TELEVISIONPoised for Prime Time: Two new half-hour...

TELEVISION

Poised for Prime Time: Two new half-hour comedies, both from folks previously associated with Fox-TV, were announced Monday as “prime examples” of upcoming programming on the Warner Bros. Television Network, a new youth-oriented cable channel scheduled to launch in January. The first, “Unhappily Ever After,” is from “Married . . . With Children” executive producers Ron Leavitt and Arthur Silver and deals with the tribulations of a recently divorced father struggling to make ends meet after paying child support, alimony and taxes. The second, a not-yet-titled show featuring former “In Living Color” regulars Shawn and Marlon Wayans, focuses on two brothers living on their own for the first time--in New York City.

* King in Unidentified Territory: Larry King will host “The UFO Cover-Up: Live From Area 51--A TNT Larry King Special” for cable’s Turner Network Television. The Oct. 1 interactive special will be telecast live from Rachel, Nev., in the shadow of what locals say is a secret U.S. military installation hidden deep in the Nevada desert. The Pentagon won’t confirm the existence of the purported base, known as “Area 51.”

RADIO

Taking On the Mantle: Mike Kasem, whose father, Casey Kasem, has long counted down the top pop tunes over radio airwaves, is following in his father’s footsteps with his own pop music program, a celebrity interview show called “Inside Track.” Although the 20-year-old’s show is produced and distributed by radio programmer Westwood One, his voice won’t be heard on the radio airwaves like his dad’s. Instead, the program will be distributed on audiocassettes and sold in record stores, in what is being billed as the world’s first “audio fanzine.” The first edition, on sale at selected record stores now, includes interviews with Swedish pop group Ace of Base, singer Toni Braxton and actor Jonathan Brandis.

THE ARTS

They Won’t Strike: Concertgoers attending Saturday’s “Encore! The Three Tenors” event at Dodger Stadium no longer need worry about a possible picket line. The show’s producer, the Rudas Organization, and Local 33 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees have settled their differences regarding stagehands working on the show, which stars world-class tenors Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Union lawyer Bob Cantore said the agreement was amicable, giving dozens of stagehands and others wages and benefits “in line with theaters all around town.”

* See You in Court: Andrew Lloyd Webber simultaneously welcomes and regrets Faye Dunaway’s decision to sue him over her dismissal from the producer-composer’s “Sunset Boulevard,” according to a statement released Monday. “No sane man” would close a show that was grossing more than $900,000 a week “unless there was a very, very good reason,” Lloyd Webber said. “I believe this will become apparent at any trial, but I really deeply regret that the issues will have to be aired in public.” The statement also implied that Lloyd Webber did not make every decision in the Dunaway brouhaha. In his publicist’s words, “Whilst accepting that . . . all actions taken by the management of the company are attributed to him whether they were taken by him or not, Sir Andrew is satisfied after exhaustive inquiries that his management has acted with not only the utmost propriety but also with great sympathy at all stages in this sorry saga.”

* Louvre Theft: Paris’ Louvre museum, shaken by the theft of a 17th-Century French drawing, tightened security Monday and appealed to the robber to treat the fragile work delicately. The thief cut the 1660 pastel drawing “Portrait of Jean Dorieu” by court artist Robert Nanteuil from its frame Sunday afternoon during a gap between security rounds, authorities said. At the time, the museum had an estimated 27,000 visitors in its Sully wing. The stolen work is valued at between $75,000 and $100,000.

QUICK TAKES

Mike Newell, who directed this year’s surprise box-office hit “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” as well as 1992’s multiple Academy Award nominee “Enchanted April,” has entered into an overall producing/directing deal with Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. . . . Five concertgoers, including three Los Angeles men, have filed a $185-million lawsuit against Ticketmaster, accusing the giant ticket vendor of violating antitrust laws and charging exorbitant fees. The suit follows similar accusations by the band Pearl Jam and several other antitrust suits against the ticket distributor. . . . Barbra Streisand will close out her string of New York City concerts in Madison Square Garden by simulcasting her last song on the big screen in Times Square tonight.