CASTING ABOUT

Alan Thicke is a scientist and Jay Underwood is his creation--an android who wants to become a real boy in “Not Quite Human,” a two-hour family pic now shooting in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Disney Channel. With Joe Bologna as (boo! hiss!) the bad guy, and Robyn Lively as the scientist’s daughter. . . . John Ritter and his brother Tom (who suffers from cerebral palsy) co-host “Breaking Ground,” a KTLA documentary about successful working actors with disabilities. It airs March 22 at 8:30 p.m. . . . Phillip Simon is a French mechanic who builds a trap in a Jeep to help a princess escape danger in an episode of the daytime soap “Capitol,” now shooting locally. . . . Donnelly Rhodes is an attractive caterer who attends to Rue McClanahan’s private needs in an upcoming “Golden Girls.” . . . Lori Loughlin portrays the college-age daughter of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, and Tommy Hinkley is the surfer boyfriend who creates waves in the family in “Back to the Beach,” a feature now shooting surfside in L.A. . . . Ray Liotta, the angry ex-lover in “Something Wild,” is a medical student who helps his brother (Tom Hulce) cop with society in “Dominick and Eugene.” Robert Young directs and Mike Farrell makes his producer’s debut on the feature, which shoots April 15 in NYC. . . . Molly Ringwald becomes pregnant and causes family turmoil when she refuses to get an abortion in an untitled drama to be directed John G. Avildsen to shoot here next month. . . . John Taragon is an egotistical photographer whose photos of surfers make them international celebrities in “The North Shore,” now filming in Hawaii. . . . Tom Skerritt is a jaded detective who pairs with a former college football player in NBC’s “Dirty Work,” sleuthing next week in L.A.