Just a few more odd odds and ends from the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour . . .
NO KIDDING: Paul Junger Witt, executive producer of "Golden Palace," the "Golden Girls" spinoff that stars Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty and Betty White, confirmed that the fourth "Girl," Beatrice Arthur, will return for occasional guest appearances.As to when we might first expect to see Arthur, Witt responded, "Gee, it would be kind of a coincidence if she showed up for November sweeps."ADD TUESDAY: As previously announced, Fox plans to expand its schedule to include Tuesdays. But the Tuesday programming won't go on line until Oct. 27.
On that night, Fox will debut "Class of '96," an hourlong drama about a group of college freshmen that bears a particularly unsurprising resemblance to "Beverly Hills, 90210," at 7 p.m.
And at 8 p.m., Fisher Stevens stars in another hourlong show titled "Key West." He plays a New Jersey lottery winner who moves to a bizarre Florida community.
Fox is hoping that by waiting until late October, it can avoid competition with CBS' baseball cover-age and that it can attract a large audience the following Tuesday - election day - when the Big Three networks will be covering the vote.
That pretty much qualifies as the pursuit of self-interest at the expense of the public interest.TAKE ME IN TO THE BALLPARK: In this day and age when cable channels proliferate, sometimes networks will go to considerable lengths to gain some attention.
For example, American Movie Classics, to promote its upcoming baseball retrospective "Diamonds of the Silver Screen," rented out the biggest ballroom in the Century Plaza Hotel and turned it into a miniature baseball field.
I mean, they laid sod - real grass - on the ballroom floor, set up a small diamond complete with bases, mound and baselines. They set up bleachers. They had baseball memorabilia on display, popcorn, peanuts and the works.
And up on the stage, they made a mini-desert, complete with sand, cacti and a Western backdrop, for an appearance by Roy Rogers. (AMC is also producing a tribute to the King of the Cowboys.)
At the very least, the setup was certainly memorable.BACKUPS: When some of NBC's new and old series fail in the ratings, as happens at every network, here's what's waiting in the wings:
- "Buck and Barry," a half-hour sitcom starring David Keith that was originally on the Friday night schedule but was pulled because NBC feared a three-way sitcom competition with ABC and CBS.
- "The Powers That Be," which got a tryout this spring and was on and then off the Friday schedule for the same reasons as "Buck and Barry."
- "Crime & Punishment," an hourlong drama from the producers of "Law & Order."
- "Homicide," an hourlong police drama produced by movie director Barry Levinson.
- An unnamed, half-hour "adult comedy" from producer Jay Tarses ("The Bob Newhart Show," "Buffalo Bill").
- And a new family sitcom from producer Michael Jacobs that's going to be sort of an old family sitcom. "We've taken some of the talent that was in `The Torkel-sons,' " Littlefield said. "He's reconceived the show."THEATRICALS: Theatrical movies, which used to be poison to the broadcast networks in terms of ratings, have made a strong comeback in the last couple of years. And NBC has signed several deals with movie studios.
Here are some of the titles you'll be seeing on the Peacock in comings years: From Paramount - "The Addams Family," "Star Trek VI," "Wayne's World," "Necessary Roughness," "Regarding Henry," "All I Want for Christmas," "Dead Again" and "Ladybugs."
From Warner Bros: "Batman Returns," "JFK," "Curly Sue," "My Blue Heaven," "Other People's Money," "Doc Hollywood" and "Memoirs of an Invisible Man."
From MGM Pathe - "Thelma and Louise," "Quigley Down Under," "Russia House" and "Shattered."
From Columbia - "The Fisher King," "Prince of Tides" and "Bugsy."
And while no titles were announced for a 10-movie deal with MCA Universal, eight of those will come directly to NBC without stopping at pay cable first.