News & Notes

Mystery Twain
First the Bradys, then the Archies: On TV, nobody is exempt from the trauma of adulthood. The latest victims are Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. In Back to Hannibal, a Disney Channel movie currently shooting in Missouri, Huck (a reporter) and Tom (a lawyer) try to uncover the truth behind the murder of Becky Thatcher's husband before the town hangs chief suspect Jim. Raphael Sbarge, Mitchell Anderson, and Paul Winfield will star.

All My Losses
When this year's daytime Emmys are awarded, the latest chapter in an annual cliff-hanger will unfold: Will nominated actress Susan Lucci lose again? Lucci, who stars in ABC's All My Children, is 0-for-10 in her bid for best actress, but gets her 11th shot on June 28. CBS led the networks with 74 of the 204 other nominations, including 12 for Pee-wee's Playhouse (the most for any children's series this year); 6 for The Price Is Right (the top honoree among game shows); and 14 each for The Young and the Restless and Guiding Light. The biggest surprise: the struggling Joan Rivers Show, whose four nominations tie it with The Oprah Winfrey Show as the most-nominated TV talk show.

Tower of Passion
Think of the romantic moments in When Harry Met Sally, toss in some of the contemporary angst of thirtysomething, and the result is Manhattan Nights, the tentative title for an hour-long romantic anthology series that CBS hopes will add some heat to the network's summer schedule. Nights, which begins production in June, will be set in a New York apartment building; each episode will peer into the romantic life of a different resident. The cast will change from show to show, with a concierge (no actor has been cast, but an intriguing name is promised) appearing each week to set the scene.