Video: Trying to Beat the Summer Blahs

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CBS's upcoming I Had Three Wives, about a private eye who gets help from his former spouses, at least promises a more contemporary look. But NBC, in an apparent attack of heatstroke, has come up with an oddity called oceanQuest, a documentary series about a Cousteau-like excursion through the world's oceans. Debuting in August for five weeks, the show combines some good undersea photography with ludicrous moments of "true-life drama," centering on the reactions of one neophyte crew member, Shawn Weatherly, a former Miss U.S.A. and Miss Universe.

Most of these series stand no more chance than a June bug of being around when the weather turns cool. A few, however, are making serious tryouts for the regular season schedule. Next month CBS will unveil West 57th, a new magazine show that could return in midseason if it does well. Also set for August is CBS's Hometown, an hour comedy-drama about a group of college friends from the '60s who reunite for some soul searching in the '80s. The resemblance to The Big Chill is impossible to miss: characters reminisce about antiwar rallies and ponder the implications of "getting caught up in the mainstream." Despite its glib predictability, the series boasts a likable cast, headed by Jane Kaczmarek and Daniel Stern, and at least a veneer of seriousness missing from most other summer entries.

Hometown is shaping up as this summer's Call to Glory. Like ABC's critically applauded family drama, introduced last August, Hometown is hoping to build an audience during the last weeks of summer; a spot is already reserved for it on the fall schedule. The trick will be to avoid the fate of Call to Glory, which started strongly but gradually withered under the fall competition. Like any other series looking to survive beyond the summer, Hometown must prove it is a show for all seasons. --By Richard Zoglin. Reported by Richard Woodbury/Los Angeles