NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, MELISSA AUGUST, GREG BURKE, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE HOROWITZ, MICHAEL KRANTZ, LINA LOFARO, JEFFERY RUBIN, ALAIN SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS THE NETWORK'S FALL LINEUPS

[WINNERS]

BROOKE SHIELDS Her Suddenly Susan sitcom lands dream spot sandwiched between Seinfeld and ER

CARSEY-WERNER CO. Indy producers (Roseanne, 3rd Rock) will air an astonishing seven shows next season

1980S NOSTALGISTS Molly Ringwald, Michael J. Fox and Malcolm-Jamal Warner are all back in new comedies

[& LOSERS]

DANIEL BENZALI Murder One is renewed, but its star is sent packing. Possible replacement: Alan Alda

AMERICA'S MOST WANTED Helped capture 422 criminals in nine seasons. Canceled by Fox in favor of two comedies

DISNEY CEO MICHAEL EISNER ABC, now owned by Disney, rejects pilot for Eisner-hosted Disney Family Movie

WHAT'S IN A MOB NAME?

Last week in Sicily, Italian police arrested the country's top Mafioso, Giovanni Brusca, leading many Americans to wonder, Do Italian mobsters have colorful nicknames the way well-known U.S. mobsters do, like Vincent ("The Chin") Gigante and Salvatore ("Sammy the Bull") Gravano? In fact, Brusca is known as "The Pig." Other examples of Sicilian nomenclature:

Bernardo ("The Tractor") Provenzano (a boss from Corleone)

Pino ("The Shoe") Greco (assassinated in 1985)

Salvatore ("The Senator") Greco (cousin of The Shoe)

Santino ("Half-Nose") Di Matteo (now an informer)

Vincenzo ("The Tempest") Sinagra (known for his temper)

COLBY'S VIDEO GOODBYE

Subject: the assassination of President Kennedy. Speaker: William Colby. Just days before his fatal canoe accident, the former CIA director gave one of his last interviews to the CD-ROM magazine Blender. The June/July issue offers a grainy video, recorded at a sidewalk cafe in Washington, in which Colby ruminates on Oswald-as-commie-spy stories, bullet trajectories and JFK director Oliver Stone. Colby's conclusion: "You have to look at [the assassination] suspiciously," but there's no definitive proof anyone but Oswald was involved. Afterward, Blender reporter James Gordon Meek thanks Colby for his candor: "You talk about the Kennedy thing more than anyone alive." Hmmmm. Mr. Stone?

SUPREME COURT LUNCH? LET BREYER PICK UP THE TAB

The Justices of the Supreme Court released their annual financial-disclosure statements last week. A closer look (for their assets the Justices are required only to state a range):

JUSTICE ASSETS DECLARED GIFTS AND OUTSIDE INCOME

Breyer $4.5 to Travel to Barcelona and Florence $7.3 million for summer teaching gig and conferences

Ginsburg $4.4 to Travel to Innsbruck, Austria, $7.1 million for summer teaching gig

O'Connor $1.6 to $50 gargoyle from University $4.1 million of Wisconsin

Stevens $1.2 to More honorary club memberships $2.5 million than any other Justice

Souter $910,000 to Only Justice to list "numerous $1.95 million books from authors and publishers"

Scalia $595,000 to Travel to Nice, France, for $1.3 million teaching gig

Rehnquist $260,000 to $22,500 book advance from Knopf $675,000

Kennedy $30,000 to Travel to China for the National $370,000 Committee on U.S.-China Relations

Thomas $80,000 to $500 Stetson hat from the $275,000 Houston Club

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--HIV PROTECTION without condoms? Preliminary research on animals shows that a vaginal gel containing a drug called PMPA can stop transmission of HIV by preventing the virus from replicating. Further study is needed.

--Research on patients with CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE finds that carvedilol, a type of drug known as a beta blocker, can significantly lessen the risk of dying from the disease. The pill is taken daily, along with other standard medications.

--A cool remedy from hot peppers: a topical cream made from capsaicin, the ingredient that gives chili peppers their fire, appears able to reduce long-standing PAIN IN SCARS from breast- and lung-cancer surgery.

THE BAD NEWS

--Just worrying about whether salt can raise BLOOD PRESSURE seems enough to make anyone hypertensive. Now, more confusion. A U.S. study finds that in healthy people, salt does not affect blood pressure; a British study concludes that it does--especially in middle-age adults.

--Most women undergoing surgery for early stage OVARIAN CANCER are not thoroughly checked to see if the disease has spread to their abdomen and lymph nodes, a study shows. The step can make the difference between life and death.

--Heavy MOSQUITO INFESTATIONS are expected this June in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, Great Lakes, Southeast and New England regions. The winter's wet and wacky weather is why.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; New England Journal of Medicine; American Society of Clinical Oncology BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association and British Medical Journal; National Cancer Institute; Benadryl Itch Index

LOCAL HEROES

WILLIAM MAGEE, 52, and KATHLEEN MAGEE, 51; NORFOLK, VA.; founders of Operation Smile Plastic surgeon William and his social-worker wife Kathleen began "OpSmile" in 1982; since then it has performed surgery on 18,000 kids in 15 countries to correct--without charge--such disfigurements as cleft palates and burn scars, while training local doctors in the procedures. Says William: "The world is changed by emotion." On June 20, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation will award the group a $1 million prize.

EVIE ROSEN, 69; WAUSAU, WIS.; retired needlework-shop owner Disheartened by news stories about the homeless, Rosen wanted to do something to help: "Almost every home has little balls of yarn. I thought if we all could knit 7-in. by 9-in. rectangles, we could stitch them together and make a lot of afghans." She started Warm Up America in 1992, getting the word out to churches, retirement homes and craft shops. Last year, with help from other organizations, the group distributed 16,000 afghans.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

LALO SCHIFRIN, 63; LOS ANGELES; composer

Some critics have said the best thing about the new movie version of Mission: Impossible is the famous original theme music, a staccato tune for which composer Schifrin won two Grammy awards. TV themes--like those from Mannix and Medical Center--have been just one outlet for Schifrin; his works also include symphonies, operas and jazz compositions. A native of Argentina, he was brought to America in 1960 by Dizzy Gillespie to serve as his pianist and arranger. A Hollywood contract for The Cincinnati Kid followed in 1964, the first of countless film scores. Schifrin continues to adhere to a daily practice and composing schedule. Next week he releases a new album, Firebird: Jazz Meets the Symphony No. 3, featuring a new version of the Impossible theme. He is also writing an opera for Placido Domingo and composing a foreign-film score. Says Schifrin of his enduring success: "My career in the U.S. started at the top and had nowhere to go but downhill. Maybe it was a mixture of luck and determination."

43 YEARS AGO IN TIME

"Third-Dementia"

In the summer of 1953, the big movie special-effect sensation was 3-D: "At Paramount...[out] went twelve days of production on Sangaree, a costume epic starring Fernando Lamas, and the whole thing was shot again in 3-D...'Whaddya mean [the audience] won't wear glasses?' demanded Producer Bill Thomas. 'They'll wear toilet seats around their necks if you give 'em what they want to see!'...At Warners, Brother Jack [rushed] production on a [3-D] remake of that ancient horror about murder in a wax museum [with] the only director on the lot who cannot properly perceive depth: one-eyed Andre de Toth. [Said De Toth]: 'Beethoven couldn't hear music either, could he?'" --June 8, 1953