Summer books, summer television: either way, trash tends to have the upper hand. Touching both bases is "To Be the Best," a two-part, four-hour movie based on a best-selling novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford. It is being broadcast on CBS this Sunday and Tuesday at 9 P.M.

Mrs. Bradford's "Woman of Substance" was turned into a mini-series of substance several years ago. This is the sequel. Emma Harte, the beautiful and skilled entrepreneur who established Harte's London department store -- think Harrod's -- died a decade earlier. Now the international Harte empire is being run by Paula O'Neill (Lindsay Wagner), Emma's favorite granddaughter, who saved the company from the greedy clutches of her rotten cousin Jonathan Ainsley (Christopher Cazenove). Jonathan, of course, never stops scheming to destroy Paula. Can Paula be as tough and shrewd as her beloved Grandy? Up organ music, and out.

The Bradford novels, deftly intertwining romance and high finance, celebrate bonds of friendship and family stretching over generations. The villains are those who would underestimate those bonds. Here is soap opera, to be sure, but of good, hearty quality. Transferred intact to television, as in "A Woman of Substance," Mrs. Bradford's stories wear well. But "To Be the Best" has been disastrously pulled apart and rearranged. Inasmuch as the executive producer is Robert Bradford, the writer's husband, it can only be assumed that Mrs. Bradford acquiesced in the assault.

The primary reason for the revisions, I suspect, was the casting coup of getting Anthony Hopkins, the winner of this year's best-actor Oscar for "The Silence of the Lambs." Mr. Hopkins, sounding here even more like that other Welsh actor, Richard Burton, plays Jack Figg, head of security for the Harte company. The problem: in the 442-page novel, Figg is a rather minor character, making his entrance around page 418. Obviously, that won't do for a star. So the Figg character is expanded, popping up regularly over the four hours and even wriggling his way into Paula's heart while she she tries to straighten out marital problems with her beloved husband, Shane (David Robb). Wobbly to begin with, the plot staggers.

Shuttling between Macao and Hong Kong, where Paula is opening a new store, Jonathan and Sarah (Claire Oberman), another nasty cousin, plot to destroy Paula. "The American market has lots of pits," sneers Jonathan, "and I'm going to make sure she falls into one of them." Meanwhile, he keeps publicly humiliating his Chinese assistant, Tony Chiu (James Saito), who remains curiously cool. With good reason. Tony has his own plan to bring down Jonathan, part of which involves getting him to fall in love with Arabella (Stephanie Beachum), his own mistress. Shrewd Sarah keeps asking Jonathan, "Do you trust that awful little man?"

Mrs. Bradford is the kind of writer partial to the word whilst, and this movie doesn't hesitate to use a line like, "Think of it most carefully, my lovely." Victorian melodrama survives. Ms. Wagner is a bit stiff in this context, but Mr. Hopkins, pointedly ignoring the fact that he's not doing Shakespeare, fits right in. The plot takes the most shameless turns, but eventually the viewer is delivered to the comforting payoff: "Your dream lives on, Grandy. You're still the best." Trash has its pleasures. 'Coopersmith' CBS, tonight at 8 (Channel 2 in New York.)

There's only one note of interest about this failed 1990 pilot for a weekly series. The star is Grant Show, who, fortunately for his own career, went on to Fox's "Melrose Place," the hottest of this summer's new series. As C. D. (Cool Dude, if you will) Coopersmith, he plays an unorthodox insurance investigator with a penchant for turning every humdrum case into a Page 1 murder: a sort of Columbo in denim. At the office, Coop spars with his uptight boss and associate, who, it turns out, is privately Coop's adoring girlfriend. Coop is standard neo-"Easy Rider": jeans, leather, shades and bike, all held together with a cocky attitude. Mr. Show gets it right enough. Inevitable scene: After a particularly rough encounter, Coop rolls around in bed, bare-chested and in his briefs, holding an ice pack to his groin. Even back then, it was obvious this guy had a future in television. To Be the Best CBS, Sunday at 9 P.M. (Channel 2 in New York.) Written by Elliott Baker, based on the novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford; directed by Tony Wharmby; music by Alan Parker; edited by John Shirley; Alan Doberman, director of photography; Brian Ackland-Snow, production designer; costumes by Barbara Lane; Bob Goldstein, art director. Produced by Gemmy Productions, Aida Young, producer; Robert Bradford, executive producer. Paula O'Neill . . . Lindsay Wagner Jack Figg . . . Anthony Hopkins Arabella Sutton . . . Stephanie Beacham Jonathan Ainsley . . . Christopher Cazenove Jack Miller . . . Stuart Wilson Tony Chiu . . . James Saito Madalena O'Shea . . . Fiona Fullerton Philip Amory . . . Gary Cady Shane O'Neill . . . David Robb, Sarah Pascal . . . Claire Oberman Sandy Barkstone . . . Christopher Blake