Legal drama ''Judging Amy'' is facing a real-life courtroom battle. Costar Richard T. Jones is suing the show's producer, 20th Century Fox Television, saying it reneged on an oral agreement to let him out of his contract if he landed any big movie roles or was dissatisfied with the show. Jones, who plays court services officer Bruce Van Exel, says that Fox backed out of a promise to expand his role in the second season, and that he subsequently asked to be let go and was refused. He also complains that producers of the series, which airs on CBS, made him work 16- and 17-hour days, including forcing him to do read-throughs during his lunch hour. Fox says it has a policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
TUBE TALK Though much of the cast of ''The West Wing'' staged a walkout this summer to demand a raise, the actors have promised to donate their salaries from Wednesday's episode to the relief effort. This is the one inspired by the terror attacks, in which the White House responds to a fictional crisis along the lines of the September 11 tragedy, an episode Aaron Sorkin whipped up in the days after the attacks and inserted in the schedule before continuing the series' ongoing storyline in the season premiere, which has been pushed back to next week. No word on whether NBC will perform a similar goodwill gesture by donating its ad revenues from the episode....
NBC's ''Third Watch'' is also responding to the September 11 attacks with a three-week run of special episodes. The first, airing on October 15, will be a non-fiction show, with the actors who play New York emergency workers appearing with their real-life counterparts to pay them homage. The next week, there will then be an episode that takes place shortly before the attacks. Finally, on October 29, there will be one that deals with their aftermath.
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