REAGANS TO SPONSOR A SERIES ON PBS

President and Mrs. Reagan will sponsor a new concert series for the Public Broadcasting Service this season, featuring American artists, the White House announced Monday.

The concert series, “A Tribute to American Music,” will consist of four hourlong concerts. The first one will be taped in the East Room on Oct. 26, and will be devoted to the works of composer George Gershwin.

Participating in the program, which will be broadcast on Nov. 19, will be singer Sarah Vaughan, the Manhattan Transfer, George Merritt, Priscilla Baskerville, Kitty Carlisle Hart and composer Marvin Hamlisch.

DOUBLE DUTY: No, Tom Brokaw has not been demoted.

If you wondered why the “NBC Nightly News” anchor is on the “Today” show this week, it’s because he’s sitting in for the program’s regular co-anchor, Jane Pauley, during her final week of maternity leave.

Brokaw, who served as “Today” anchor from 1976-81, continues his “Nightly News” duties.

MORE COMEDY: And speaking of NBC, the company’s Television Stations Division next season will follow the lead of local independent KTLA by offering original series week nights at 7:30. “Out of This World” and “Marblehead Manor” are the first two sitcoms purchased for the network-owned stations here (KNBC Channel 4) and in New York, Washington, Chicago and Cleveland.

KTLA this season is pioneering the use of a different first-run comedy each night of the week in the pre-prime-time slot.

“Out of This World” will star Donna Pescow (“Angie”) as a woman whose alien husband has been recalled to his own planet. “Marblehead,” as yet uncast, centers around the zany staff of a large estate.

NEW DIRECTION: Film producer Roger Corman is turning to television for two of his next projects. “Space Project” and a second untitled series both are in development for NBC’s 1987-88 season.

“Space Project” is about an American spaceman who comes across an Earth-like civilization on the other side of the galaxy. The second potential series is a contemporary action-adventure.

Corman, best-known as producer or director of B-movies such as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Pit and the Pendulum,” is executive producer of both projects.

ON THE BEAT: Sandie Newton, who covers Hollywood for USA cable and is a life-style reporter for “Hour Magazine,” began reporting on the entertainment scene for KHJ-TV Channel 9 Monday .

Newton will be on KHJ-TV’s 9 p.m. news five nights a week, presenting interviews, entertainment stories and covering major events on live remote segments.

She takes over for Chantal Westerman, who has moved on to become West Coast entertainment reporter for ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

PUNKY’S BACK: Columbia Pictures Television and Soleil Moon Frye have resolved their differences, paving the way for “Punky Brewster” to go back into production.

The comedy series ran for two seasons on NBC but was canceled last spring. Columbia is going ahead with 44 additional episodes, however, that will be sold in syndication for airing in the fall of 1987.

Frye, who stars as the orphan girl, initially had refused to appear in the episodes for syndication, but now she will be back along with George Gaynes, Cherie Johnson and Susie Garrett.