SWEET DEAL Roll over, Cartman! Meg Ryan, whose dynamic-duo comedy "You've Got Mail" is No. 1 at the box office, and actress-producer Heather Thomas plan to sell the UPN network an animated comedy about middle-school-age female quintuplets. Touted as a female "South Park," "Quints" will follow the five sisters' hormonal journey through the junior high years.

TOURING Girl wonder Alanis Morissette will launch her world tour in support of "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" down in the bayou this Jan. 30. Starting in New Orleans, Alanis and Co. -- Liz Phair joins the first eight concerts, afterwards Garbage will open -- will perform 33 U.S. shows before heading overseas.

CASTING Fresh off his four-episode guest appearance on "The Practice," Tony Danza has been offered the part of the bartender Rocky in the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" this April. If he takes the role, Danza (whose limited run in Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" won positive reviews) will star opposite Kevin Spacey.

SYNDICATED After only three years on the air, Ray Romano's magnum opus "Everybody Loves Raymond" has been sold into syndication for fall 2001. Named the best show of 1998 by EW TV Critic Bruce Fretts, "Raymond" reportedly sold for a hefty $190,000 per episode, a price tag on par with fellow sitcom faves "The Drew Carey Show" and "3rd Rock From the Sun."

TODAY IN HISTORY In 1970, Elvis Presley visits the White House to volunteer his services in fighting the nation's drug problems. The King gives President Nixon a chrome-plated Colt .45 and gets a Narcotics Bureau badge in return.... In 1969, Diana Ross gives her last performance as lead singer of the Supremes on "The Ed Sullivan Show".... F. Scott Fitzgerald, 44, dies in 1940 of a heart attack in Los Angeles, leaving "The Last Tycoon" unfinished.