INSIDE TV : ‘DUKES OF HAZZARD’ ENDS ITS CBS RUN

Boss Hogg never quite caught those car-crazy Duke boys, but the ratings have. “The Dukes of Hazzard” will leave the CBS lineup Feb. 8, to be replaced in March by a new detective series starring Judd Hirsch.

Hirsch, the former star of “Taxi,” will appear in “Detective in the House,” described by the network as a lighthearted mystery show. He portrays an engineer, living in suburbia with his wife and three children, who decides to become a private detective. Cassie Yates co-stars as his wife.

“Detective in the House” will air Fridays at 8 p.m., beginning March 15.

Special programming will air in that time slot for the four weeks after “The Dukes of Hazzard” departs the CBS schedule.

“The Dukes,” which debuted in January, 1979, had been declining in the ratings for the last several seasons. Once among the nation’s most popular programs, it currently ranks 48th among the 79 prime-time series that have been broadcast this season.

TURNED DOWN: The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it has turned down a proposal that TV companies send a signal that could be used to delete commercials aimed at children.

Public Advocates Inc. and Action for Children’s Television had asked the FCC to require broadcasters and cable operators to insert an inaudible signal at the beginning and end of all commercials designed for or aimed at children.

An electronic box could then be programmed to sense the signal and blank out the commercial.

The commission said that it decided advertisers might quit buying time on shows for kids, potentially forcing the programs off television due to lack of economic support.

Parents can exert control over the amount and type of shows their children watch without resorting to electronic means, the commission said.

SHARON RESPONDS: Former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, who last week lost his $50-million libel suit against Time magazine, will discuss the case, freedom of the press and the First Amendment when he guests on “America Talks Back With Stanley Siegel” today at 6 p.m. on Lifetime cable.