LEGAL FILELoni and Burt Update: Actress Loni...

LEGAL FILE

Loni and Burt Update: Actress Loni Anderson claims she is nearly broke and needs temporary alimony from her estranged husband Burt Reynolds to maintain her affluent lifestyle, Florida court documents show. Lawyers for the couple are scheduled to appear in state court in Jupiter, Fla., (where the two own a ranch) today for the first in a series of hearings in the divorce case. Anderson claims she entered the marriage in 1988 with $1 million. She says she earned about $1.7 million during the marriage, but spent all the money on marital living expenses and child care for the couple’s adopted 5-year-old son. One of Reynolds’ attorneys disputed the image of Anderson as impoverished: “This is just not a situation where she is destitute and requires payment,” he said.

TELEVISION

On the Mend: Tony Danza faces more than a week in the hospital to recuperate from his skiing injuries. Danza was in stable condition at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center on New Year’s Eve, one day after an operation to repair spinal damage. The star of “Who’s the Boss?” is recovering from a back injury, broken ribs and internal injuries suffered in a skiing accident last week at Deer Valley ski resort outside of Salt Lake City. Dr. John D. Schlegel, who performed the surgery, said a rod had to be inserted in Danza’s back where one vertebra was broken and slightly dislocated. He said Danza, 42, will need rehabilitative therapy.

Network News Shuffle?: ABC News will reportedly announce this week that John Cochran, a 23-year veteran of NBC News, has been named Capitol Hill correspondent. Jackie Judd, who has been on the beat since February, will become a special assignment correspondent for “ABC World News Tonight.” ABC News would not confirm the signing of Cochran late last week. Cochran reportedly is leaving NBC News on good terms. He is expected to start at ABC in late January, in time for the State of the Union address.

A Cartoony Night: Edith Ann, that precocious child character created by Lily Tomlin, gets her own prime-time animated special on ABC Jan. 18 at 8:30 p.m. Tomlin supplies the voice for “Edith Ann--A Few Pieces of the Puzzle,” in which the girl visits her school psychologist after feeling unloved when her family seems to have forgotten her birthday. . . . The same night on NBC, Charlie Brown returns to TV with a new animated special, “You’re in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown!” The Peanuts gang’s first show on NBC after nearly three decades on CBS finds Charlie Brown and Linus competing in NFL halftime field-goal kicking competitions for kids. But real life kids won’t need to work the VCR to watch their animated counterparts--Charlie Brown airs at 8 p.m., preceding Edith Ann, with each running a half-hour.

Soap in Hot Water: Families of victims of the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 have accused the producers of a British soap opera of being “sick” for using a similar story to boost ratings. The first of four episodes of “Emmerdale” last week featured a plane disintegrating in the sky over the fictional village of Beckindale, killing four and injuring dozens. Executive producer Keith Richardson said the storyline was designed to attract a younger audience. But a man whose daughter was one of the 270 people killed in the bombing said the producers were ignoring the feelings of families still grieving.

RADIO

Joyner Joins In: Tom Joyner’s new syndicated radio show, the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” premieres today on 32 stations across the country including KACE-FM (103.9) in Los Angeles. Dallas-based Joyner offers a five-hour urban morning show with music, celebrity interviews, comedy, sports and news. The show will also feature a Chicago-based house band, Uncle Butchie’s Live House. ABC Radio Networks is the show’s syndicator.

QUICK TAKES

Gerard Depardieu has more to offer than just his presence as host of the 19th annual Cesar Awards, France’s version of the Academy Awards. Wine from Depardieu’s own vineyard will be served at the banquet following the Feb. 26 ceremony. . . . Woody Allen and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Soon-Yi Previn, whiled away 1993 with a few friends and more-than-a-few journalists in Venice, Italy. Mobs of reporters clogged narrow streets on New Year’s Eve to follow the couple.