`Someone Like Me' Adds Little To Sitcom Landscape

Another week, another new family takes up residence in Sitcomland: This time it's the Stepjaks of St. Louis, Mo., although in the initial episode of NBC's "Someone Like Me," which premiered Monday night on KING-TV, it could have been Anywheresville, U.S.A.

As you would know without ever watching the show, this family has feuding siblings, a cute little tyke, a slightly flaky Dad and a clever Mom who holds everything together. The producers talk a lot about "stretching the boundaries of family comedy" - in their dreams.

Gaby Stepjak is played by Gaby Hoffmann who appeared in "Sleepless in Seattle," and she is appealing in much the same way Mayim Bialik is in NBC's "Blossom" (which moves to 8 p.m. Saturdays on KING-TV this week in order to make room for "Someone Like Me").

Patricia Heaton is the likable Mom, Anthony Tyler Quinn the laid-back stepfather, Nikki Cox plays Gaby's teenage sister and Joseph Tello is Gaby's baby brother.

"Someone Like Me" seems harmless and pleasant enough but the real problem is: How many likable sitcom families can one accommodate each week? I'm already attached to "Roseanne," "Grace Under Fire" and "Home Improvement." "Someone Like Me" certainly isn't any better or much different from those - so who really needs it?

Short takes

NBC's once cutting-edge "Saturday Night Live" is now brain dead, like a coma victim kept alive by tubes. Nancy Kerrigan's hosting of it last Saturday night proved she was a good sport but the show has become an embarrassment, the "humor" on a junior-high level, not even up to MTV "standards." Helen Hunt hosts this week - and should reconsider. She's too good to waste her time on this junk.

To no one's surprise, ABC's "Turning Point" premiere, with Diane Sawyer's wretched Manson murders piece, got great ratings, as the newsmagazine shows sink lower and lower toward tabloid TV.

Far more rewarding viewing these days are shows like the syndicated "The Crusaders," at 7 p.m. Saturdays on KING-TV, (or the not-quite-as-good syndicated "Case Closed," at 7 p.m. Saturdays on USA Network). Both combine a crusading fervor with news reporting, in the vein of what "60 Minutes" used to be like.

Tonight at 8 on the government channel (28), the second episode of "Live Art TV," by Stark Beatty for 911 Media Arts Center, will air, covering a variety of Seattle arts, from dance to posters to a gay choral group, done in a variety of styles from outstanding ("22 Adagios - a Remembering") to sloppy (a visit to Artfair), but all of it interesting. The filmmakers need a new sound technician, however - the sound quality is usually terrible. The hour repeats at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday and noon Sunday.

Video notes

Leonard Bernstein conducts a 1989 performance of "Candide," tonight at 6 and 10 on A&E . . . KCTS-TV has a five-hour "Rumpole of the Bailey" marathon tonight, starting at 7 . . . AMC repeats an excellent "Reflections on the Silver Screen" episode tonight at 8:30, an hour-long interview with Gene Kelly. . . ABC presents an hour news special, on which Peter Jennings examines American policy (or lack of it) regarding Bosnia, tonight at 9 on KOMO-TV . . . Jennings also moderates a 90-minute ABC news special at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on KOMO-TV when President Clinton discusses national issues with young people . . . USA has a new thriller, "Accidental Meeting," starring Linda Gray and Linda Purl, unavailable for previewing, at 9 tonight, repeated at 7 p.m. Sunday . . . The Discovery Channel reports on toxic contamination along the U.S.-Mexican border on "The Price of Profit," tonight at 1O . . . The Disney Channel salutes St. Patrick's Day with "Irish Music and America" tonight at 10:05 . . . HBO airs another "Real Sex" episode, which always veers between the silly and the erotic, tonight at 11 with a report on a Brazilian rock duo a particular hoot . . . Jason Alexander is a scheduled quest on NBC's "Tonight Show" at 11:35 p.m. on KING-TV . . . Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, who wrote the original "Robocop" movie, also wrote the script for the two-hour pilot of "Robocop, The Series," which premieres at 8 p.m. tomorrow on KSTW-TV but which was unavailable for previewing.