Aside from the hometown gumbo, there was very little spicy fare at this year's National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention in New Orleans. Instead, scores of hopeful producers were offering predictable action-adventure courses (Conan the Adventurer; Soldier of Fortune, Inc.), lots of warmed-over leftovers (Police Academy -- The Series; Name That Tune) and way too much legal cuisine (Comedy Court; Family Court; and People's Court, starring former New York mayor Ed Koch). What else was at NATPE? Here's the dish:
O.J., PART DEUX Syndication will be the next battleground for two old nemeses. Johnnie Cochran joins the third season of Court TV: Inside America's Courts and will vie for viewers with Marcia Clark, who will host the female law-enforcement series LadyLaw. Says Cochran, ''It's going to be a good battle, but we've done it once before.''
THE LOST WORLD The nostalgia inducer of the convention was New Line Television's Lost in Space. Production on a feature will begin shortly, and if all goes well, a new live-action series and an animated show will follow. For promotional kick, New Line rousted 81-year-old Jonathan Harris (Space's Dr. Smith), who posed for a photo muttering ''This girdle is killing me.''
HEY, HE DID GET AN EMMY NOMINATION. The sole (pseudo) cast member to promote Seinfeld at the Columbia TriStar booth was Larry ''Soup Nazi'' Thomas. Thomas came dressed in character and dished out she-crab and bean soup. He acted, however, completely out of character: He actually smiled.
