And the winner for best television drama to survive major surgery is ... a three-way tie: "L.A. Law," "Law & Order" and "Picket Fences."

Heaven forbid another Emmy category, but there ought to be some award for shows that thrive even after undergoing the knife."L.A. Law," which has had more face lifts than an aging Hollywood starlet, is finding new popularity in its eighth season. A return to the show's roots and the addition of a few good characters made this show better than it has been in years.

"Law & Order," a consistently good drama for three years also on NBC, was forced by network fiat to add women to the cast. Despite the abrupt changes, the show didn't miss a beat.

"Picket Fences," which had its premiere a year ago on CBS, walked off with Emmys for best drama, best actor and best actress. That probably wouldn't have happened if the show had not altered its style in the middle of last season.

At a time when good hourlong dramas are increasingly rare, these shows are living, breathing proof that the species, if it adapts, need not become extinct.

By all reckoning, "L.A. Law" was living on borrowed time. Not only was the show old, but it also had what seemed like a terminal case of amnesia.

It forgot how it became the topical, thoughtful, provocative show that fueled countless day-after conversations.

Issue-oriented drama was replaced by trivial and prolonged character plots, few sparking the public imagination.

Then along came William M. Finklestein, instrumental in the show's early development, who returned to the helm this season.

Anne M. Kenney, who has been a writer for "L.A. Law" for three seasons, sees "a big improvement."

"You're going with the vision of whoever's executive producing, and that's going to be affected by that person's interest and their strengths and weaknesses," she said. "I think that's why things veered in one direction.

"I think we came back because it became apparent that the thing that really makes the show work is to have things anchored with the legal stories. ... Then we can go off and do anything else we really want to."

This season "L.A. Law" dropped some characters and introduced others. Newcomers include Alexandra Powers, portraying an attractive fundamentalist Christian lawyer, and Alan Rosenberg and Debi Mazar, who reprise the characters they played on ABC's "Civil Wars," which was canceled after last season. Finkelstein, who happens to be a lawyer, had been executive producer of that show.

In its first three seasons, ratings for "Law & Order" were acceptable but not overpowering. In the first half of the show, police investigate a crime; in the second half, district attorneys prosecute those believed responsible. Critics loved the show from the start.

Still, the network and Universal, which produces the show, thought "Law & Order" might avoid the typical slow erosion of a drama series by attracting female viewers. That meant adding female characters and eliminating men.

Executive producer and creator Dick Wolf had to tell Dann Florek, who played the precinct captain, and Richard Brooks, who was assistant district attorney, that they were off the show.

New this season are S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays precinct lieutenant Anita Van Buren, and Jill Hennessy, who is new Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid.

"I think the show has not been hurt by the change," Wolf said, adding that the program could benefit from a more realistic portrayal of racial and ethnic diversity in law enforcement and the judicial system.

At first "Picket Fences," a dramatic show with sly and irrepressible humor, gave new meaning to quirkiness. There was an episode about a serial bather and another about mistreated elephants. In the premiere, a woman appeared to have died inside a dishwasher.

To many viewers, events in fictional Rome, Wis., were as weird as the happenings in ABC's "Twin Peaks." Hoping to avoid the same fate as that series, the producers made changes.

"If you look at the second half of last season and what we're doing this year, we've altered the show," said Michael Pressman, co-executive producer of "Picket Fences."

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"We've gone away from the simple quirky, kind of totally offbeat, possibly absurd premises. Now we're struggling with very, very real situations, pressing problems of society and using the color of the town to kind of lift these issues up."

In the season premiere, the mayor was prosecuted for killing a carjacker who, although disarmed, threatened the mayor and his family.

Another mid-course correction is the increased presence of two characters, lawyer Douglas Wambaugh, played by Fyvush Finkel, and the town judge, played by Ray Walston. Initially assigned small parts, both characters became favorites with viewers.

Like the others, "Picket Fences" proved the Darwinian theory of TV: Shows that adapt can survive.

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