WORTH NOTING ON TV

FRIDAY

Families in Crisis (NBC, 8-9 p.m.): Tom Brokaw anchors the first of six prime-time specials commendably focusing on basic social and political issues instead of the juicier subjects they might have chosen. This first report deals with how far today's family has moved from the stereotype of a working husband, home-oriented wife, and dutiful children. In the inner city, for instance, the program finds such a family all but nonexistent. The series looks not only at urban-family disintegration but at familie s with two working parents. It also finds that poverty-stricken women and psychologically damaged children are often left in the wake of divorce. SUNDAY

MGM - When the Lion Roars (TNT, 8-10:30 p.m.): When people refer to the "dream factory," they are likely to be talking about MGM, the most visible and glamour-defining studio during Hollywood's glitter decades beginning in 1924. This three-part documentary - running consecutive nights - uses not only clips and interviews, but in a much-covered subject actually finds some rare backstage footage. MONDAY

Broadway Bound (ABC, 9-11 p.m.): Neil Simon has gotten a lot of comedy mileage out of New York City's Jerome family. They are the unabashedly autobiographical subject of three of his Broadway plays, two of which - "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues" - also became theatrical films. The third, "Broadway Bound," has now been produced specifically for TV as an "ABC Theater" offering. If there's any doubt about whose life Simon has in mind, consider the premise: Two young men (played by Jonathan Silve rman and Corey Parker) try to become radio-comedy writers, using their own eccentric families as a mother lode of jokes. The impressive cast includes Hume Cronyn and Anne Bancroft as a grandfather and daughter looking for a link to each other as the years go by. Jerry Orbach plays a father and Michele Lee an aunt who married a rich man and feels guilty about it. Please check local listings for all programs, especially those on PBS.