Social whirl poses a New York gridlock

What would “Sex and the City’s” Carrie Bradshaw do? In New York this week, there’s stress in the media crowd and nail-biting among publicists: Entertainment party gridlock portends a Wednesday night of tough choices and serial cab-hopping for guests who are invited to be in four places at once.

First came the invitation to King World’s launch party for the new fall talk show “Living It Up! With Ali & Jack” (that’s former ABC journalist Jack Ford and actress-comedian Ali Wentworth, who’s married to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos).

Then came the pink-ribboned invite to the launch of the final season of HBO’s “Sex and the City,” a major see-and-be-seen event.

AOL Time Warner obviously needs a master calendar; HBO’s sister-unit People Magazine is also throwing a “Love Party,” celebrating an issue on celebrity romance. And Fox News Channel is staging a bash to open its new studio.

King World says its party was scheduled three months ago; HBO picked its date to fit in with the series’ June 22 launch and the stars’ busy taping schedules for new episodes. People’s special issue hits the newsstand Friday; Fox postponed its party from May but otherwise picked the date somewhat randomly; anchor Linda Vester’s “Day Side” show has already moved into the studio.

All the parties start at 6:30 p.m., except for HBO’s (7:30). King World’s party (500 have RSVP’d) has the draw of being in a just-opened club, Plaid, but it’s downtown, far, far from the HBO event (about 900 attendees) at the Upper West Side’s Museum of Natural History (a King World executive suggests skipping the HBO screening and just going to the after-party).

People’s Studio 54 locale (more than 700 expected) probably has more cachet than Fox’s real Studio D (fire marshall won’t let more than 75 in at a time), and People’s musical guest, Uncle Kracker, is fashionable with a much younger crowd than normally watches Fox (party entertainment will be a jazz quartet); but Fox is the cable news channel of the minute. “Let’s hope it doesn’t rain,” says an HBO rep.