Kirk

 ((WB, Wed. Aug 23, 8 p.m.))

By ADAM SANDLER

Taped at Warner Bros. Studios by Buckley/Warren Prods. in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers, Charlotte Brown, Ross Brown, William Buckley, Michael Warren; consulting producers, David Steven Cohen, Nancy Stern; producers, Karen K. Miller, Brenda Hanes-Berg' director, Buckley; writer, Ross Brown.
 
Cast: Kirk Cameron, Chelsea Noble, Louis Vanaria, Will Estes, Taylor Fry, Courtland Mead, Debra Mooney, Oliver Muirhead, Pat Crawford Brown.
 

Welcome to New York, now go home, may be the refrain of Kirk Cameron's TV-show neighbors after learning his orphaned character is caring for three younger siblings. But it may also reflect the sentiments of viewers who tune in to this series bow and glimpse a well-trod premise and unimaginative perfs.

Unlike "Growing Pains," which launched Cameron into teen heart-throb status and touted family virtues, "Kirk" aims to push the Dan Quayle/Newt Gingrich envelope by talking on the issues and responsibilities surrounding the single-male guardianship of younger siblings.

Scripter Ross Brown delivers a narrowly focused bow, placing the jokes above the issues, but occasionally strays with out-of-place attempts at poignancy that ultimately fail.

The attempts are further hampered by Cameron's kinetic antics, which, while fine for a house-bound teenager supervised by Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns, in this setting appear hokey, forced and immature.

Brown paints Kirk's charges as refugees from a "Bad News Bears" pic for the lighter moments, with each event punctuated by dopey repartee and predictable outcome.

Kirk's narrative voiceover explains how he landed in the Big Apple and how guardian Aunt Zelda decided to get married, bail Milford, Ohio, for Florida, and pawn off the trio of rug rats on the recently graduated, wannabe cartoonist Kirk.

Taylor Fry, as Kirk's 13-year old sister, Phoebe, joins Will Estes as the 15 -year old brother, Corey, to deliver enjoyable enough perfs. But they are nothing to write home to Ohio about.

Courtland Mead is equally watchable as Kirk's younger brother Russell, but risks little as he adopts the TV-industry standard of a precocious 8-year-old.

Chelsea Noble as Elizabeth, the shapely, med-school neighbor, provides show's love interest, admiring Kirk for caring for the kids, but rebuking his advances nonetheless. Viewers who recognize Noble as the real-life Mrs. Cameron are likely to suspect an eventual pairing, despite scripter Brown's smoke-screen to the contrary.

Although director William Buckley helps a talented and experienced sitcom cast trod through familiar territory, that is not likely to be enough -- even with Noble in a bathrobe -- to earn viewer loyalty. Following its debut, series will air on Sundays.

Camera, Bruce Nielsen; editor, Leo Papin; art director, Lynn Griffin; sound, Brentley Walton; music, Steven Chesne, Gary Boren.30 MIN.