BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Two out of three isn't bad, particularly when you have Bob Newhart and Gregory Hines.

The new CBS series, George & Leo and The Gregory Hines Show, made most TV critics Top 10 lists for the fall TV season.

The same can't be said of David Caruso's Michael Hayes, the third show launching CBS' lineup today.

iThe Gregory Hines Show (8:30 p.m., Channels 12, 7): Maybe you've seen the promotions and wondered why critics are crazy about Mr. Hines' first series.

The charm of Gregory Hines, as with the old Cosby Show, is in the rich, believable characters and strong family values.

The Tony-winning actor plays Ben Stevenson, a widowed Chicago publisher living with his son, Matty (Brandon Hammond from Space Jam), and dad (Bill Cobbs from I'll Fly Away). In the premiere, Ben nervously resumes dating, while Matty, 12, gets his first kiss (from a science lab partner).

''I was going to wear a tie,'' Ben explains to his date, ''but that was too Bryant Gumbel. Then I had on a turtleneck, but that was too Al Roker.''

Although Gregory Hines is the perfect complement to CBS' Cosby, the sitcom moves to 9 p.m. Fridays this week with CBS' retreads from ABC (Family Matters and Step by Step, plus a Bronson Pinchot comedy).

Don't be surprised if you find Hines in CBS' Monday or Wednesday comedy lineup by March.

George & Leo (9:30 p.m., Channels 12, 7): George & Leo by any other name would be Bob & Judd.

Comedy legend Bob Newhart and award-winning actor Judd Hirsch star as a mismatched pair of in-laws in one of the funniest new fall shows.

Mr. Newhart plays a Martha's Vineyard bookstore owner who arranges a surprise gift for his prospective daughter-in-law (Bess Meyer): Her long-lost father (Mr. Hirsch), a small-time hood who has ripped off Las Vegas gangsters.

Mr. Newhart's fans - those who loved Newhart and hated CBS' short-lived Bob - will howl when they hear his trademark stammer.

''And it gets worse when I run up against someone who's obnoxious,'' George explains to the pushy con man.

When Leo claims mobsters have a contract on his life, George asks what could happen: ''Do they torture you first? Like make you go to the Liberace Museum?''

CBS has created a delightful comedy that could keep us laughing into the millennium. But I thought the same thing a year ago about Rhea Perlman's Pearl.

The big question is: Where will George & Leo go from here? How will CBS keep them together on the island?

Michael Hayes (10 p.m., Channels 12, 7): Some viewers might not be able to shake the notion of David Caruso as an NYPD cop. They're not alone.

Neither can Michael Hayes, Caruso's new character, a federal prosecutor in charge of the public corruption unit in New York.

While a fellow U.S. attorney tries to nail a mobster, Hayes nearly blows the case from his obsession with a 9-year-old murder case from his previous police career. So he seeks out his old NYPD partner to prove that the hit man (Leo Ross) given immunity to testify against a crime boss killed a teen-age waitress.

His real job - fighting political corruption - is kissed off in several subplot scenes about city hall kickbacks from a paving company. When the show moves to 9 p.m. Tuesday, its regular time slot on Sept. 23, he's appointed acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Caruso's NYPD Blue fans will like him loping into people's lives oozing with sincerity. They'll also wonder how many old police cases he'll re-open, or when he'll finally adjust to being a fed, not a cop.

It might not matter. At 9 p.m. Tuesday, Michael Hayes should get hammered by Tim Allen and Kelsey Grammer.

John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic. His column appears Monday and Thursday. Write him at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, 45202; fax: 768-8330. He can be heard 9:05 a.m. Mondays on WLW-AM (700 kHz).