AT LEAST 'SHE SPIES' KNOWS ENOUGH TO LAUGH AT ITSELF.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

GIVE ``SHE SPIES'' THIS - it has a sense of humor.

From the description, you'd think it was a low-rent knockoff of ``Charlie's Angels.'' Well, it is, but it knows that and spends its time making fun of its own silly premise and anything else that it can.

The three ``bad girls gone good'' are Cassie (Natasha Henstridge), Shane (Natashia Williams) and DD (Kristen Miller) who have been recruited from prison by Jack Wilde (Carlos Jacott), a government agent (the poor-man's Bosley).

The show is taking a four-week network run before it moves to syndication in September. When we first meet the trio, they are rehearsing for their roles as spies - literally - when they get their first assignment to protect and foil an assassination of a former presidential candidate, an ex-governor who lost the race after a sex scandal and now has a variety show.

Everyone hates him, including his producer, who used to be his campaign manager and would have become White House chief of staff. ``I love Hollywood. The people here deserve all the awards they give themselves.''

``She Spies'' plays like its own ``Mystery Science Theater 3000,'' with the girls commenting and arguing about everything that's going on as they run through the show's ridiculous plot. DD argues from the left, Shane the right and Cassie - presumably taking a Middle America road - is either indifferent or undecided. And there's plenty to comment on, from politics to gun control to the inanity of television.

If that isn't enough, the show has little popups that make jokes about what's going on. When the girls chase a man who just tried to kill the TV host/ex-governor, they are cut off by a Universal Studios' tram. The popup reads: ``Blatant product placement.''

``She Spies'' displays a fair amount of wit, even if it is silly and sophomoric and so self-referential you doubt the show's writers can keep it up. But that's more panache then most of the coming fall series have. Call ``She Spies'' a guilty pleasure.

And we like the popup idea, too. If only more shows would use it, then we might see items like: ``Plot twist was lifted from a 1959 episode of 'The Twilight Zone' ''; or `` 'gritty' procedural banter among law-enforcement officers is designed to feign 'realism' while filling time and disguising show's banality''; or ``elaborate, lengthy comic setup will likely result in mild chuckle at best but more likely acid indigestion''; or ``this touching, heartfelt moment was written by ecstasy-cocaine addled 25-year-old Hollywood scribe who last read a book in high school, can't get a date he doesn't pay for and spends his spare time watching reruns of `Who's the Boss.' ''

SHE SPIES - Two and one half stars

What: Trio of female ex-cons has been released from prison to work as an undercover crime-fighting task force.

Where: NBC (Channel 4).

When: 10 tonight.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Natashia Williams, left, Natasha Henstridge and Kristen Miller aren't exactly angels in ``She Spies,'' which gets four weeks of exposure on NBC before moving into syndication.