TV & VIDEO - March 15, 1989

Actor Joe Don Baker starts work today on four episodes of NBC’s “In the Heat of the Night,” moving into the series while Carroll O’Connor recovers from sextuple coronary bypass surgery. Baker, who starred in “Walking Tall,” will be seen as a neighboring sheriff who takes over while Police Chief Gillespie (O’Connor) is away at a seminar on domestic terrorism in Washington. O’Connor will still be seen in three shows that were taped before he underwent surgery last weekend in Atlanta. The Baker scripts are due to air next month. O’Connor, 63, is “making excellent progress” and has been moved out of the intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital, his doctors report.