A THANKLESS TASK THE FALL SEASON IS TV'S TIME OF BEGINNINGS, BUT THIS YEAR, THINGS WILL NOT BE BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Perhaps the banality of a new TV season is what is called for to decompress from the tragic events of the past two weeks.

And then, maybe not.

One of the trends of the new season - CIA action thrillers, as embodied in the series ``24,'' ``Alias'' and ``The Agency'' - just got trumped by reality. The benign doomsayers of Hollywood's escapist factories have nothing, it seems, on those who have made hatred a career. (Ironically, these shows are among the most promising of the new season.)

Still, Hollywood's wan approximations of true terror come distressingly close to reality. In the climactic moments of ``24's'' pilot, an L.A.-bound plane is blown up. In ``The Agency's'' pilot, Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the attacks on New York and Washington, has his name dropped within the first four minutes. Later, after bin Laden's evil scheme has been halted, a character states, ``Every day we're not in the news is a day we've won.''

For Thursday's premiere, CBS has substituted another episode and will edit out the bin Laden references when the pilot airs.

Despite coming on the heels of one of the worst days in history, ``Alias,'' about a sexy young agent who discovers corruption within the agency, probably won't be as affected by the current climate, because it's most clearly a fantasy. But one must wonder if the audience's taste for such derring-do might be dampened at this point, if viewers might be turned off by trivializing intelligence work by depicting a hottie in a blood-red wig as a top operative.

While the networks with the CIA series are trying to approximate business-as-usual as much as possible, NBC - the one major network that doesn't have a new CIA series - has a headache all its own. The network received a request from Aaron Sorkin, the creator of its flagship show, the politically themed Emmy winner ``The West Wing,'' to delay the premiere of the series. Late Friday, NBC announced it would push back the scheduled start of the drama's season and begin the series with a two-hour ``The West Wing'' special on Oct. 3, delaying the premiere of ``Ed'' to Oct. 10.

Even after all the shuffling and changes, will viewers be able to view innocuous shows in the same light right now. For example, ``The Ellen Show,'' a lightweight sitcom starring Ellen DeGeneres as an inept Internet mogul, has a line in its pilot in which Ellen opines, ``My business just collapsed''; her mother (Cloris Leachman) replies, ``Be thankful you weren't in the building at the time.'' Stuff no one expected to resonate now, mysteriously and shockingly does, because of the hard truths of our times.

Sorkin's show won't be in the free and clear two weeks, a month or even six months down the road. ``The West Wing'' has always rallied viewers to appreciate the best of what this country has to offer; it needs to start working its magic - no matter how disconnected from current reality - as soon as possible.

More disconcerting is the financial market the networks - and all of us - face. It has been reported that advertisers are loathe to place their commercials in shows like ``24'' and ``The Agency'' because of their subject matter and despite their quality. Let's say it here: If the exceedingly lame sitcom ``According to Jim'' succeeds because advertisers think it's a safe harbor for their messages, and quality shows with an edge have to suffer, then, in a way, we've already lost.

The late-night series ``Politically Incorrect'' is already reportedly losing advertising revenue. Well, wait, let's think about this: One of the victims of the Pentagon plane crash was actually on her way to appear on ``PI'' to make fun of liberals. We can assume that many of those who died had senses of humor. Maintaining our national sense of humor does not do a disservice to those we lost.

To think, just a few months ago - a now more infinitely innocent-seeming time - it was cloudy as to whether viewers would accept two upcoming midseason series glorifying the Supreme Court, which had been involved in a handful of controversial, even questionable, decisions. By the time those shows reach the air, the high court's actions will be ancient, almost quaintly, touchingly irrelevant, history.

There's another trend afoot, and it could only come while the smugly self-referential baby boomers are still in charge: The self-homage. Three new series: ``Enterprise'' on UPN, ``Smallville'' on the WB and ``The Ponderosa'' on Pax, are prequels to previous entertainments, largely predicated on your previous knowledge of ``Star Trek,'' ``Superman'' and ``Bonanza,'' respectively. Alas, there seem to be precious few new shows on the schedule that will inspire their own prequels years down the road.

Events of the past weeks have forced the networks to postpone start dates on most shows. The WB, for instance has twice delayed its Friday night lineup. As of press time, the networks were to begin debuting their new shows in earnest this week (a few, most notably CBS' uber-reality game ``The Amazing Race,'' have already premiered), but events may force more changes in scheduling. Fox, in particular, has a tricky time ahead, given that it has baseball's postseason with which to contend.

Right now, though, we're giving you both the best factual and critical information regarding the fall season anyone can offer.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Fall TV Preview

A night-by-night look at all the new shows, updates on returning series, interviews, review and more.

Photo: David Sprague

Photo Illustration: Jon Gerung

(2) ``THE WEST WING''

(3) ``24''

(4) ``THE AGENCY''

(5) ``SMALLVILLE''

(6) ``ENTERPRISE''