By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: October 1, 1984

Televison does have its moments, and an impressive number of them can be found on the schedule this evening. An ordinary television movie on CBS at 9 is given substance and sensitivity through the performances of Joanne Woodward and Lindsay Wagner. And a new family-entertainment series on public television at 8 gets off to a beautifully affecting start with a story about the childhood of Booker T. Washington.

In ''Passions,'' on Channel 2, Richard Kennerly (Richard Crenna) is a wealthy California businessman who spends a good deal of time shuttling between two separate households. In Pasadena, his luxurious home is overseen by his socially prominent wife, Catherine (Miss Woodward). They have a college-age daughter named Beth (Heather Langenkamp). Over in Malibu, his beachhouse is taken care of by Nina (Miss Wagner) and they have a 6-year-old son named Eric (R. J. Williams). Catherine is, of course, unaware of Nina's existence. She merely assumes his business requires a good deal of traveling and being away from home.

The script - written by Janet Greek and Robin Maxwell with some assistance from Sandor Stern, the director - keeps things tidily symmetrical. Although he has been promising Nina to get a divorce and then marry her, Richard is reluctant to leave his wife, who after all is a perfectly decent and good woman. And he has a close, loving relationship with his daughter. Still, with Nina, who is cool and lovely, Richard relaxes with his painting and the supposedly more rewarding things in life. And he adores his young son. What to do?

Richard's questionable solution is to do nothing. Time passes and he makes the best of both worlds, avoiding plans for the future. All of that changes when he is felled by a massive heart attack and later dies. Finding out about Nina and the boy, Catherine is understandably hurt and bitter, and she is determined that they will get nothing from the estate. It seems that the neglectful Richard had failed to update a 15-year-old will. The battle is joined.

If the content is fairly standard soap opera, the treatment is generally effective. Despite the innumerable flaws - especially in the character of Richard, whose behavior is simply downright selfish and destructive - Miss Woodward and Miss Wagner bring the pieces together and make them work as incisive portraits of two women trying to understand themselves and each other. Miss Woodward's older woman is a wrenching mixture of dignity and resentment. Miss Wagner manages to be vulnerable and steely simultaneously. The performances are a pleasure to watch. And for good measure, there is Viveca Lindfors as Nina's worldly neighbor dispensing Valiums because they ''got me through a couple of divorces, love affairs and several deaths.'' The story is really rather slight, and studiously avoids poking into more uncomfortable corners, but ''Passions,'' made by Carson Productions, does have rewards for anyone interested in the demanding skills of acting.