A NUMBERS GAME; NETWORKS TRY TO EMULATE GRITTY CABLE SUCCESSES, YET EXPECT HIGH RATINGS.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

Chris Albrecht, president of HBO's original programming, had two potential projects before him: ``The Children,'' based on David Halberstam'sacclaimed account of the civil rights movement, and ``The Corner,'' an unflinching look at the drug culture focusing on an open-air drug market in West Baltimore.

Ultimately, says David Simon, co-author of ``The Corner,'' Albrecht went with his project, the critically lauded miniseries airing Sundays through May 21. ``(Albrecht) thought, 'Any network could do ``The Children'' with some justice,' '' Simon recounted. ``It's the kind of ennobling story that TV has always been adept with. But nobody in their right mind except HBO could touch 'The Corner.' Chris was thinking not in terms of programming, but counter-programming, what shouldn't be on (network) TV.''

Increasingly, though, the networks are seeking to get in the game of sophisticated, specialized entertainment, the kind that involves and challenges audiences rather than give them something to do while finishing the laundry or paying bills. Unfortunately, each time they create cable-caliber shows, they reap cable-caliber ratings. Which is to say, minuscule by network standards. To wit:

ABC introduced ``Wonderland,'' a dark but compelling drama about an overloaded big-city mental-health care facility. Midway through the pilot episode, a pregnant character took a syringe to her swollen belly during a melee in an emergency room, and although she recovered, the show never did: Nearly a quarter of the viewing audience immediately switched channels. (On HBO, viewers would scarcely have flinched.)

On the next - and last - evening ``Wonderland'' aired, it prompted a whopping 20 million viewers, sated with the narcotizing effects of ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' and unwilling to wallow in unpleasant reality, to switch off ABC.

NBC made a valiant effort to sell viewers on its highly praised series ``Freaks and Geeks,'' about high-school kids in '80s Michigan waking up to the mysteries and miseries of life; network executives called the show a personal favorite. But the show had a couple of things working against it: First, the characters looked like ordinary people, not Hollywood pin-ups playing teen-agers usually found on network TV.

Likewise, the characters - even minor, supporting roles - were multifaceted individuals facing a lot of deep, palpable anguish beyond the ``I'm-not-popular-enough'' boo-hooing of teens over on The WB. The show in general rewarded close attention more than casual viewing. (In fact, it was originally conceived as an HBO series.) It averaged about 7 million to 8 million viewers, which would thrill Fox, The WB or any cable outlet, but embarrassed NBC.

``This was not the year to try this - with the game-show mania, the networks got addicted to huge ratings and it killed their motivation to do a small show,'' says series creator Paul Feig. ``We had an 8 share; ABC had a 25 share. You do the math.''

Feig's series was frequently pre-empted - by the World Series, during the Christmas season, and so on - and didn't have a chance to build momentum; it returned once head-to-head against ``Millionaire.'' ``We heard from a lot of people who were attached to it, and they wrote to tell us they would try to get friends to watch it, but once they did, we were off the air again,'' Feig says with a shrug. ``When we were on for four or five weeks straight, we were always building. We got so much feedback; it was heartening to know we affected people. I know there are people desperate for this kind of show - just not people with Nielsen boxes.''

NBC also took a risk with the quirky animated comedy ``God, the Devil and Bob,'' about heavenly and hellish forces battling over the soul of a common shlub. Asked before the series debuted whether the show might not be more at home on a cable outlet than on NBC, series creator Matthew Carlson replied, ``From the very start, they got the show, they got what we were trying to do, and were supportive.''

Not so a handful of affiliates - which saw the fact that the series toyed playfully with spiritual conundrums as a sign of the impending apocalypse - yanked it from the air without even taking a look to see how benign the program actually was; the fact that it was scheduled opposite ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' practically ensured its subsequent cancellation within a month of its premiere.

``Sometimes you just don't get lucky,'' offers Carlson, as philosophically soft-spoken as one of his characters. ``Our fate was sealed when we were scheduled for 8:30 Tuesdays (opposite ``Millionaire''). The lead time on animation is so long that 18 months ago when we began working on this, Tuesdays didn't look so bad. But by the time we came on, 'Millionaire' was on the landscape. It's really tough against a show like that, there is a relative success, and yet the number's really small and when you look at it, it hurts. It's hard to get excited about those ratings. In a time slot like that, it's hard to make an impression.''

Carlson adds that he and NBC were ``blindsided'' by the affiliate rebellion, less so the protests from people who typically hadn't seen the show: ``I kept hearing the same (erroneous) description of God - 'beer-guzzling hippie.' '' He points out that despite its cancellation in America, the show continues to play successfully in many foreign territories. ``We're encouraging people to fly to Spain to watch it,'' he jokes.

None of these delicate series would have been jerked around in such fashion on cable, where shows are given a time slot for a predetermined amount of time - from three months to as long as two years - without interruptions, which gives audiences time to find and form firm opinions on them. And on cable, where there are fewer original programs on the schedule, a show like ``God, the Devil and Bob'' would be the high- profile crowned jewel in, say, Comedy Central's schedule, not just another NBC show to be juggled around indifferently.

``God,'' ``Freaks'' and ``Wonderland'' - together, they sound like a pretty cool amusement park - in addition to ``Sports Night,'' which didn't pull the audiences ABC sought and may next season go to NBC or HBO, are currently mulling over offers from other outlets interested in picking them up. (In May, the Museum of Television and Radio will present the entire run of ``Freaks and Geeks,'' including six episodes that never aired.) Whether they will return elsewhere or not, of course, depends on if the alternative outlets can pony up network-sized money - which few, outside of HBO, can afford.

Also worth noting is the fizzle that was ``Falcone,'' CBS' highly publicized string of episodes about an undercover cop posing as a mobster. It was, by and large, standard-issue TV fare - interchangeably attractive performers, simplistic moral quandaries, rote action, all executed, so to speak, with competence. But ``Falcone'' suffered in comparison to ``The Sopranos,'' HBO's gangster sensation, to which it was invariably compared. If fans of the genre had what felt like the real deal in terms of violence, language and sexuality, this pretender was never going to become a made man.

Network television will always be able to create a handful of quality shows and lovable characters, and it's wonderful at working within the limitations of certain genres (see ``NYPD Blue'' or ``ER'' or ``Everybody Loves Raymond''). But given its increasingly short attention span, it won't be able to create and coddle inventive, refreshing shows and situations and characters that absolutely get under a viewer's skin.

By virtue of their ``volume-volume-volume'' mindset, networks will always be thinking in terms of appealing to a monolithic audience, which to their minds, according to their reams of demographic studies, is not terribly bright. On the other hand, smart, passionate creators of programs like those above are out to entertain like-minded individuals - these folks don't talk down to their friends, so why should they talk down to their audiences?

Ultimately, what separates the networks from cable (except HBO) is money. Fewer established actors and writers work for cable, or take big pay cuts to do so. Many of the shows are shot in Vancouver or someplace where shows are cheaper to produce than in Los Angeles. Animated series on cable - think ``South Park'' or ``Dick and Paula's Celebrity Special'' - are intentionally cheesy; calling them ``animated'' is almost being kind.

Feig maintains ``Freaks'' would be hard-pressed to retain its level of quality with a lower budget. ``It would be tough - we've gotten rabid interest from cable, but they can't match our budget,'' Feig says. ``I thought it was a generous budget, but we still went over every week on the show.'' With less money, Feig says, he'd have to sacrifice some of the period music that peppers each episode or move production outside the country.

``It's aggravating to say that $1 million is not enough,'' he admits, adding that working with big money can threaten the material with artistic compromises. ``With those higher budgets comes higher scrutiny from the money people. If they say something like, 'We won't pay the money if you don't cast a hot, chesty girl, because that'll get ratings,' it's hard to say, 'No, you're wrong.' ''

Carlson, too, initially insists that ``God'' is too big for cable: ``Our budget was about $1 million per episode, and cable can't do that.'' But, he admits, ``I'm in the broadcasting business, where you want to seek out large audiences. The way I'm programmed, you always try to do network first. But, once you fall in love with your show, you think, 'Wow. I could do almost any version.' ''

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) 'Freaks & Geeks,' left and below

(3 -- cover -- color) 'Wonderland'

(4) Ted Levine, right, counsels a patient (Giancarlo Esposito) in ABC's ``Wonderland,'' which suffered from low ratings numbers.

(5) On HBO or Comedy Central, NBC's ``God, the Devil and Bob'' might have become a prestige project.

(6) NBC's ``Freaks and Geeks'' fought a valiant effort against expectations of its cast and stories.