A NATIONAL CRISIS WE KNEW NOTHING ABOUT.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

In obvious ways, the timing couldn't be worse for a black satire about a national crisis, and yet, to demonstrate national resolve toward the First Amendment, the timing couldn't be more urgent. Ultimately, after ``The Day Reagan Was Shot'' takes its sundry potshots at the administration in power, its message is: We've survived tragedies in the past, even if there were some buffoons lodged in key government positions, because there were plenty of others who were competent and dedicated enough to avert mishap.

``The Day Reagan Was Shot'' assiduously follows the events of March 30, 1981, when John Hinkley Jr. (here depicted as a puffy, sweaty, pathetic nut job) took his best shot at the Great Communicator and failed miserably - in fact, all he did was enhance Reagan's legend. The film is most concerned with the selmportant bluster of Alexander Haig who, as Secretary of State, made the momentous, portentous - and utterly incorrect - declaration: ``I'm in control here.'' Forgetting, of course, there was a vice president handy, and even then, the 25th Amendment allowed for Speaker of the House and more to make such a statement before he got to grab the reins of government.

Writer/director Cyrus Nowrasteh endeavors mightily to humanize all involved. Reagan, as empathetically and avuncularly played by Richard Crenna, understands he must act heroically to calm the American people. Nancy, wonderfully essayed by Holland Taylor, is concerned first and foremost for her Ronnie as well as the families of all the victims. Even Haig, as tackled by Richard Dreyfuss, the master of selmportant swagger, has his own pointed, if misguided, reasons for his behavior, in particular a bitter moment in the Cold War.

Still, Nowrasteh finds much humor - there's plenty of testosterone on display as Reagan's flunkies attempt to assert their authority (even if it might cost the commander in chief his life); Secret Service agents are depicted in the operating room in surgical garb toting machine guns. CIA director William Casey is the butt of many jokes, but at a point, even he waggles a finger around his ear, recognizing Haig's insane attempt at a coup d'etat.

The film misses key moments in the madness - ABC's Frank Reynolds throwing a temper tantrum on the air, for one - but grasps the intensity of the official procedures, from the heroism of the hospital medical staff to the good intentions of most of Reagan's Cabinet. Here's a bonus fun fact: The Indiana Hoosiers won the NCAA basketball title the same day Reagan was shot. On March 31, the local newspaper, the Bloomington Herald Telephone, had IU's victory above the fold page 1. Reagan's assassination attempt was below the fold.

``THE DAY REAGAN WAS SHOT''

What: Darkly comic docudrama about March 30, 1981.

The stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Crenna, Colm Feore, Michael Murphy, Holland Taylor, Yannick Bisson, Kenneth Walsh, Beau Starr.

Where: Showtime.

When: 9 tonight; also Wednesday, Dec. 18 and 29.

Our rating: Three stars

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Photo: Richard Dreyfuss, center, is Secretary of State Alexander Haig, with Richard Crenna and Holland Taylor as the president and first lady, in ``The Day Reagan Was Shot,'' on Showtime tonight.