‘DONAHUE’ TO TAPE 5 BURBANK SHOWS

Phil Donahue, facing a challenge in the Los Angeles TV market from another talk show hosted by Ophra Winfrey, will open the fall season with five broadcasts from KNBC Channel 4 in Burbank, the station said Thursday.

“Donahue” will originate here Sept. 8-12, the week that KABC Channel 7 will be premiering “The Ophra Winfrey Show,” a syndicated program out of Chicago that has beaten Donahue’s 18-year-old show in the ratings there.

Both programs will air weekdays from 3 to 4 p.m.

“Donahue” fans interested in being part of the studio audience that week are advised by KNBC to write for tickets to NBC-Donahue Tickets, Burbank 91523. The request should specify which day is preferred; include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The tickets are free, but only two will be given for each order, a station spokeswoman said.

FINALIST: KHJ Channel 9 is one of 17 TV stations in the running for the National Community Service Emmy Award. The award is presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of “outstanding local programming that has a positive impact on the community.”

KHJ was nominated for its special “Open Air Asylum,” a documentary about the people living on Skid Row in Los Angeles. It previously won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award.

NEXT UP: Philip Reeder, who wrote, produced and directed “Open Air Asylum,” will be back with another documentary next Friday, this one for KNBC Channel 4. “I Forgot to Say Goodbye” deals with Alzheimer’s disease.

Steve Allen hosts the hourlong program, which focuses on the effects of the disease on its victims and their families.

To further help focus attention on Alzheimer’s and what it believes is the need for more adult-care facilities and financial assistance for stricken families, KNBC has launched a series of public service announcements, also featuring Allen, and will be reporting on the subject on the 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. newscasts next week.

SOAP ROCK: Singer Michael McDonald will perform on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless” next Friday.

The story has it that rock star Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) and model Cricket Blair (Lauralee Bell) are working with pregnant teens and decide to put on a concert with the theme “It’s OK to Say No.” Damian will perform his own composition with that title, while McDonald is slated to sing “Our Love” and “Sweet Freedom.”

NEW SERIES: Margot Kidder and James Read will star in “Shell Game,” a mid-season series from Warner Bros. Television for CBS.

Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the “Superman” movies, and Read, who played George Hazard in the 24-hour miniseries “North and South,” are cast as members a former con team who are reunited years later. It will mix comedy and drama.

FUNDING: The Max Factor Family Foundation has given KCET Channel 28 $150,000 to produce a Ray Bradbury story for public television’s “Wonderworks” series.

The story is “Walking on Air,” about a wheelchair-bound boy who discovers the feeling of weightlessness during a therapeutic swimming class and decides he wants to walk in space. It will be adapted and directed by Ed Kaplan, who did the same for an earlier Bradbury story on “Wonderworks,” “All Summer in a Day.”

START DATES: NBC has decided to unveil four of its new prime-time series before the Sept. 22 “premiere week” that officially marks the beginning of the fall TV season.

“Our House,” a family drama starring Wilford Brimley and Deidre Hall, will get its first airing Sept. 11 after the top-rated hit “The Cosby Show.” Then “Our House” will move to its regular time period of Sunday at 7 p.m. on Sept. 14.

“Easy Street,” a comedy with Loni Anderson and Jack Elam, will be introduced Sept. 13 between a repeat of “The Golden Girls” and coverage of the Miss America Pageant. “Easy Street” will air Sundays at 8 p.m. beginning Sept. 28.

“Crime Story,” a serialized drama about a policeman, a lawyer and a mobster, will open with a two-hour episode Sept. 18, followed by another episode after “Miami Vice” on Sept. 19. The new series will air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. beginning Sept. 30.

“Matlock,” a drama starring Andy Griffith and Linda Purl as father-and-daughter lawyers, will make its first appearance Sept. 20, moving to its regular 8 p.m. Tuesday slot on Sept. 23.