If you are just getting basic cable -- and presumably also churning your own but ter -- it's time to upgrade.

That's because Showtime network is going to be offering a major new series, filmed entirely in Rhode Island.

And with the cancellation of `` Providence,'' that had left the animated `` Family Guy'' as the only series set in the Ocean State. (Of course `` Providence'' wasn't actually filmed in Providence. Through some technical wiz ardry, television recreated the state capital on a Hollywood back lot. Which would explain the presence of the palm trees, but I digress.)

Anyway, the series, titled `` Brotherhood,'' is -- according to media reports, as they say -- `` loosely'' based on the seemingly made-for-TV rela tionship between former Mass achusetts Senate president and dictator for life William Bulger and his erstwhile brother, Whitey, the notorious gangster.

How loosely based? Well, the brothers Bulger were from Massachusetts, not Rhode Island, but that's a minor detail. The premise would seem to be irresistible: two brothers take divergent paths, one becoming a greedy, controlling thief, and the other one choos ing not to go into politics.

No, sorry, that's just a cheap joke at President Bul ger's expense. One I feel com fortable in making because, of course, he has a lot of other columnists to retaliate against before he gets around to me.

But the idea of a good brother-bad brother conflict should make for riveting, tele vision. It's fresh, new, unique. No one has tackled it before.

Unless, of course, you're counting the entire output of Warner Bros. Studios in the 1930s and '40s.

Warner's specialized in cranking out urban melodra mas. They usually opened with kids struggling in the New York slums. One youngster would grow up to be a priest/district attorney/cop, usually played by Pat O'Brien. The other played by James Cagney, would, in the final reel, stride bravely down the last mile only to pretend to `` turn yellow'' -- at Pat's request -- so the hero-worship ing urchins back home would n't follow his example.

(OK, I have a lot of time to watch Turner Classic Movies during the day.)

My point is that there is no such thing as a new TV plot.

`` Two and a Half Men,'' which has an uptight divorced dad moving in with his cooler brother to help raise his son? An updated version of `` Full House,'' which had a cool brother-in-law moving in with an uptight widower to help raise his kids. `` American Idol'' is a crueler version of `` Ted Mack's Amateur Hour,'' which gave millions of viewers some one to feel superior to as a contestant belted out `` Lady of Spain'' on an accordion. Not that they could play it better. They just felt superior to any one with an accordion.

And nearly any `` reality'' program can trace its origin to `` Truth or Consequences'' and the stupid stunts its contes tants would perform for a prize from the Speigel catalog.

So don't upgrade that cable service after all. Invest in a DVD player instead and wait for `` Angels with Dirty Faces'' to come out on disc. TOM REILLY is a Sun Chronicle news editor who is informed that `` His Girl Friday'' is already out on DVD. He can be reached at 508236-0332 or at treilly(at)(at)thesunchronicle.com