White House on fall schedule

You can go every place from the White House to the big house on NBC's fall schedule this year.

As for PBS, expect to visit locations not inhabited by people accused of crimes.

Let's continue our look at the new TV shows for the autumn by examining what these two networks have in store for us as the heat leaves and the leaves fall. NBC's new series include:

* "Cold Feet" can be found at the end of the six legs of three couples, two of them married, who worry about commitment as marriage, pregnancy and a new baby complicate their various lives.

* "Freaks and Geeks," says the NBC press material, is "a nostalgic look at life" in the 1980s. Does time really fly that fast? Set in a suburban high school and featuring bullies, cheerleaders and nerds, this seems to be an upscale version of "Saved by the Bell."

* "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" expands on one of the most successful programs in television history by bringing back an original character from "Law & Order" (Capt. Cregan) to head an elite unit of detectives who investigate particularly horrible crimes.

* "The Mike O'Malley Show" (see "Cold Feet") concerns a 30-year-old man who wonders if he should stop acting like a teenager and get his life in order.

* "Stark Raving Mad" links a fussy book editor with an out-of-control horror writer in search of laughs from yet another odd couple.

* "Third Watch" is a first-time look at the firefighters, ambulance crews and police who work the night shift. If you like "E.R." and "NYPD Blue" but miss "Emergency," this might be the show for you.

* "The West Wing" tries to outdo the real-life shenanigans of the Clinton Administration through a dramatic series about what goes on inside the White House. Martin Sheen plays the fictional president who heads a staff that includes a vice president, chief of staff, press officer and political consultants.

Meanwhile, on PBS, you can find:

* "American Photography: A Century of Images," a three-hour series, examines the effect of photos on American society over the last 100 years.

* "Going Places," the travel show, this year stops in such locales as Turkey, Bali, Yellowstone, New York City, Madrid and Santa Fe.

* "American Masters" examines the lives and influence of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Norman Rockwell and Alfred Hitchcock.

* "Lords of the Mafia" is a multi-part documentary about the power of organized crime during the 1900s.

* "Wonders of the African World" takes viewers through a continent too often stereotyped only as a place of extreme poverty and hunger.

* "Millennium Day Broadcast" offers 26 hours of coverage of the change from 1999 to the new century/millennium. PBS and 45 other networks around the world -- and in space -- will follow New Year's Day as it crosses the globe.

(Next: Specials on religion can be found all over television in the upcoming season.)

(08-26-99) [[In-content Ad]]