In the crush of this fall's new network offerings, "Santo Bugito," a CBS Saturday morning cartoon about a town of bugs, is causing quite a buzz in more ways than one.

For one thing, its nonviolent story line runs counter to the slew of physically oriented kids' shows trying to ride the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" wave. "Santo Bugito" (which stands for "little bug town") has as its central characters a husband and wife who are loving and supportive--Carmen and Paco de la Antchez, who run a cantina in an upturned vase on Highway 5.

For another, there's its setting, along the Texas-Mexico border, which gives the show a strong Latino flavor. About half the characters are Latin-styled--with the voices of such performers as Tony Plana, Marabina Jaimes, Candi Milo and Cheech Marin--and so is the theme song and musical score.

The animation community is also keen to see the first "Tex-Mex cartoon"--the latest product from the innovative team of Klasky Csupo Inc., the creators of "Duckman" (USA Network) and "Rugrats" (Nickelodeon). The show is scheduled to premiere Sept. 16.

"The inspiration for a lot of our shows comes from our kids, and we explore things they like," creator Arlene Klasky explains. "We had explored the monster arena in our 'Aaahh! Real Monsters' [Nickelodeon] and then we did the world of babies in 'Rugrats.' "

Two years ago, Klasky and partner Gubar Csupo decided to incorporate some elements of Latino music and culture into their work, after seeing how much their children loved visits to Latino sections of Los Angeles.

Then Klasky had the brainstorm of combining the Latin theme and a Latino music track with a concept she had been developing on another subject that fascinates kids--entomology.

"Kids really like bugs. Boys particularly like squishy, slimy, squirmy bugs," Klasky says. "I wanted to put these insects in the desert, and once we chose the border of Texas and Mexico, we developed this Tex-Mex feel to the show."

On paper, combining the two themes sounds like a politically incorrect network nightmare. From the controversy over the Frito Bandito corn chip commercials from Frito-Lay Inc., which were eventually pulled in 1970, to the current boycott by the National Hispanic Media Coalition of Capital Cities/ABC over the lack of representation of Latinos, the Latino community has been sensitive to its depiction on television.