MUST-FLEE TV? FEAR IS THE WORD FOR THE FALL SEASON, AND A SLATE OF NEW SHOWS LOOKS TO KEEP THE SCARES COMING.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

If you've found real life to be a bit chilling of late, don't look to the fall TV season to offer much solace.

The chief avowed goal of five new series debuting this season is to scare you silly, and several others are itching to find just the right moments to disturb you, as well.

Why the obsession with fright fests? Sean Cassidy, creator of ABC's ``Invasion,'' about the paranormal events in a small Florida town following a hurricane (see - you're unnerved already), says, ``You can answer that question in three words: 'Lost,' 'Lost' and 'Lost.' ''

Indeed, the phenomenal success of the Emmy-nominated thriller ``Lost'' - in which a beleaguered group of plane-crash survivors on a remote South Pacific island must endure man-eating monsters, brazen and violent opportunists and, even, polar bears - cannot be discounted. It's credited by most of those behind the new shockers as, if not the inspiration for their efforts, at least the impetus for their respective networks putting them on the air.

The second-most-cited reason for all these programs coming at viewers simultaneously is the uneasy tenor of the times.

``There's a lot of anxiety in the world right now,'' says David Goyer, executive producer of CBS' ``Threshold,'' about a government-response team dealing with what appears to be a widespread alien invasion. ``People are scared. And historically, when people have been scared and nervous, there's been an uptick in science-fantasy-horror. It happened in the '50s with the Red scare. ... It's obviously in the zeitgeist, and you're shining a light back on society. It's a way to talk about what's going on, but from a sideways angle.''

And then, this being network TV, there's always the more prosaic financial angle.

``What's really driving the networks' openness to this type of storytelling is that DVD sales on the back end can make it a viable financial model,'' admits Josh Pate, co-creator (with his twin brother, Jonas) of NBC's oceanic opus ``Surface.''

So: Here's what viewers have to expect (fear!) from the 2005-06 schedule:

-- ABC's ``Invasion'' (debuts Sept. 21 at 10 p.m.) posits an attack on Earth from aliens on a small Florida town under the cover of a hurricane. William Fichtner and Eddie Cibrian star.

After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina manifested itself on the Gulf Coast, promos for the show were withdrawn by the network, which hinted the show's premiere might be pushed back if the timing felt inappropriate. (Cassidy has tangled uncomfortably with the headlines in the past - his CIA drama ``The Agency'' had to pull a couple of episodes dealing with Osama bin Laden and anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001.)

--``Threshold'' (debuts Friday at 9 p.m. on CBS) stars Carla Gugino as the head of a high-level government team responding to reports of a massive alien invasion of Earth. Charles Dutton, Peter Dinklage and Brent Spiner offer their assistance.

--By contrast, NBC's ``Surface'' (debuts Sept. 19 at 8 p.m.) concerns an attack on the planet from its innermost bowels: Life forms from the depths of the ocean emerge to attack and/or engage the human population. Lake Bell and Jay R. Ferguson investigate.

--The WB's ``Supernatural'' (debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m.) thrusts two 20-something brothers (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) on a road trip to discover what paranormal forces were responsible for the immolation of their mother and the disappearance of their father. Along the way, they encounter real-life urban legends.

--``Night Stalker'' (debuts Sept. 29 at 9 p.m. on ABC) thrusts the cheekiness of the '70s monster-fighting drama into the '90s ``X-Files'' sensibility, with Stuart Townsend starring as a reporter endlessly confronted by eerie phenomena.

--Moreover, two crime procedurals - CBS' ``Criminal Minds'' (debuts Sept. 22 at 10 p.m.) and Fox's ``Killer Instinct'' (debuts Sept. 23 at 9 p.m.) - focus exclusively on the most depraved of criminals. Just to creep you out further, procedural ``Bones'' (debuts Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Fox) features a forensic anthropologist, so you'll be seeing lots of skeletons in disrepair, and ``Close to Home'' (debuts Oct. 4 at 10 p.m. on CBS) examines the unseemly side of ordinary suburban living, hinting that the crimes it depicts could occur in your own neighborhood.

These shows resonate, Cassidy suggests, because, ``We're living in an aftermath world. When I was a kid, the big scary monster was, the bomb's going to come and that's going to be the end. And very, very terrible tragedies have come since, and there hasn't been a rule book for the aftermath. Trying to figure out what to do next, trying to put the pieces back together in a more productive way, those are the themes.''

Eric Kripke, creator of ``Supernatural,'' suggests the appeal of these programs is universal because they're also local. ``Every town has a really great terrifying ghost story,'' he says.

Or maybe the zeitgeist has nothing to do with it. Perhaps it's as simple as people enjoying a good jolt.

Frank Spotnitz, executive producer of ``Night Stalker'' (and, before that, ``The X-Files''), says, ``People love to be scared because it's a cathartic experience, because you get to experience all those emotions, all those fears you have ... and a hero or heroes take you through it, they make sense of it, and they emerge victorious at the end of the hour. By the end of the hour, you feel better and you feel safer.''

Or maybe you'll be more paranoid: Goyer says his show, ``Threshold,'' will exploit the fears of technophobes. ``We reached a place technologically in terms of our civilization where it's actually making it possible for the other entities to do what they're doing,'' he says. ``They're going to be exploiting our cellular phones, our TV signals. They're going to be using our own technology against us. We're going to spotlight how we are really quite vulnerable in ways we hadn't anticipated before.''

Perhaps the scariest thing right now is how ideologically divided Americans find themselves, and Cassidy says that's a subject his show will examine, as well.

``When we're at war, there's a red-and-blue country out there, 'I'm this and you're not,' '' he says. ``There's very, very clearly drawn lines of divisiveness in the world, and who's an alien is kind of a subjective thing. I'm not making a political statement with the show, but it is certainly in the air and it's in my head and my heart, so it's going to come out on the page.''

Oddly, chilling as these programs can be, many of their creators offer the same talking point: They're fun for the whole family.

Really?

``This is a family drama,'' insists ``Invasion's'' Cassidy.

``We're a big family adventure,'' adds ``Surface's'' Pate.

And though the first episode of ``Night Stalker'' features beasts feeding on pregnant women, even Spotnitz chimes in with: ``We want it to be fun and scary every week, and bring families together.''

Well, maybe if you're the Addams Family.

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

drawing, 4 photos

Drawing:

BE AFRAID

Serial killers, alien invasion, ghosts, prison escapes and sea monsters populate the new season - check it all out in our fall TV preview

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist

Photo:

(1) Eric Jungmann in ``Night Stalker''

(2) Emily Deschanel in ``Bones''

(3) Carter Jenkins ``Surface''

(4) Aisha Hinds in ``Invasion''