News and Notes

Law and Disorder
When David E. Kelley, formerly a practicing lawyer, took over as the executive producer of L.A. Law this season, he set out to disrupt the harmony that had dulled the show's characters and plots. ''Law firms are not families — they're very political,'' he explains. ''You have to look over your shoulder all the time.'' The result has been a docket full of on-screen conflicts and boardroom wars — the latest being a Dynasty-style power struggle between new mother Ann Kelsey and new partner Rosalind Shays — that Kelly says may continue through next season. However, don't count on the tensions causing anyone to leave McKenzie, Brackman for his or her own practice, as the character of Abby Perkins did last season. ''We would consider it,'' Kelley says, ''but it makes it very difficult to involve the character with the rest of the ensemble.''

Report Card
Number of schools using Whittle Communications' news program Channel One, which includes four 30-second commercials: 1,050
Number of schools using the commercial-free CNN Newsroom: 6,000

The People Have Spoken
First they shrank his show to an hour. Then they took away his desk. For Pat Sajak, the indignities just keep piling up. In the Gallup Poll that determines nominations for the People's Choice Awards (March 11 on CBS), voters had to nominate three candidates for favorite late-night talk-show host from an incredibly crowded field of four. And the nominees are: Johnny Carson, Arsenio Hall, and David Letterman.

Filo-Fox
Is there any truth to reports that Garry Shandling and Tracey Ullman are sick of their respective series and ready to move on when this season ends? According to Fox, yes and no. Shandling has been publicly ambivalent about agreeing to another season of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and it's doubtful that Fox would press him to stay with the series — the lowest-rated in prime-time — for one more year. But a spokeswoman for The Tracey Ullman Show says the actress ''flatly denies'' any unhappiness on the job.

The Old Gringo
The Family Channel's new series Zorro has come under fire from an antidiscrimination group called United Hispanics of America. In a full-page ad in the trade journal Daily Variety, the coalition pointed out that ''the legendary Spanish hero is being portrayed by a non-Hispanic actor (Duncan Regehr),'' as are the characters Don Alejandro and the Alcalde. Though the ad's sponsors, who include Edward James Olmos, are not calling for a boycott of the show, they plan to address what the ad termed ''injustices in the discriminatory hiring practices in the motion picture industry.'' Asked about the protest, a Family Channel spokeswoman said a Hispanic actress plays Zorro's love interest, and added, ''A number of Hispanics did try out for the lead role, but no one...matched Duncan Regehr's fencing skills or acting ability. We don't want to resort to tokenism.''

Not Necessarily the News
''I think our greatest problem is that we come out of the same box as all that other stuff.'' — Tom Brokaw on Nightline, commenting on the blurred line between reporting, reenactments, and docudramas.

Just Say Cheese
''It's really not brain surgery, as long as you can relax in front of the camera,'' Ronald Reagan Jr. says of his role as host (with Cristina Ferrare) of Studio 33 Hollywood, a syndicated morning show for next fall's schedule being sold to local stations. Cooking segments, features on kids, and household tips are planned. ''We're certainly not Geraldo,'' Reagan says, but he hopes the show won't be too kind and gentle. ''There's a certain kind of celebrity interview approach that's incredibly sycophantic but...doesn't get anything out of the person. We'll try to avoid that.''

Tune out? Turn off?
Fat chance! A young man has a TV set for a head. Increasingly frantic, he struggles — and fails — to remove it. The frame freezes, and a slogan appears: TV ADDICTION — NORTH AMERICA'S 1 MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM. The three major commercial networks are unlikely to show these 15-second commercials — the product of Media Foundation, a Vancouver-based media watchdog group- — but filmmaker Kalle Lasn, the group's cofounder, plans to submit them to CBS, NBC, and ABC anyway. ''If the networks reject them, they'll have to explain why.'' Actually, the explanation's pretty simple: One network executive told The Wall Street Journal that running the ads would be ''corporate suicide.''

Who's Lucy?
CBS is looking for new faces to play two of TV's most familiar ones: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. A biographical film, scheduled to appear on the network next season, will depict the couple's relationship from their first meeting in 1940 through the day I Love Lucy went into production in 1951.

Mastication Sensation
What's small, spiky-haired, and so cute you could eat it? Bart Simpson bubble gum, of course. Television's coolest 9-year-old will be available for chewing (the pieces come in the shape of Bart's head) this June.

Band on the Run
The road to production has become bumpy for the TV version of And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts' 1987 account of social, medical, and political responses to the AIDS crisis. Saban/Scherick Productions bought the book for development as an NBC miniseries, but the network's enthusiasm cooled — ''it just wasn't coming together as a cohesive piece of television,'' an NBC spokeswoman says. When the option expired, the project went to HBO Pictures. No script or director has been selected; if Band makes t to the screen, it may be as a two or three-hour movie.