FALL ENTREES TO WHET VIEWING APPETITE.

Byline: Nancy Hewitt Daily News Staff Writer

Although Fox, WB, UPN and cable channels such as HBO already have introduced many of their fall offerings, the big three - ABC, CBS and NBC - begin their official fall season this week.

Hoping to increase viewer audiences, actors who were staples of the 1980s, including Bill Cosby, Michael J. Fox and Rhea Perlman, are back on the tube starring in their own series.

Here's a rundown on the first crop of new shows:

Cosby: This sitcom based on the British show ``One Foot in the Grave'' finds Bill Cosby playing a 60-year-old airline employee who loses his job and doesn't know what to do with his free time. Phylicia Rashad plays his wife, and Madeline Kahn plays her best friend.

Premieres 8 p.m. Sept. 16, CBS; regular time slot 8 p.m. Mondays

Pearl: Rhea Perlman plays a loading-dock manager who decides to return to college and enrolls in a humanities class that pits her against a cocky but revered professor (Malcolm McDowell).

Premieres 8:30 p.m. Sept. 16, CBS; regular time slot 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays

Promised Land: In this spinoff from ``Touched by an Angel,'' Gerald McRaney loses his job and decides to take his wife (Wendy Phillips), three kids and mother (Celeste Holm) on a trek across America in search of a new future - all because he was touched by an angel.

Premieres 8 p.m. Sept. 17, CBS; regular time slot 8 p.m. Tuesdays

Life's Work: Comic Lisa Ann Walter tries her hand at balancing a law career and her marriage. Michael O'Keefe co-stars.

Premieres 8:30 p.m. Sept. 17, ABC; regular time slot 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays

Something So Right: Mel Harris and Jere Burns play a newlywed couple with the unenviable task of bringing two families together.

Premieres 8:30 p.m. Sept. 17, NBC; regular time slot 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays

Spin City: Michael J. Fox returns to TV as a fast-talking, faster-thinking deputy mayor who is charged with making his boss look like he matriculated beyond the sixth grade. Barry Bostwick and Carla Gugino co-star.

Premieres 9:30 p.m. Sept. 17, ABC; regular time slot 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays

Men Behaving Badly: This second new series based on a British show is about two politically incorrect bachelors who are totally clueless about women. Ron Eldard and Rob Schneider co-star.

Premieres slot 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays

Townies: Molly Ringwald and her childhood friends live the single life in New England.

Premieres 8:30 p.m. Sept. 18, ABC; regular time slot 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays

Moloney: Peter Strauss stars in this drama that revolves around the conflicting issues facing a Los Angeles police psychiatrist who's also a cop. Cherie Lunghi and Ashley Johnson co-star.

Premieres 9 p.m. Sept. 19, CBS; regular time slot 9 p.m. Thursdays

The Pretender: Michael T. Weiss stars as a man raised by a secret corporation that used his exceptional intelligence to run simulations to solve problems. Shocked to learn that his scenarios caused deaths in the real world, he escapes and decides to use his ability to master any profession to dispense justice. Andrea Parker and Patrick Bauchau co-star.

Previews 10 p.m. Sept. 19, NBC; regular time slot 9 p.m. Saturdays beginning Sept. 28

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: Melissa Joan Hart takes on the comic-book role of the 16-year-old witch who discovers she has special powers after she moves in with two spinster aunts (Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea).

Premieres 8:30 p.m. Sept. 20, ABC; regular time slot 8:30 p.m. Fridays

Clueless: The hit movie of the same name is the basis of this sitcom about a smart, savvy, rich and beautiful Beverly Hills teen. Rachel Blanchard, Stacey Dash and Elisa Donovan co-star.

Premieres 9 p.m. Sept. 20, ABC; regular time slot 9 p.m. Fridays

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Scott Bakula plays a covert action specialist for a company providing detection and protection services who crosses paths with a mysterious assassin/spy (Maria Bello). Roy Dotrice co-stars as their boss.

Premieres 9 p.m. Sept. 20, CBS; regular time slot 9 p.m. Fridays

FX: The Series: The series is based on the popular films about a master of special effects who helps a New York police detective set up elaborate traps to capture criminals. Kevin Dobson and Cameron Daddo co-star.

Premieres 9 p.m. Sept. 20, UPN; regular time slot 9 p.m. Fridays

Suddenly Susan: Brooke Shields plays a San Francisco magazine columnist who is looking for the right guy but isn't having much fun in her search.

Premieres 9:30 p.m. Sept. 20, NBC; regular time slot 9:30 p.m. Fridays

Adventures of Sinbad: This fantasy show stars Zen Gesner as the mythical hero who sails the seven seas in search of adventure. Jacqueline Collen and George Buza co-star.

Premieres 3 p.m. Sept. 21, KTLA; regular time slot 3 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Big Deal: This game show is based on the classic ``Let's Make a Deal,'' but done on a grand scale in an arena setting. Scheduled for a six-week run during the early part of the football season, it's designed so each episode can be shortened if a football game runs overtime. Mark DeCarlo is the host.

Premieres 7 p.m. Sept. 21, Fox; regular time slot 7 p.m. Sundays

Dark Skies: Eric Close and Megan Ward play young lovers who turn up in Washington, D.C., in 1961, and land auspicious jobs. She's an aide to first lady Jackie Kennedy, he's an aide to a congressman. Their jobs take them into startling contact with a conspiracy involving extraterrestrial influence on human affairs.

Premieres 8 p.m. Sept. 21, NBC; regular time slot 8 p.m. Saturdays

Common Law: Comic Greg Giraldo plays a Harvard-trained attorney working in Manhattan, trying to juggle his white-collar job and his uptown girlfriend with his blue-collar circle of friends and family. Megyn Price and Gregory Sierra co-star.

Premieres 9:30 p.m. Sept. 21, ABC; regular time slot 9:30 p.m. Saturdays

Love and Marriage: Patricia Healy and Anthony Denison play the Nardinis, a blue-collar couple trying to interface with new neighbors who might have stepped out of a Martha Stewart book.

Premieres 9:30 p.m. Sept. 21, Fox; regular time slot 9:30 p.m. Saturdays

Profiler: Ally Walker plays a former FBI specialist who leaves the force after getting too close to a stalker, then is recalled into service to help develop a profile on a serial killer. Robert Davi co-stars.

Premieres 10 p.m. Sept. 21, NBC; regular time slot 10 p.m. Saturdays

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Fall season's MIXED-UP menu (Mi chael J. Fox and Carla Gugino)

(2) Rhea Perlman and Malcolm McDowell butt heads in ``Pearl.''

(3) Lisa Ann Walter mixes law and marriage in ``Life's Work.''

(4) Peter Strauss looks at issues facing cops and psychiatrists in ``Moloney.''

(5) Michael T. Weiss masters professions as ``The Pretender.''