Kansas

 ((Thurs. (27), 8-9:30 p.m., ABC))

By TODD EVERETT

Filmed in Australia by ABC Prods. Exec producers, Michelle Ashford, Patricia Wettig, Ken Olin, Ian Sander; co-producer, John Forrest Niss; director, Robert Mandel; writer, Ashford; camera , David Eggby; editor, Elba Sanchez-Short; production designer, Linda Pearl; sound, Bob Clayton; music, John Debney. #Cast: Patricia Wettig, Matt Craven, Bethel Leslie, Deirdre O'Connell, Scott Paulin, Jenny Robertson, Lyndsay Riddell , Luke Rossie, Josef Sommer, Geoffrey Lewis, Edafe Blackmon, John M. Jackson, Monet Mazur, Matthew Posey, Peggy Rea, Sean Scully, Colin Moody, Gerry Day, David O'Connor, Leonie-Martin Smith, Margaret Christensen, Marijke Mann. When they hear that their father has had a heart attack, his two alienated daughters return to the family farm to see him through the crisis. A promising series pilot that didn't make ABC's schedule, "Kansas" plays like "Sisters" down home. As "Kansas" begins, Ginny Mae (Patricia Wettig) has moved to Chicago and become a successful copywriter with two kids and a rapidly deteriorating marriage.
 

Baby sister Betsy (Jenny Robertson) is far less sensible than Ginny -- rather New Age, in fact.

So when they learn dad Joe (Josef Sommer) is willing them the farm, Ginny's set to sell out: "Betsy doesn't have the ability or the desire to do just about anything," she tells her father.

Well. Since the show is called "Kansas" and not "Chicago," the audience suspects well ahead of the principals that Ginny will wind up working the farm, with or without Betsy. And she'd better get started: The calves are going to need castrating by next week.

She does stay, with Betsy and the kids in tow and several promising plot threads set up: Will son Joey take to the cows and chickens? ("I wouldn't live in this depressing town with all these old geezers for 50 million bucks," he says, anticipating the reaction of ABC's programming staff.)

Will there be conflict between Ginny and her old best friend, Holly (Deirdre O'Connell), who is married to Ginny's first boyfriend (Scott Paulin)? And what about Holly and Tom's rebellious daughter (Monet Mazur), who's eager to lose her virginity to Mandu (Edafe Blackmon), the exchange student from Nairobi?

The cast turns in fine work. Sommer is good as the father, as is Bethel Leslie as the family matriarch.

Produced in Australia and directed by Bob Mandel, the pilot is more notable for what it promises than what it delivers. Still, cut down from what was evidently a two-hour original, "Kansas" is a pleasant enough way to spend an evening.