SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : ‘CBS Schoolbreak Special’ covers grown-up ground in trio’s senior year

What about your friends? / Are they gonna be around? / Will they put you down?

This week’s CBS Schoolbreak Special was inspired by TLC’s hit song from last year, “What About Your Friends.” When producer Cleveland O’Neal heard the catchy tune, a light bulb went off over his head.

And it illuminated what was missing from most TV portrayals of African American youth directed at youth. “We’ve had so many portrayals of lower-income African Americans kids, why not a look at kids from all three--lower, middle and upper--and what if they were all friends?” he recalls from his Los Angeles office.

The idea evolved into the “Schoolbreak Special” titled “What About Your Friends.” In it three Los Angeles teens (Monica Calhoun, Malinda Williams and Lark Voorhies) debate their future, which may include different colleges.

O’Neal says his original concept included starring the three female popsters of TLC. “But as you know,” he says with a sigh, “They had a lot of personal problems ... so it didn’t happen.” (TLC singer Lisa Lopes was charged with arson in connection with a fire that burned down her fiance’s $1-million house. She was sentenced to a halfway house, fined $10,000 and put on five years’ probation.)

Although the show went into production quickly, the special encountered delays. Originally shot last March, it airs Tuesday.

“It’s about the trials and tribulations of three girls who are coming of age,” O’Neal says. “They realize that the bonds of friendship don’t necessarily have to interfere with their career and life goals.”

Actress Monica Calhoun, 23, who plays Temple, the upper-class teen, adds: “It’s really about friendship and how the girls get to really know each other and themselves their senior year. They may have known each other forever, but only really know each other that last year of high school.”

Shot at Crenshaw High School and the area near La Brea, Coliseum and Baldwin, the program strived for authenticity, O’Neal says.

Important to the show’s audience, Calhoun points out, is that “kids can see how they can learn from each other through their own differences, get through their anxieties and move forward, as opposed to just staying in the same place.”

Calhoun, who grew up in Inglewood, says she believes “What About Your Friends” offers a right-on portrayal of teen life. “It’s very accurate; you really believe that the friendship of these girls from different economic backgrounds can grow. People have hidden agendas and feelings they don’t express to even their closest friends. This shows how they move on, but still hold on to friendship.”

The “CBS Schoolbreak Special” airs Tuesday at 3 p.m. on CBS. For ages 8 and up.

More Family Shows

In the spirit of its successful “Roundhouse,” Nickelodeon offers up the new sketch-comedy series All That (Saturdays 8:30 p.m.). Taped before a live audience, the show features an ensemble of seven kids with a musical guest, sort of a “Saturday Night Live” for the younger set. Musical guests include TLC (producers of the show’s theme song), Coolio, Brandy, Da Brat, Usher Raymond, Soul IV Real, Immature and Alliyah. Ages of the show’s cast members show’s range from 12 to 18. For ages 5 and up.

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Also offering “adult-style” fare for kids, Nick’s Bing (Fridays 7:30 p.m.)--now in its third week--presents a lifestyle magazine show, with a focus on what’s new and what’s hot in kid culture. Included: trends in fashion, music, technology and entertainment. The show also has behind-the-scenes interviews with celebrities. Kids sound off in the segment “Tell Us Your Bing,” with talks with real kids on subjects such as backpacks to curfews. For ages 8 and up.