ABC Taking Chances That May Transform It Into Network of ‘90s : Television: Upcoming series take the types of risks that in the past have changed the face of the medium.

It may still be closer to No. 3 in the ratings than No. 1, but ABC is starting to look more and more like the network of the ‘90s.

While top-rated NBC has enough creative and ratings steam to stay on top for another season, ABC is the network taking the kind of creative risks that change the face of television, the kind of risks once associated with NBC.

Critics are responding enthusiastically to several new ABC series slated for the second half of the 1989-90 season and previewed recently during ABC’s leg of the January press tour here.

By far the most talked-about program is “Twin Peaks.” A fascinatingly off-kilter mix of soap opera and mystery, the hourlong drama is the creation of feature-film director David Lynch (“The Elephant Man” and “Blue Velvet”). It debuts in March.

Set in a small town in the Pacific Northwest where life is commonplace only on the surface, “Twin Peaks” stars Kyle MacLachlan as a highly unusual FBI agent. Often bizarre, always quirky, sometimes dark and cryptic yet surprisingly humorous, it is a show the likes of which viewers have never seen. Joining MacLachlan in a huge ensemble cast are Michael Ontkean, Peggy Lipton, Joan Chen and Piper Laurie.

And then there’s ABC’s “Elvis.”

One would think it impossible to make a series about Elvis Presley that wasn’t tacky or tabloid. But this unique half-hour focuses on the Elvis of the early ‘50s, not the bloated lounge lizard of later years. Michael St. Gerard (“Hairspray”) looks like a Nielsen knockout, a charmer as the young Elvis--the shy boy who would be king. Filmed in Memphis, “Elvis” hiply mixes music and drama. It could be broadcast as early as next month.

Responding to the widely held notion that this has been a season of safe rather than challenging programming, ABC Entertainment President Rogert Iger said, “We haven’t felt at ABC that we’ve played it safe,” pointing to such shows as “Life Goes On,” which stars an actor with Down’s syndrome.

But Iger does not, on the other hand, consider “Twin Peaks” or “Elvis” high-risk programming “in part because we have confidence in the programs and in part because we feel if we put these shows on and they do not succeed, we will have learned something.”

To be sure, ABC has its share of conventional shows in the works, too:

“Equal Justice,” a one-hour series targeted for March, is an East Coast version of “L.A. Law” with a large, ensemble cast.

“Capital News,” an hourlong drama with Lloyd Bridges as the patriarchal editor-in-chief of a Washington daily.

“Brewster Place,” Oprah Winfrey’s first prime-time series, is a half-hour dramatic spinoff of last season’s miniseries, “The Women of Brewster Place.” Winfrey not only stars, she is also executive producer. It’s coming in April.

“H.E.L.P.” An hourlong drama about a Harlem fire, police and paramedic unit is due in March.