We’ll Watch if Bart Does the Play-by-Play

With its ratings down, Fox is hoping for relief with the World Series, which the network airs for the first time beginning Saturday. Televising the championship games promises to provide some short-term ratings punch for the network, which plans to use the games to promote its new series, “Millennium,” premiering Oct. 25, and the move of “The X-Files” to Sunday nights. Still, there are several reasons not to pop champagne corks just yet. For starters, baseball’s batting average, ratings-wise, has slumped to record lows this season, and the World Series has been on a downward track in recent years. In addition, as the other networks have discovered and Fox has learned with football, the sports audience--generally male and older than most Fox viewers--will tune in for the games but can’t easily be lured back to watch regular programs. Finally, a seventh World Series game--while sure to be a ratings bonanza--would delay the scheduled Sunday debut of “X-Files” and the traditional pre-Halloween marathon of “The Simpsons” on Oct. 27. Despite the difficulty of wooing baseball viewers, Fox is betting they can be drawn to “Millennium”--a dark drama about a former FBI agent adept at profiling killers--and “X-Files,” which performs inordinately well among men. Asked if Fox will use baseball to tout its lineup, entertainment president Peter Roth said, “Just watch.” The question now is whether viewers will.

Mrs. Gallagher, Please Talk to Your Lads

Oasis has already disappointed its Southern California fans twice this year, first when the popular British band postponed its April concert at the Universal Amphitheatre and again when it canceled next month’s makeup dates. Wednesday night, when Oasis’ “MTV Unplugged” performance airs for the first time, fans might be let down again. Singer Liam Gallagher opted out of the August taping in London, claiming a sore throat, but he’s shown watching from the balcony, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. His brother Noel, the band’s guitarist and creative force, takes over the vocal chores. MTV considered scrapping the show because of Liam’s absence, but decided to air it after viewing the tapes and “following the antics of Oasis in the press,” says producer Alex Coletti. After the taping, Liam stayed behind as the group opened a U.S. tour. He rejoined the band a few days later, but the tour was cut short last month amid reports of a rift between the Gallagher brothers, with Oasis announcing that it would not tour again for the foreseeable future. “What we saw that night could very easily be what Oasis is going to end up being, which is a four-piece with Noel out front,” Coletti says. “Or this might be a one-off oddity.” Either way, it seemed a no-lose proposition for MTV. And Epic Records, Oasis’ U.S. label, seems happy with the results too. “In a perfect world, it would have been great to have Liam,” says Steve Rennie, senior vice president and general manager of Epic’s West Coast operations. “But all of us admire the band’s chutzpah in going on with the show. It’s terrific.”

No Love. No Lunch. What Else Is There?

It’s not Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. It’s Robin & Linda & Liza & Tiffany. In case you don’t remember, they’re the four prostitutes who set Hollywood atwitter earlier this year with a steamy tell-all book about their sexual romps with big-name celebrities entitled, “You’ll Never Make Love in This Town Again.” On Friday, Dove Entertainment will open a documentary based on the book, all timed to coincide with the release of Dove’s new paperback edition. (It will play at the Mann’s 4 in Westwood and the Angelika 57 Theater in New York City only.) The film, directed by Dove president Michael Viner, involves a series of candid interviews with the four women, who claim they came to Hollywood with dreams of fame and fortune and, instead, ended up selling themselves to sex-starved movie and TV stars. Dove is the Los Angeles publishing company perhaps best known for its five books based on the O.J. Simpson murder case. Now, the firm is branching out into movies. Dove has two films in the pipeline for theatrical release. In January it releases “Flipping,” a slice-of-life crime drama about four friends, one of whom turns on them (flipping), working with an undercover cop to bring the group down. Dove also has picked up the North American rights to a film about Oscar Wilde, which is filming in the United Kingdom.

The Totally True Adventures of Spike ‘n’ Mike

Near the bottom of the ads for Spike Lee’s new film is this line touting the music in the movie, which opens Wednesday: “ On the Line’ Performed Expressly for ‘Get On the Bus’ by King of Pop Michael Jackson” . . . which means that you won’t find the song on the cool soundtrack album, released by Interscope Records. Sources said that Sony Records wanted to keep the song for Jackson’s next album. OK, fair enough, not every song from a movie ends up on the soundtrack. But what’s up with that “King of Pop” deal? Spike doesn’t strike us as the type to buy into that hype. A studio source said that the appellation was indeed contractually required by Jackson. So, as that old R&B; song goes: If you dance to the music, doncha know you’ve got to pay to the piper.

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers and Contributors