TODAY’S NEWS, TOMORROW’S TELEVISION : ‘Most Wanted’ teams up with the Mountains; Fred Savage plays his most dramatic role

SERIES

King World had the top three daily syndicated shows last season with “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy!” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” finishing one, two and three, respectively, according to the May Cassandra report. The rest of the Top 10 were “The Cosby Show,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “A Current Affair,” “Cheers,” “Inside Edition,” “Donahue” and “Family Feud.”

“Night Music,” the late-night syndicated music series hosted by David Sanborn, will return for a third season. Executive producer of the highly acclaimed series is Lorne Michaels, creator and producer of “Saturday Night Live.”

Hall of Fame fullback Larry Csonka has replaced Todd Christensen as co-host of the athletic competition series, “American Gladiators.” The syndicated series, also hosted by Mike Adamle, is now in production for a Sept. 7 return.

Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted” joins forces with the Royal Canadian Mounties, at their request, to profile Canadian fugitives beginning July 29. The reality-based crime show hopes to track Canadian criminals who have fled to the United States and American fugitives gone North.

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” during the week of July 30-Aug. 3, will bring together musical fathers and their sons under the theme “Father and Music.” The guests will be cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his son, Nicholas, and jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis and his sons, saxophonist Branford, slide trombonist Delfeayo and drummer Jason.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has announced the fall lineup for the 15th anniversary of its PBS series “Live From Lincoln Center.” The season opens Oct. 3 with a concert featuring soloist Daniel Barenboim with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Meta. Other shows feature cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Oct. 14), the New York City Opera (Nov. 7), flutist James Galway (Dec. 19) and Luciano Pavarotti (early 1991).

MINISERIES

Two NBC miniseries planned for 1990-91 are: “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” looks at the years between the end of the Civil War and today through the eyes of Lucy Marsden, 90, a widow now living in a North Carolina charity home. “A Woman Named Jackie,” based on the controversial biography by C. David Heymann, is an intimate and public portrait of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

MOVIES

Fred Savage has been cast to star in ABC’s “The Legacy of Michael Patrick Smith,” for the 1990-91 TV season. The two-hour movie is based on the true story of a boy with muscular dystrophy who felt his civil rights were being abused by the inhumane treatment he received in nursing homes.

“Blind Vengeance,” a psychological thriller starring “Major Dad’s” Gerald McRaney as a father who avenges the murder of his son, will be telecast Aug. 22 on the USA Network. McRaney’s company produced the project.

Ron Silver stars as a professor whose extensive background in international law makes him the ideal candidate for an Amnesty mission to find the whereabouts of 17 prisoners of conscience in “Urgent Action: The Amnesty Files.” The TNT movie, debuting Nov. 19, co-stars Hector Elizondo as the human rights lawyer who teams up with Silver.

Ned Beatty, Peter Boyle and Vincent Gardenia have been cast in HBO’s “Lockerbie,” a fact-based drama about the events leading up to the terrorist bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Scotland in December, 1988. After a year of investigative research into the accident, the HBO movie suggests that the entire tragedy could have been prevented.

TNT will recreate one of the most famous naval battles of the Civil War in “Ironclads,” a two-hour dramatization of the first and only confrontation between the armored gunboats Monitor and Merrimack. The film, directed by Delbert Mann, is scheduled to begin shooting in Virginia in August. A cast has not been announced.

SPECIALS

Reporters were sent to the streets of America with bizarre questions for “Funny You Should Ask,” a half-hour comedy special airing Aug. 10 on CBS. Hosts Steve Kelley and Arleen Sorkin will reveal the answers to such questions as “Do you like the way you look in the nude?” and “What part of the body do you look at first on the opposite sex?”

“The Power of the Past With Bill Moyers: Florence,” a PBS documentary that explores the origins of contemporary ideas in Renaissance Florence, will debut on Nov. 28. Moyers interviews renowned artists, authhrs and historians on a tour of Florence.

Arsenio Hall will host “The 1990 MTV Video Music Awards” live from L.A.’s Universal Amphitheatre on Sept. 6.

“The Party’s Over,” Lifetime’s sixth “Your Family Matters” special, discusses intervention as an approach to the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse. The Aug. 29 documentary re-enacts events that lead to three interventions and their emotional confrontations.