PAX NOT LEADING THE PACK, BUT...; IN UNDERSERVED DEMOGRAPHIC, IT'S GIVING UPN A RUN FOR ITS NUMBERS.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

Since its inception 51 weeks ago, the Pax TV network has emphasized wholesome entertainment, targeting a heartland demographic obviously underserved by the other networks. Pax soon will have 116 affiliates across the country, and though it still barely registers more than a blip in the ratings, its numbers aren't that far afield of UPN's, and without that netlet's noise or pandering.

Pax inaugurates its sophomore year tonight with the debut of ``Destination Stardom,'' a ``Star Search''-type series hosted by former ``Entertainment Tonight'' correspondent Lisa Canning. Two more series - ``Chicken Soup for the Soul'' and ``Twice in a Lifetime'' - debut this week; the premiere of Pax's final new original series of the season, ``Hope Island,'' is Sept. 12. (The remainder of Pax's schedule is given over to reruns of old family series and chunks of home-shopping programming.)

``Hope Island'' is the best of Pax's new batch, based on the British series ``Ballykissangel;'' American audiences might be content to call it ``Northern Exposure'' with a preacher instead of a doctor ministering to the hurts of an eccentric Northwest community.

Cameron Daddo stars as Daniel Cooper, a newly ordained minister who shows up on the island in question with a duffle bag and a guitar. His introduction to the town is to get hustled into a confessional at the local Catholic church, where he's promptly scorched by a space heater (Pax seems to lean more toward Protestantism than Catholicism in its lightly rendered religious sensibility).

Other oddities Daniel encounters include a conniving real estate agent (he adds a ``Walk in Our Lord's Footsteps'' path - with footprints in plaster - outside the church as a sort of sideshow attraction to hook faithful and/or curious potential home buyers), a feuding mother-and-daughter team who run a general store and refuse to speak to one another, communicating instead via handwritten notes, and a barroom full of patrons who have learned to duck on cue during games of darts.

The show manages to juxtapose its comic and poignant moments fairly deftly, and Daddo is empathetic as the befuddled but well-intentioned Daniel. Its main problem is that it feels watered down - its eccentricities are concocted for people uncomfortable with real eccentricities, its conflicts are handled in a fashion even a passive-aggressive would find wimpy. The pilot episode pits Daniel against a cynical single mom (Suki Kaiser) who doesn't want her son going to church; by show's end, she's softened, and a possible romance is even hinted at. ``Hope Island'' lacks ``Northern Exposure's'' poetry and, ironically, its soulfulness.

Like ``Hope Island,'' ``Twice in a Lifetime,'' premiering Wednesday, tries to inject a droll sense of humor into its uplift. Essentially a variation on ``Touched by an Angel,'' ``Lifetime's'' Gordie Brown stars as Mr. Jones, who's not much of a guardian angel - he only gets to work once someone has died - but his clients aren't such great shakes, either. After a cellestial review of a character's life has found him lacking somehow, Jones helps him return to a key moment in his life and correct the misstep.

The pilot concerns a woman who gave up her first child for adoption and, haunted by the memory, became a disconnected mother for the child she did keep. A future episode concerns a venal tax auditor (someone working on the show, clearly, got audited).

Since each episode focuses on the guest star's redemption, which threatens to turn the series formulaic pretty quickly, Brown tends to be a supporting player in his own series. Which is too bad, since he seems more interesting than his tough-luck customers. The show's most amusing conceit is that even those working for the almighty up in heaven - Jones pleads his case before a codgerly judge against a rather angry prosecutor - are just as petty and contentious as your standard-issue mortal.

``Chicken Soup for the Soul,'' based on the best-selling series of tepidly inspirational books aimed at increasingly fragmented demographics (coming soon: ``Chicken Soup for Those Allergic to Chicken Soup's Soul''), premieres Tuesday. Michael Tucker - late of ``L.A. Law'' - hosts, opening the series with perhaps the blandest, most generic introduction ever: ``For as long as I can remember, I've been interested in stories,'' he enthuses, sort of. ``We all are,'' he adds, thereby ostensibly justifying this series' existence.

Except that what's presented here scarcely qualifies as storytelling - there are seven vignettes crammed into the first hourlong episode. Here's the basic recipe for a helping of ``Chicken Soup:''

Scene 1

Character: Oh, what an insurmountable problem I seem to have

Scene 2 (or, even, later that same scene)

Character: Happy day, my problem is solved

It doesn't help that the very first spoonful of soup manipulatively involves a child's death or that two segments have lessons on the order of, ``You think you have problems, hah - you could be dead!'' Instead of rushing through sketches too brief to make an impression, the show might be better served by taking time to develop characterizations and situations that might involve viewers. Or by renaming itself ``Chicken Soup for the Attention Deficit Disorder Sufferer's Soul.''

UPN also jumps the gun on the new fall season with the premiere of ``Grown Ups,'' a sitcom marking the vaguely anticipated return to series television of Jaleel White, best-known as the irksome Urkel on the long-running sitcom ``Family Matters.'' As the title might indicate, White's a man now, albeit in this series one with a serious case of arrested development.

Cal (White) and his pal Gordo (Dave Ruby) spend their days in jobs that pay the bills but scarcely challenge them. Theirs appears to be a hermetically sealed universe: Cal's new female roommate is Gordo's wife's friend (the joke in the pilot is isthat each thinks the other is gay); Gordo's boss's finacee is the woman Cal had a crush on in high school and pines for still.

Thank heavens for the amped-up laugh track here, or it'd be hard to tell where the jokes in the pilot are - too many depend on breaking, dropping or falling on something. But White has grown up quite nicely, actually, and demonstrates facility for less manic comedy - he's good at being the butt of others' jokes. Fans of Urkel may be disappointed, but then, fans of Urkel deserve all the disappointment that can be thrust upon them.

THE FACTS

The show: ``Destination Stardom.''

What: Talent search series hosted by Lisa Canning.

Where: Pax network.

When: 8 p.m. Mondays.

The show: ``Chicken Soup for the Soul.''

What: Uplifting bromides in handy vignette form.

The stars: Hosted by Michael Tucker.

Where: Pax network.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays.

Rating: One star

The show: ``Twice in a Lifetime.''

What: Seriocomic series about a guardian angel who assists people in correcting their lives' biggest mistakes.

The stars: Gordie Brown.

Where: Pax network.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays.

Rating: Two stars

The show: ``Hope Island.''

What: Comedy-drama about a minister encountering the eccentric inhabitants of a tiny Northwestern community.

The stars: Cameron Daddo, Suki Kaiser.

Where: Pax network.

When: 9 p.m. Sundays (debuts Sept. 12).

Rating: Two and one half stars

The show: ``Grown Ups.''

What: Sitcom about buddies learning to take responsibility in their lives.

The stars: Jaleel White, Dave Ruby, Marissa Ribisi.

Where: UPN.

When: 9 p.m. Mondays.

Rating: Two stars

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos

Photo: (1) The pilot episode of ``Hope Island'' pits a cynical single mom (Suki Kaiser, with TV son Max Peters) against Daniel Cooper (Cameron Daddo), a newly ordained minister in an eccentric Northwest community.

(2) Michael Tuckiser hosts ``Chicken Soup for the Soul.''

(3) Lisa Canning hosts ``Destination Stardom.''

(4) Gordie Brown stars as a guardian angel in ``Twice in a Lifetime.''

(5) Marissa Ribisi, Dave Ruby and Jaleel White star in ``Grown Ups'' on UPN.