Ed Sullivan

NEW YORK - David Letterman may not be the king of late night, but he is unarguably the king of his neighborhood. Who cares if Jay Leno's celebrity-friendly "Tonight Show" regularly beats Dave in the late-night ratings wars? Walk up Broadway from 53rd to 54th Street, past the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Letterman's show has been taped ever since the move to CBS, and proof of his absolute rule over the Manhattan block is everywhere. At the Hello Deli on 53rd, co-owner Rupert Jee, a frequent visitor to the "Late Show," poses for nearly as many tourists' photographs as he sells sandwiches.

Never underestimate the archaeological prowess of the folks at Nick-at-Nite.Just when you thought they'd brought back to television just about everything there was to be brought back, they dig up another relic. This time, it's one of the most popular shows of the early '70s, a comedy/variety half-hour that spent two seasons as the No. 2-rated show on television before both it and its star faded from view.Remember Geraldine and Killer? The Rev. Leroy Jones of the Church of What's Happenin' Now?

He was such an unlikely impresario, that hunched Nixonian figure with the charisma of an undertaker and no discernible showbiz talent of his own. How odd that Ed Sullivan stood at the very center of American pop culture for 23 years. How odder still that so many of us still miss him more than two decades after he went off the air, still wish we could tune in to CBS Sundays at 8 and hear his awkward promise of a "rilly big shew."The thing was, Ed Sullivan often delivered just that, as John Leonard reminds us in an excerpt from his new book in American Heritage magazine.

It would be hard to imagine a better way of getting reacquainted with the Beatles than by watching "The Beatles Anthology."Never mind that this six-hour documentary (which airs in three parts, beginning tonightand continuing Wednesday and Thursday, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on ABC) is the first fully sanctioned look back at the band. Forget for a moment that it features fresh interviews with all three surviving Beatles, as well as private photos, rare performance footage and previously unreleased recordings, as well as two brand new tunes.

The Plaids are on their way to that big cocktail lounge in the sky. But before the fictitious singing group of the early 1960s can move on to the next world, it is given the chance to perform the show it never got to do in life.That show is the premise of "Forever Plaid," a musical comedy playing through Oct. 8 at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia.Decked out in the uniform of the early '60s singing group -- white dinner jackets and combed hair -- the Plaids perform the music that defined a generation -- "Catch a Falling Star" and "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing."

Ah, the memories. Sitting down with the family on Sunday evening while Ed Sullivan trotted out the latest "innn-CREDible, simmm-ply FABulous" entertainment. Even if Ed wasn't a staple of your childhood (like, if you weren't even born yet!), tonight you can get a feel for what it was like with the encore airing of the great 1991 "Very Best of . . ." show.* "Diagnosis Murder" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- In the conclusion of the repeat that began last week, Dr. Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) is targeted for death after coming up with the evidence that has cleared a plastic surgeon's widow (Dyan Cannon)

"Right or wrong I'll be with youI'll do what you want me to.I believe that I belong.By your side, right or wrong. . . ."He's still doing it.Ronnie Dove, three decades after "Right or Wrong" and "Say You" and "One Kiss for Old Times' Sake," three decades after the jocks on WCAO and WITH and WWIN radio always introduced him as "Baltimore's own Ronnie Dove," three decades after Ed Sullivan brought him out by saying he was "gonna be a big star," three decades after American Bandstand appearances and Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin and Shindig TV appearances and gigs at New York's Latin Quarter where he'd come out right after the topless dancers, he's still doing it, still singing his heart out while the middle-aged ladies come out of the audience to snap his picture, still beaming when he's singing "One Kiss" and they walk right up to him and plant their lips right on top of his.He's a wonder.

NEW YORK -- On a cold February afternoon in 1964, Linda Plotnikoff, a lovesick 12-year-old from Sheepshead Bay, got her first glimpse of the mop-topped men of her dreams. She had been standing for hours outside the Plaza Hotel, clutching a record album and eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be transformed into a shaking, sobbing mess.And then, suddenly, in a window high in the hotel, the curtains parted. The Beatles were looking down at the crowd! Pandemonium in the streets! Dozens of police officers had to restrain the hundreds of John-Paul-George-and-Ringo-crazed teen-age girls who tried to rush the doors of the hotel to get to their idols.

The term I keep hearing is . . . hold on a sec, just saw it in the paper . . . "late-night wars," which apparently refers to the battle for ratings between Dave, Jay, Arsenio, Chevy, Conan and any other poor fool they trot out for the cameras after 11 p.m.The term is strangely riveting. Late-night wars! It conjures up images of David Letterman in full camouflage gear scrambling into a foxhole while lobbing hand-grenades at Jay Leno; a sneering Conan O'Brien strafing Chevy Chase in an F-10 Tomcat while screaming "Die, die, die!"

The big question along the Great White Way: Will Dave or won't Dave begin his new "Late Show With David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York Aug. 30?The answer: It looks like he will.There has been some recent speculation, both in the TV industry and in the press, that CBS' renovation of the 66-year-old theater has been behind schedule. And if the landmark theater isn't ready, how can the show go on?A CBS executive in charge of the renovation said Monday, however, that the network will complete the overhaul of the Ed Sullivan Theater at West 53rd and Broadway in Manhattan by the end of this week and -- despite unexpected construction problems -- it will be ready.