DIFFERENT TV: Santa Ana-based Little Saigon Television,...

DIFFERENT TV: Santa Ana-based Little Saigon Television, which plays on cable channels both here and in Los Angeles, produces Vietnamese shows you can’t get elsewhere. Now it’s trying something even more different: “Americans Who Speak Vietnamese,” a trial 30-minute program that tapes today. . . . It will show four young whites speaking fluent Vietnamese. Says program host Joe Byers, who’s spent some 10 years learning Vietnamese, “We just want to do something special, fun, different.”

HART SHOES: If you’re a good bowler, chances are you’d be good at horseshoes, some of the experts say. Among them is Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Stockton. He’s president of the Professional Bowlers Assn. and a six-time world horseshoe champion. Williams will be among the premier tossers at Hart Park in Orange today and Sunday for a major invitational horseshoe tournament. . . . “The best in the entire world will be there,” says Bill Neal of the host Orange Horseshoe Club. “We want people to come watch, and maybe learn.”

WEST SIDE STORY: The Los Angeles Lakers may be out of the NBA playoffs, but their GM Jerry West is reveling in his latest accolade, the NBA’s “General Manager of the Year.”. . . The Hall of Famer will be Disneyland’s guest at 1 p.m. today, where he’ll personalize pre-autographed basketballs and Laker items and chat with fans in Tomorrowland. Be warned: No autographs if you don’t buy the merchandise.

WATER KING: The annual Waterman’s Ball, tonight at the Pelican Hill Golf Course near Newport Beach, is when corporate heads and surfers join forces to raise funds for ocean preservation. This year’s ball has a special guest: Walter Hoffman, president of Mission Viejo-based Hoffman California Fabrics. . . . Hoffman is recognized as a surfing pioneer. Says event spokesman Mike Kingsbury: “He pioneered surfing the North Shore of Hawaii. He’s also helped launch many of today’s successful surf companies.”