CBS HOPES EVERYBODY FORGETS 'RAYMOND'.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

THOUGH obituaries repeatedly buried the sitcom over the past few TV seasons, this may be the year the genre demonstrates it still has a pulse.

NBC's ``My Name Is Earl,'' UPN's ``Everybody Hates Chris'' and ABC's midseason comedies all show more potential than most sitcoms of recent years. And CBS' Monday night lineup - the strongest anywhere in the past couple of seasons - is determined to prove it can survive the loss of ``Everybody Loves Raymond.''

Two new comedies debut tonight and, based on their pilots, ``How I Met Your Mother'' has more promise out of the gate. It opens, improbably enough, in the year 2030, when a guy (voice of Bob Saget) sits his two teenagers down and regales them with the saga intimated in the title.

Josh Radnor plays said guy in the present day, an architect named Ted itching to meet the girl of his dreams when pals (Jason Segel of ``Freaks and Geeks'' and Alyson Hannigan of ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') get engaged. Another friend (Neil Patrick Harris, ``Doogie Howser, M.D.'') provides the requisite snarky bad advice.

Tonight, Ted meets Robin (Cobie Smulders), whom he wins over by allowing her to throw a drink in his face for the cathartic amusement of a just-jilted acquaintance. Despite palpable frisson (though Ted's pretty nebbishy, Smulders fairly smolders), we eventually discover the title is a bit of a cheat.

Instead, the show is another in the ``Friends'' mold, and the creators, former ``Late Night With David Letterman'' writers Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, toss in a fair amount of ``Seinfeld''-style observational shtick and oddball plotting.

Like the current hit movie ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin,'' ``How I Met Your Mother'' combines racy gags with a winsome innocence; it's a paean to settling down. The narration doesn't contribute much, really (it's a bit odd for a show to wax nostalgic for the present day, particularly our current day), but the cast meshes nicely and Harris relishes his role as crass comic relief.

Incidentally, due to the exigencies of network programming, Hannigan and Segel are both competing against former co-stars - ``Buffy's'' Nicholas Brendon and former ``Geek'' John Francis Daley appear on Fox's ``Kitchen Confidential'' at the same time.

One might expect CBS' other offering, ``Out of Practice,'' to be a bigger hit. It's positioned comfortably between ``Two and a Half Men'' and ``CSI: Miami'' and its pedigree is unassailable, coming from ``Frasier'' writers Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan and featuring veterans Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing.

Its premise suggests a milder version of the film ``The Royal Tenenbaums,'' focusing on a family of self-satisfied doctors, save for the youngest sibling, a couples therapist named Ben (Christopher Gorham).

Ben's bad-tempered mom, Lydia (Channing), routinely reminds him he lacks the crucial M.D. after his name. Withering put-downs are as essential as air for acerbic sister Regina (Paula Marshall), and plastic-surgeon brother Oliver (Ty Burrell) is so fatuously self-absorbed he must've wandered in off the set of ``Nip/Tuck.''

Complications ensue, as complications will, when patriarch Stewart (Winkler, employing the mellow cluelessness that serves him so well on ``Arrested Development''), understandably divorced from Lydia, is discovered to be dallying with his receptionist (Jennifer Tilly).

Tonight's episode is rife with typical insult gags. Sharper writing and characterizations should help it become worthy of its time slot and viewers' attentions.

David Kronke,[phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER - Three stars

What: A young architect (Josh Radnor) searches for The One after friends (Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan) get engaged.

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 8:30 tonight.

In a nutshell: Amusing enough; both crassly comic and sentimental.

OUT OF PRACTICE - Two and one half stars

What: A couples counselor (Christopher Gorham) is made to feel like an underachiever by medico parents (Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing) and siblings (Paula Marshall, Ty Burrell).

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 9:30 tonight.

In a nutshell: A bit of an underachiever itself, given the talent involved.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Paula Marshall, left, Ty Burrell, Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing and Christopher Gorham portray a family of eccentric doctors in ``Out of Practice.''

(2 -- color) Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris star in the romantic flashback ``How I Met Your Mother.''