Flashes

TV: Every dog has its day, but for CBS' Family Dog, that day may be a long way off. Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton's prime-time cartoon about the suburban life of a pointy-snouted canine has been in the works for nearly a year and was intended to bring Simpsons-scale success to the network this spring, but sources close to the show say that problems with animation production may now delay Dog's debut until September. The postponement is particularly surprising because a set of high-profile commercials alerting viewers to the new series aired on CBS' Grammy broadcast just days earlier...
MUSIC: ''I'm nothing but a big kid,'' says Little Richard, a contributor to For Our Children, a new Walt Disney Records album benefiting the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Little Richard recorded ''The Itsy Bitsy Spider'' last month — right after he learned the words. ''Where I grew up we never said 'itsy bitsy,' we said something else,'' he explains. Others involved with the album are Bob Dylan, Paula Abdul, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Sting, and James Taylor...
MOVIES: Tom Cruise has been drafted to star as a Navy defense attorney in A Few Good Men. Rob Reiner (Misery) is directing the suspenseful court-martial drama based on the Broadway play...
BOOKS: The bad ol' boy is back! In his latest collection, The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs, the satirical drive-in movie critic doesn't spare anyone the blunt end of his pencil. ''I'm an equal opportunity offender,'' says Briggs. ''I pick on everybody.'' And everything, including his native Texas and the newspaper editors who sometimes ax his columns. ''I think there are a lot of cowards in journalism,'' Joe Bob says. — Mark Harris, Casey Davidson, Melina Gerosa, Tina Jordan