At NBC, the Pressure Begins at ‘L.A. Law’

TV or not TV. . . .

HIGH STAKES: No wonder NBC is pulling out all the stops to breathe some new life into “L.A. Law.”

With “The Cosby Show” ending this season and “L.A. Law” losing its punch, the two bookend shows of NBC’s most dominant night--Thursdays--suddenly can no longer be counted on to prop up the network.

This is the night of the week that propelled NBC to six consecutive seasons of ratings victory. And the network’s other big night, Saturday, is suddenly in a bit of turmoil too as “The Golden Girls” no longer is a powerhouse.

With former “L.A. Law” executive producers Steven Bochco and David Kelley being called to the rescue--to give the show’s writing and personal interplay of the running characters more punch--the pressure is on.

NBC is having to come to grips fast with the post-”Cosby” era as the program that carried the network takes wing, with star Bill Cosby moving out to host a syndicated revival of “You Bet Your Life.”

And if not for “Empty Nest” on Saturdays, NBC would be in deep trouble on that pivotal night as well.

This Saturday, by the way, “Empty Nest” tries to score some extra points in the February sweeps when Lee Grant, mother of the series’ co-star, Dinah Manoff, does a guest shot.

THE BIG ONE: David Letterman may be thinking of leaving NBC, but the network is counting on him Thursday to help blunt CBS’ opening salvo of its Winter Olympics coverage.

And it should be quite a night for Letterman as Bob Dylan and Bill Murray turn up for the 90-minute prime-time special marking the 10th anniversary of his late-night series.

Letterman is putting heat on NBC with statements like, “I think that after 10 years, you can leave and have some satisfaction that you’ve done something.” And the network now reportedly is trying to stem any defection plans by pursuing an extension of Letterman’s contract that runs out in 1993.

But on Thursday, the show’s the thing. And so, a drum roll, please, for a little history. . * Murray was the first guest to appear on “Late Night with David Letterman” in its debut in February, 1982.

* Letterman has never had a guest host. He’s been there for every show.

* The top three guest-stars in number of appearances have been NBC sportscaster Marv Albert with 62, Richard Lewis with 45 and Jay Leno with 38. Tom Brokaw’s been on 31 times.

Thursday’s outing comes from Radio City Music Hall--and the first half hour will be up against the tail end of CBS’ Olympics preview special.

The 38-member Rockettes will join in the Letterman blowout, and Dylan will offer up “Like a Rolling Stone.” Others on hand include Emmylou Harris and Doc Severinsen.

JOY TO THE WORLD: One of these days, I’ll really get around to memorizing the part of Cyrano de Bergerac, something I promise myself every time I see Jose Ferrer’s exquisite film performance of the role in a TV rerun. What a loss that this giant of the acting profession has died.

There cannot possibly be a more wonderful part for an actor than Cyrano, and no one could possibly bring more pure exuberance to it than Ferrer did. And what a privilege to also see him in the TV reruns of “Moulin Rouge,” as Toulouse-Lautrec. His death-bed scene, with visions of those he has known saying goodby, is, remarkably, one of the happiest passages on film.

BRANCHING OUT: Caught “Today” show weatherman Willard Scott during the weekend in his new moonlighting job on cable’s Family Channel--host of “The New Original Amateur Hour.” He’s just as silly as the title, but it works. A perfect match of show and host.

WAKE-UP CALL: ABC’s “Good Morning America” now can say that it hasn’t lost in the weekly ratings since 1989. But “Today” is pulling closer and might make a splash when it originates from Cuba on Feb. 12 and 13. Bryant, Katie, Joe and Willard are all going to Havana to check out how Cuba has been affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Willard will do the heavy stuff.

FIRST RETURNS: Last week’s spoof of President Bush’s State of the Union address, as it was delivered, put the Comedy Central cable channel on the map, the “delighted” network says. It’s a new and small channel, and the tune-in of more than 200,000 homes wasn’t huge as national network audiences go--although the 0.9 rating doubled what Comedy Central normally gets.

But, says a spokesman for the channel, the larger networks’ reluctance to let Comedy Central share the live feed--which it won by threatening a First Amendment suit--”created media attention. The networks played right into our hands.”

TALK, TALK, TALK: The word is that those negotiations involving KNBC Channel 4 weekend anchor and reporter Bill Lagattuta may involve him moving to a network job.

ONE WORLD: After watching them on TV, I get the feeling that both Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin may be living in the United States within five or 10 years.

NEW WORLD: That CBS TV-movie tonight, “Fugitive Among Us,” comes from--of all places--ABC Productions, the in-house unit that was set up to do business with anybody, even competing networks. Actually, ABC acquired the movie when it took under its wing an independent company that already had the film. In any case, welcome to the new, anything-goes TV business.

KILLER: Oh, she’s nice and ladylike and all that, but Angela Lansbury is playing CBS like a violin. First, the star of “Murder, She Wrote” swung a huge financial deal after threatening to move over to ABC. And now the network, which needs her desperately as all of its new series have gone nowhere in the ratings, is making her executive producer of the show for its ninth season this fall. Do not play poker with this woman.

ENCORE: If you enjoyed the recent rerun of “Roots” on cable’s Family Channel, you can catch the repeat of the miniseries’ sequel, “Roots: The Next Generation,” on the same network April 6-12.

DRAWING BOARD: Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw will host a Lifetime cable documentary about infant mortality, “Shattered Lullabies,” on March 11.

CHECKING IN: “Reasonable Doubts,” the new Marlee Matlin-Mark Harmon cops-and-lawyers drama series, joins NBC’s regular Tuesday lineup at 10 tonight. We’ll say it again: The two leads go very nicely together.

BEING THERE: “It’s time you got married and realized that happiness isn’t the only thing in life.”--Carolyn Muir (Hope Lange) in “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .