The Three Cs: Big themes in TV...

The Three Cs: Big themes in TV this fall are cops, comedy and conspiracy. The last concept is worked to the hilt in “The Pretender,” a co-production of MTM Television in Studio City and Burbank-based NBC. It’s about a genius raised by a secret organization who escapes after learning he’s been used for evil purposes. In the first episode he masquerades as a physician, which shouldn’t be too difficult for star Michael T. Weiss, who played a doctor on “Days of Our Lives” for six years.

Something Familiar: Two alums of “thirtysomething” have new shows from Universal TV in Universal City. Mel Harris, who played Hope in the yuppie angst drama, will star in the yuppie angst comedy “Something So Right” on NBC. Ken Olin, formerly nice guy Michael on “thirtysomething,” will play a brooding cop in CBS’ “EZ Street.”

Suddenly Shoe-In: Brooke Shields has a lot more going for her than great teeth and a tennis star beau. Her new sitcom from Burbank-based Warner Bros., “Suddenly Susan,” is debuting on NBC Thursday nights between the hits “Seinfeld” and “ER.” “It’s a very coveted time period,” says NBC’s Mike Nelson.

School Cool: “Teachers are cool,” says Universal TV’s Neil Schubert. Universal’s “Mr. Rhodes” on NBC is about a nonconformist prep school teacher who inspires students. ABC will have “Dangerous Minds,” based on the movie. The TV version, from Burbank’s Walt Disney Co., takes up the travails of an ex-Marine inner-city high school teacher who inspires students. Now if the kids would do their homework instead of watching TV. . . . Offbeat dramas are also in vogue. Press materials for Universal’s “The Burning Season” on UPN describe virus-fighting scientists as “new warriors” with “test tubes and petri dishes as weapons.”