonight's episode also introduces some of the supporting characters and their fairly rote antics. Dr. Boies (Russell Hornsby) is the chief resident, who conceals his softer side (naturally) with a brittle exterior. Drs. Cooper (Eric Dane), Shandar (Ravi Kapoor), Klein (Rhona Mitra), Cherry (Hamish Linklater) and Stiles (Sophie Keller) are the earnest, conniving, smart, goofy and reserved interns who bumble through the episode's comic-relief cases.

But ``Gideon's Crossing'' isn't about the supporting players; it's about Braugher's showcasing his immense ability. Creator/executive producer Paul Attanasio (``Homicide'' and the theatrical releases ``Quiz Show'' and ``Donnie Brasco'') is more than capable of giving his star strong material worthy of his talents. Tonight's episode is a marvel of mood and atmosphere and has a sense of assurance and a respect for its audience that very few first episodes of new series ever manage. If Attanasio, Braugher and company can maintain this high level of quality, the show should enjoy a long run. It's the one new series that compels viewers to watch in the future with a sense of blissful expectation.

``GIDEON'S CROSSING''

What: Medical drama focusing on a dedicated, demanding doctor.

The stars: Andre Braugher, Ruben Blades, Eric Dane, Russell Hornsby, Ravi Kapoor, Sophie Keller, Hamish Linklater, Rhona Mitra, Meagan Gregory, Jascha Washington, Brian Wiltshire.

Where: ABC (Channel 7).

When: 10 tonight; thereafter, 10 p.m. Wednesdays.

Our rating: Three and one half stars

Now come on - does anyone act like this in real life?

It's called ``The Geena Davis Show,'' but it's really just a wan, standard-issue situation comedy that somehow wrangled the Oscar-winning actress and formerly aspirant action heroine into playing a wan, standard-issue ditz fumbling through life in these wacky modern times of ours.

Davis stars as Teddie Cochran, a professional publicity monger and party thrower for nonprofit organizations, who meets and falls for Max Ryan (Peter Horton). He has two kids; she obviously has never dealt with a child in her adult life: She wanders into the kitchen at breakfast wearing nothing but a T-shirt, which gives Ryan's teen son Carter (John Francis Daley, late of ``Freaks and Geeks'') adolescent fits. (In case there was any question, the show repeatedly makes it abundantly clear that Davis has really long legs.)

She has pals, too, particularly cynical, bibulous divorcee Hillary (Mimi Rogers), who fires up cigarettes in front of the kids and says things like, ``I could go for a little Cuban - and while we're at it, how about some lunch?'' Hillary gets so many lines of this nature that she could use her own drummer to follow her around, providing rimshots for every lame utterance.

Of three episodes screened, only one offered a couple of laughs - Teddie wants to prove she can be successful both at her job and as a stepmom in training, as she prepares a soiree for Attention Deficit Disorder (Harland Williams, as one of her employees, has a briefly funny moment mocking the malady). But even that's predicated on the oldest premise in the book - and tens of millions of people manage to do what Teddie finds so daunting every day, which makes her look even more flighty.

Another episode finds her changing her diet and wardrobe overnight, simply to befriend one of Ryan's ex-girlfriends - would any adult really behave this way? When the comedy's this thin and the situation's so ho-hum, a show scarcely deserves to be called a sitcom.

``THE GEENA DAVIS SHOW''

What: Sitcom starring the Oscar winner as a flighty career gal engaged to a widower with two children.

The stars: Geena Davis, Peter Horton, Mimi Rogers, Kim Coles, John Francis Daley.

Where: ABC (Channel 7).

When: 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays.

Our rating: Two stars

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Andre Braugher, front left, with Ruben Blades, leads the cast of the powerful new drama ``Gideon's Crossing.''

(2) Geena Davis falls for the man of her dreams, played by Peter Horton, in her namesake series ``The Geena Davis Show.''