Television: Mr. Mouse Goes to Washington

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On The Simpsons, Itchy and Scratchy are a sadomasochistic mouse-and-cat team that enacts scenes of baroque violence in a running parody of kiddie cartoon shows. On CAPITOL CRITTERS, cats really do chase mice -- and the trouble is, it's no parody. The new animated series from Steven Bochco Productions (ABC, debuting Jan. 28, 8:30 p.m. EST) revolves around Max, a country mouse from Nebraska who moves in with his cousin and a ragtag band of rodents living in the basement of the White House. Anyone expecting savvy political satire, however, is due for disappointment. With a few exceptions (Max gets stuck in the briefcase of a Senator taking bribes), the comedy comes from sitcom-style wisecracks and routine cartoon sight gags that might just as well be taking place in Omaha. The Hanna-Barbera animation, though a cut above the Saturday- morning usual, has little charm. Cartoons aimed at the whole family ought to be either funny (The Simpsons) or cute (The Little Mermaid). Capitol Critters is neither. R.Z.