NO BLACKLIST FOR KEACH,SAYS CBS OF JAILED ACTOR

Although actor Stacy Keach pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge and is serving a nine-month sentence in a British prison, CBS won’t “blacklist” the star of the network’s “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” series. It may even renew his series--now on hiatus.

That’s the word from Harvey Shepard, CBS’ senior vice president for programs. He suggested that Keach, who plays a hard-boiled private eye in the series, had suffered enough already.

Although emphasizing that CBS doesn’t condone the use of illegal drugs, he rhetorically asked: “Why should we make a judgment that this man should never work again? Why should we blacklist him?”

He defended the actor at a 50-minute Monday-night news conference in Beverly Hills, where he also decried the much-publicized call of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) for conservatives to heavily invest in CBS Inc. and bring pressure on the network’s news coverage.

“I can’t comment on a news (matter),” he said initially when asked why he thought the conservative senator--who contends that CBS is biased against President Reagan--is urging conservatives to take part in a “national crusade” to buy half of CBS’ stock.

But then Shephard briefly reversed himself, calling it “an outrageous situation for a senator to attack the First Amendment.” He did not elaborate.

(Financial analysts say it would cost $1 billion or more to buy half of CBS’ nearly 30 million shares of stock.)

On entertainment matters, Shephard said that while it’s “not official yet,” “House Detectives,” a new series starring Judd Hirsch, probably will succeed CBS’ long-running “The Dukes of Hazzard” in mid-March. The ratings of “Dukes” have declined recently.

He also predicted that CBS, first in prime-time ratings for five seasons, will win this season, too, with formerly third-place NBC ending up in second and ABC third. He got a laugh when asked to analyze how those two networks came to exchange places in the Nielsens.

“I assume ABC and NBC have answered that ad nauseum,” said Shephard, who was filling in Monday for ailing CBS Entertainment President Bud Grant. The gathering was held at Jimmy’s restaurant for about 80 out-of-town TV critics and writers.

Regarding the future of Keach and the latter’s series, Shephard said that when the actor was imprisoned last month, there were proposals to film this season’s remaining eight episodes of the “Mike Hammer” series, using “guest detectives” in place of Keach.

But CBS turned that down, he explained, because it believed that Keach was the show’s big draw and the network didn’t want to jeopardize the program’s future “by stunt casting or any other gimmick.” That, he said, “would just be more of a negative than a positive.”

For that reason, Shephard said, “we decided to put the show on hiatus” while Keach serves his sentence. Shephard said CBS “will decide, probably in May or June, whether it would be coming back or not.” He gave no indication of whether it would be renewed.

Keach, in pleading guilty to attempting to smuggle 1 ounces of cocaine into England last April, expressed regret at his possession and use of the drug. He vowed to use his status as a celebrity to help others stop using it.

Shephard indirectly accused British authorities of hypocrisy by letting a “number” of English rock stars convicted of drug use go free while putting the 41-year-old American actor behind bars to make “an example” of him.

“Assuming that he has given up the use of cocaine, which he claims he has, I don’t feel we’re in a position to make judgments like that,” he said, adding, “All I’m saying is that this man has been incarcerated . . . why should we make an example of him?”

He said it is the policy of CBS and the studios providing its programs to fire anyone found using drugs, and “there have been performers who have been dismissed.” He didn’t name them. He described Keach’s admitted drug use as “a situation we were not aware of. . . .”

Had CBS known of it, he said, “we would certainly encourage him to get therapy, to get help in stopping” the use of cocaine. “If he didn’t,” Shephard added, “then we certainly would take more drastic action.”