IN A SEASON where special-effects blockbusters like "The Matrix" are dominating the big screen and controversial shows like a Hitler miniseries are getting attention in television, it's refreshing to find Showtime's new production of "Our Town."

The Thornton Wilder classic, on Showtime tomorrow night at 7 p.m., will get special attention because one Mr. Paul Newman plays the well-known Stage Manager role.

But the real star here is this play about the everyday events and the very real people of Grovers Corners, N.H.

As presented by the Westport Country Playhouse, in cooperation with Showtime and Masterpiece Theatre, the wonderful slice of life seems oddly refreshing.

After all, there isn't any cataclysmic action in this small but substantial story.

People are born and die, fall in love and, as Newman's character points out early on, live life to have life. And vice versa.

The days are filled with choir practice and baseball, wedding plans and milkman's deliveries.

After incidents of planes crashing into buildings, snipers firing at children and battle tanks rolling across Iraq, the quaint and lovable confines of Grovers Corners seem downright appealing.

At this point, who wouldn't want to pull up a spot on Mrs. Gibbs' front porch and, as the characters do several times, smell her heliotrope garden in the moonlight.

Knowing full well that at 9 p.m., the town's already tucked in for bed, with only the constable and the newspaper editor on the streets still headed for home.

Newman heads a solid, likable cast that includes Frank Converse, Jayne Atkinson and, giving one of the best performances in the production, former comic actress and "Saturday Night Live" star, Jane Curtin.

At this point in his career, Newman is American theater, feeling as authentic and quaint as Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Indeed, you almost expect him to show up after the show in a short spot for Newman's Own salad dressings, to benefit the Grovers Corners Little League, perhaps.

This production, directed solidly by James Naughton, was shot at the Booth Theater over a five-day period with four cameras.