TV Reviews : Cartoon-Free Lineup No Improvement

Will NBC, having done away with its Saturday morning cartoons, be providing innovative, quality programming for kids? Not exactly. The scaled-back lineup, replaced in part by the network’s expanded “Today” show for adults, is live-action and teen-oriented. With one exception, cartoons would be a step up.

The animationless children’s lineup kicks off today at 9 a.m. (Channels 4, 36 and 39) with the return of the popular “Saved by the Bell,” a high school sitcom where teen regulars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, et al. are now seniors. The well-dressed, uniformly attractive cast spend the first episode ridiculing teachers, tormenting freshmen and fussing over the opposite sex.

Next, at 9:30 a.m., is “California Dreams,” a “Saved by the Bell” clone set in an upscale beach town, about a brother and sister (Brent Gore and Heidi Noelle Lenhart) who have a rock band. The well-dressed, uniformly attractive cast sings derivative surf music.

The show opens with an insensitive joke about homelessness and this breakfast-table repartee from little brother Dennis: “But Dad, I thought you wanted me to take an interest in reading. Oh, well. I guess I’ll just become a terrorist.”

The next new entry, scheduled to debut next Saturday (11 a.m. on Channel 4, 10:30 a.m. on Channels 36 and 39), is the magazine-style “Name Your Adventure,” a cut above its company. It features real kids, from age 9 up, who have been given the opportunity to live a modest dream of their choice.

In the first show, a 17-year-old horsewoman goes on a Montana cattle drive, a la “City Slickers”; a 15-year-old aspiring dancer takes a tap lesson from Tony winner Gregory Hines, and another 17-year-old visits a recycling plant, hoping to raise viewers’ environmental consciousness.

Last, and least, there’s “Double Up” (also debuting next Saturday, at 11:30 a.m. on Channel 4, 11 a.m. on Channels 36 and 39). It’s a game show in which a brother and sister match each other up with a date. If the audience agrees with the match, the siblings and their choices get to go on “the ultimate” double date.

Like a junior “Studs” or “Love Connection,” the date hopefuls introduce themselves: “Muscular Matt,” flexing his biceps, says, “Look at these babies. Could you say no to these rockets?” A very young “Sizzling Cindy” says that she’s got that moniker “ ‘cause I’m hot, baby.”

Thankfully, in the opening segment at least, the leer is missing from the rest of the game.