'BUDDIES' SHOWS MALE BONDING WITH TWIST\Sitcom addresses friendship, race.

Byline: R.D. Heldenfels Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

About a year ago, ABC announced plans to put on a new series called "Buddies."

Then, about a week before the comedy about two friends and business partners was to debut, the series was pulled from the schedule.

One of the lead actors, Jim Breuer, was replaced. Despite being created by the men behind the hit "Home Improvement," "Buddies" had troubles.

"You get into a situation where, 'Oops, they've already announced it," said Carmen Finestra, one of the "Home Improvement" producers who also created "Buddies."

"We've got to do three shows, but we're not feeling quite right about this. You keep delaying, thinking maybe we can make some adjustments," Finestra said at the time. "But I think it just boiled down to the fact that we felt this was not 100 percent right. ... It would be more harmful to put this on, and then yank people (in the cast) out, rather than never be on at all."

Finestra now says this is "the show we want people to see." In fact, viewers had the opportunity to decide for themselves when "Buddies" had a special preview at 9:30 p.m. March 5. The show will premiere at 9:30 p.m. March 13.

They'll also see why there's been so much concern about the series, since "Buddies" is not merely a comedy but one that often will deal with race.

Of the two friends, Dave Carlisle (Dave Chappelle) is African-American and John Butler (Christopher Gartin, who replaced Breuer) is white.

Dave's father (Richard Roundtree) has a lifelong skepticism about white people and is often rude to John. John's mother (Judith Ivey) has what the "Buddies" press kit calls "time-honored prejudices."

In a pressure cooker that also includes John's wife (Paula Cale) and Dave's girlfriend (Tanya Wright), racial issues come up with regularity. We see Dave's difficulties hailing a cab, for instance, and watch security guards tail him in a fancy department store.

"Buddies" tries to play such situations for laughs, but it also tries not to suggest that society's problems - or even those between friends and family - can be solved in a week's episode.

Television comedies have certainly tackled race before, from groundbreaking series like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" in the early '70s to a recent episode of "Grace Under Fire." But "Buddies' " producers are trying to find that middle ground between a comedy about race and a comedy that merely touches on racial issues.

Chappelle, a stand-up comic, was picked for the series because his comedy had "universal appeal," Finestra said.

"It's not, like, in your face. It's the thing that I always liked and associated with Bill Cosby, that 'I'm able to tell you about me in a way that you can laugh along with me.' "I think the great thing about our show is that we have an interracial show that's about friendship, and not just about interracial friendship, but friendship," Finestra said.

"The show is really about two young people, about four young people, really, starting out in life. Two guys who have a partnership, a man who just has a new marriage, a man who has a relationship with a woman. To me that's what the show is about." BUDDIES

When: 9:30 March 13

Network: ABC

Starring: Dave Chappelle, Christopher Gartin, Richard Roundtree, Judith Ivey

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Photo (1--Cover--Color) BEST BUDS ABC pairs friends for life (Christopher Gartin and Dave Chappelle) (2) Dave Chappelle, left, and Christopher Gartin play two friends whose relationship is tested by life's ups and downs.