AT CBS, ABC, SHOWS LOOK BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

Meet the new stars. Same as the old stars.

Two of the three old networks have reached back a decade and plucked some of television's biggest names for prime placement in the fall lineup.

CBS is going old school with Bill Cosby and Ted Danson. ABC brings Michael J. Fox back to series television.

And Sherman Hemsley returns to television on UPN's ``Goode Behavior.''

NBC, the network on which Cosby, Danson and Fox last were stars, isn't bringing back any veteran TV stars. The Peacock network has pulled in Brooke Shields and is doing fine cultivating new TV talent as well.

``I think it's a very smart move on CBS' part,'' said Paul Schulman, a Manhattan media buyer. ``We're going to have 40 new shows, and CBS has very few marquee time periods. People will tune in to see Bill Cosby and Ted Danson.''

Schulman said that CBS was also smart to get other familiar television names into its new lineup, including Peter Strauss, Scott Bakula, Ken Olin and Danson's favorite barmaid on ``Cheers,'' Rhea Perlman.

``These are household names,'' Schulman said. ``These people are well-liked.''

The upside is that people will sample shows with actors they know and like. The downside is there is no guarantee of success. Mary Tyler Moore has never equaled Mary Richards. Tony Danza's ``Hudson Street'' was a loser last year, and even Cosby threw in a clunker two years ago with ``The Cosby Mysteries.'' And recognized names are quite expensive.

Cosby reportedly has a 44-episode deal at $1 million per episode.

Plus, a Cosby, Danson or Fox comes with mighty high audience expectations.

``It will work if the shows are good,'' Schulman said. ``People want the shows to work.''

So far, CBS seems scared that its two gigantic investments will bomb. There have been three major cast changes on Cosby's show, and the premiere of Danson's show, ``Ink,'' after three tries at a first episode, was delayed several weeks. At great expense, CBS canned the first four episodes of the show - along with the show's executive producer - and brought in veteran producer Diane English to start over.

BILL COSBY

Last seen on the small screen: In the failed drama ``The Cosby Mysteries.''

Best-known as: The loud-sweater-wearing Cliff Huxtable on ``The Cosby Show,'' the Jell-O pudding man and the brains behind Fat Albert.

New gig: ``Cosby,'' in which he plays Hilton Lucas, a man who lost his job in a corporate downsizing.

Link to the past: Phylicia Rashad, his television wife on ``The Cosby Show,'' will play his wife again.

Cosby, 59, had a lot of free time on his hands. So he got a show playing Lucas Hilton, a 60-year-old guy who has too much time on his hands. ``I didn't lose my job. They took it away from me. I know where it is,'' says Hilton, who hangs around his house annoying his wife.

Art imitating life?

``I have four houses,'' said Cosby, alluding to the fact that if he annoys his real wife, he can leave the state. ``Parallel to my own life? No. It's every person, every man, every woman 60 years old.''

This show is called ``Cosby,'' not to be confused with the other incarnations of the man's name through television history. There has been ``The Bill Cosby Show,'' ``Cos'' and ``The Cosby Show.''

Two of the original cast members of ``Cosby'' already have been let go. Gone are Telma Hopkins, who was to play Cosby's wife, and Audra McDonald, who was to be his daughter. McDonald has been replaced by T'Keyah (Crystal) Keymah.

``Phylicia can catch,'' said Cosby, who tends to break from the script. ``Telma was brand-new to me. I was brand new to her. And there were times when I wanted to go, and if I'm unfair to any actor or actresses, it is when I decide to go, to ad-lib. Phylicia can catch. So when she came, the comfort zone, as you might say, was much, much better.''

Talking about the importance his success holds for CBS, Cosby continued the football analogy.

``All I know is I am Dan Marino, and I want to make a touchdown and put my team ahead,'' Cosby said. ``Now, if that means that I have to chew out a guard who didn't pull and block, then I'm going to do it. I want to win. I want to win one for me.''

Cosby, who has apparently traded in his overly colorful sweaters for a collection of goofy hats, is filled with self-doubt. The deal did leave some escapes, and Cosby has said that he will not stick around if the show is a loser.

``I've got things and demons that I've got to fight,'' Cosby said. ``Can I make young people identify me with being married 32 years? Can I make 20-year-old people laugh along with 65-year-old people? How do I do that? And it's very, very tricky while I satisfy all of those things.''

TED DANSON

Last seen on the small screen: As Gulliver in the Emmy-winning epic miniseries ``Gulliver's Travels.''

Best-known as: Alcoholic former ballplayer-turned-bartender Sam ``Mayday'' Malone on ``Cheers.''

New gig: Danson plays Jack Brittenham, a recently divorced reporter for the fictitious New York Sun, in ``Ink.'' His ex-wife, Carrie, played by his real wife, Mary Steenburgen, becomes the paper's editor.

Link to the past: In the pilot episode, Danson's character is in bed and quickly turns off the television as soon as he hears the ``Cheers'' theme. Also, Danson and Steenburgen worked together on ``Gulliver's Travels.''

Bill Cosby may be hooking up with his old television wife, but Danson is going one step further. He is teaming with his actual wife.

Danson and Steenburgen portray a recently divorced couple who work together.

``I get to be creative and scared and excited every day with the person I'm madly in love with,'' Danson said. ``And I get to drive home (with her) at night. I don't have to fill them in on something I was doing. I'm so excited about working together.''

Sure, they have to work on not letting work dominate their home lives.

``I wanted to kill him yesterday at rehearsal because he was driving me nuts,'' Steenburgen said during a recent interview. ``There are times, you know, we drive each other crazy. (We're) very human that way.''

The switch from ``drink'' to ``Ink'' may take some time for Danson. He will have to learn to play a much different character than the alcoholic former jock he portrayed for 11 years.

``Doing the pilot was a bit of an acid trip,'' he said. ``I was looking for lemons to peel and stools to sit on and a bar to put my feet on. I was really disoriented. I think I felt a lot of pressure. I think the pressure I felt was more than CBS. When you do a show for 11 years, there's a kind of unconscious process that when you step back in front of the cameras again, it's like I should be doing this thing that I did by rote.''

The most noticeable difference is that Danson takes on this role sans toupee. What hair he has left is cropped close to his skull.

``My hair is not my problem,'' Danson said. ``I look in the mirror and I look fantastic. When I turn my back to you, you've got a problem, but I don't. So I have empathy for you, but I'm quite happy. At one point, I used to say that this is my kind of, you know, my cosmic mooning to the rest of the world, and kiss my bald spot.''

MICHAEL J. FOX

Last seen on the small screen: In Woody Allen's ``Don't Drink the Water'' on ABC in 1994.

Best-known as: The right-wing, nattily attired Alex P. Keaton of ``Family Ties.''

New gig: Fox plays Michael Flaherty, the right-hand man to New York's Mayor Randall Winston in ``Spin City.''

Link to the past: Calls a janitor Skippy, the name of the annoying neighbor on ``Family Ties,'' in new show's first episode. Fox also played a political adviser in the film ``The American President.'' ``Spin City'' executive producer Gary David Goldberg created and served as executive producer on ``Family Ties.''

There's one school of thought that Flaherty actually could be a grown-up Alex P. Keaton.

They both wear suits. They both talk their way in and out of jams. They are both politically minded.

But Fox, who brought both characters to life, disagrees.

``I always actually figured that Alex was heading for a fall,'' Fox said. ``And he's probably just making the recovery. He's turning the corner right now.''

Fox didn't want to play Alex P. Keaton again. He didn't want to play Lewis Rothschild, his character who was the domestic policy adviser in ``The American President,'' either.

So while you'd think that playing another politico, or working with Goldberg from ``Family Ties'' again, lured Fox back into weekly television, it didn't.

Nope. He says it was more the fact that he was working on a seven-month project in New Zealand, and regular work, close to home, had a nice ring to it.

``Because I had such a great relationship with Gary and I didn't want to screw it up,'' Fox said, ``I didn't know whether we'd be able to work together because, you know, I'm 35 now and I won't wash his car anymore like I used to. I was kind of 10 percent that I may do something and 90 percent that I wouldn't. But they pitched this idea to me, and when I walked out of the room, it was 90-10 the other way.''

These three vignettes all go back to a man and his wife. Fox would not have taken this job without his wife's approval. Also, like Cosby, he wouldn't come to Los Angeles for the job. ``Spin City'' will be produced at New York's Chelsea Piers, which, much to Fox's liking, is equipped with two hockey rinks. Fox, a Canadian, has been known to lace up the skates and slap the puck around.

``About, literally, three days later,'' Fox said of his meeting with Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, ``they sent me the first act of `Spin City.' I'll just never forget the day. The pages were coming off the fax, I'd read the first page, hand it to my wife (actress and former ``Family Ties'' co-star Tracy Pollan), and she'd read it while I read the second page, and it was this syncopated laughter.

``And we finished reading the first act, and we both kind of simultaneously said, `This is it.' ''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Chart

Photo: (1) ``All I know is I am Dan Marino, and I want to make a touchdown and put my team ahead,'' Bill Cosby says of the pressures he's putting on himself for CBS' ``Cosby,'' co-starring Phylicia Rashad.

(2) ``I get to be creative and scared and excited every day with the person I'm madly in love with,'' Ted Danson says of working opposite real-life wife Mary Steenburgen on CBS' delayed ``Ink.''

(3) ``We finished reading the first act, and we both kind of simultaneously said, `This is it,' '' Michael J. Fox says of reading a proposed script for ABC's ``Spin City'' with wife Tracy Pollan.

Chart: PRIME-TIME 1996-97