`Beverly Hills, 90210' Is A High-School Comedy With Class

One of this season's better new shows is also probably one of this season's least known shows - Fox's ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' which has the bad luck to air at 9 p.m. Thursdays on KCPQ-TV, opposite NBC's ``Cheers'' and PBS' ``Mystery!''

It doesn't have a startling premise - it centers on the Walsh family, Cindy and Jim Walsh and their teen-age twins, Brandon and Brenda - who move from Minneapolis to Beverly Hills when Jim gets a better job there.

Granted the setting is upscale and much of it centers on Beverly Hills High, which Brandon and Brenda attend. Within those limits, creator/writer Darren Star has done a series showing more compassion toward (and interest in) teen-agers than the rest of TV's series, which use them only for sitcoms.

There's humor in ``Beverly Hills, 90210'' but the manner in which it mixes that humor with the real stresses of being a teen and serious topics like AIDS, racism and alcoholism, makes this a ``teensomething'' series. It's also noteworthy in its family relationships: Brandon and Brenda treat each other as human beings, while Cindy and Jim are portrayed as parents who may have faults but who also love their children and are not total idiots.

Part of the show's success also comes from a first-rate cast: Carol Potter and James Eckhouse are completely believable as the Walsh parents, while Jason Priestley and Shannen Doherty are consistently winning as Brandon and Brenda (and will surely go on to greater stardom). The rest of the cast - Luke Perry, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Brian Green, Doug Emerson, Gabrielle Carteris and Tori Spelling - are also accomplished actors, helped no end by playing well-written characters.

Tonight's show involves the topic of date rape; next week's episode looks at a romantic involvement between Brandon and an exchange student from East L.A. Despite low ratings, Fox is sticking with ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' and has ordered additional episodes for a full season of 22. If you've yet to see the series, sample it for a couple of weeks - and you may get as hooked as I am.

Preview: With the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater set to appear at Meany Theater later this spring, this week's ``Great Performances'' (10 p.m. tomorrow, KCTS-TV), takes on added interest. It's dance fans' first chance to see the company under the direction of Judith Jamison, who took over after Ailey's death in 1989. She proves as fascinating a host as she did a dancer.

The better of the two works telecast is Ailey's 1984 ballet, ``For Bird - With Love,'' a tribute to jazz star Charlie Parker, a dynamic, theatrical dance to recordings from the 1940s and '50s. The second dance is 1989's ``Episodes,'' choreographed by Ulysses Dove. While the Ailey dancers are supercharged, this seems to be one of those energetic ballets that pits the sexes against each other, danced to a tiresome electronic score by Robert Ruggieri. One can appreciate the dancers' skill and technique but the ballet offers little else.

Up close and personal: Marcia Alvar interviews Seattle's Mayor Norm Rice on ``Upon Reflection,'' airing at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on KCTS-TV and repeated at 8 p.m. Wednesday on cable's Cablearn Channel 27. The most interesting parts of the interview focus on Rice, the man, rather than Rice, the mayor.

Bummer: Although it stars one of my favorite actresses, Mare Winningham, ``Fatal Exposure,'' newest of USA Channel's TV movies, repeating at 7 p.m. Sunday on cable, is a disappointment, another confused murder mystery that makes almost no sense, thanks to Raymond Hartung's confused script.

Video notes: Cable's MTV airs a five-hour summary of the recent rock festival in Rio at 11 a.m. Saturday. . . . Washington's Rep. Thomas Foley speaks at a National Press Club event cable's C-SPAN airs at 3 p.m. Saturday. . . . Discovery Channel's fascinating series on off-beat filmmakers, ``Incredibly Strange Film Show,'' focuses on George Romero, director of ``Night of the Living Dead,'' in the episode airing at 8 p.m. Saturday on cable. . . . With ``Les Miserables'' soon to open in Seattle, KCTS-TV is airing an interesting documentary about the roots of the hit show, ``Stage by Stage,'' (previously seen on A&E), at 10 a.m. Sunday. . . . Cable's Nickelodeon channel airs a special about the Middle East, ``Kids Talk About the Middle East,'' hosted by Linda Ellerbee, at 6:30 a.m. Monday.

. . . This month KCTS-TV will air the new Saturday edition of ``MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,'' anchored by Judy Woodruff, at 3 p.m.

John Voorhees' column appears Sunday, Monday and Thursday in The Times.