Roseanne

Susie Brown, the mother of singer James Brown, died Thursday of heart failure in Augusta, Ga., family members said. She was 87. Brown became one of her son's most devoted fans, attending nearly all of his shows in New York. John Randolph, who won a Tony for Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound" and played Roseanne's father in the television show Roseanne and Tom Hanks' grandfather in the film You've Got Mail, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 88. His film career was hobbled in the 1950s because of the anti-communist blacklist, but he played many character roles.

They want to ban butt and booze billboards in the black slums and that's the one healthy industry left in this town.New York may do without school this year. Anything to cap the municipal budget.In the first fair test of free market economic reforms, commies won the Polish election.Cheer up. Roseanne won an Emmy.

Talks start today to determine whether "Roseanne" stays with ABC.But, whether the show stays or not, Roseanne and Tom Arnold are committed to keeping the hit sitcom alive "for a few more years."That was the message yesterday from Tom Arnold.He met with TV critics to promote his new sitcom on CBS, "Tom," which will premiere March 2. But first, he had to deal with questions about the future of ABC's "Roseanne," which he produces with his wife. "Roseanne" is currently the third highest rated show on prime-time TV behind CBS' "60 Minutes" and ABC's "Home Improvement."

Baby boomers used to believe that life ended at 30. Then, thanks to TV, life began at thirtysomething. Now, with the TV generation clocking in at 40 and beyond, and apprehensively dealing with their own kids' surly teenhood, the tube has once again come through with a boomer fountain of youth.It's called aging parents. Prime time is filled these days with 40-year-old adolescents still rebelling against Mom and Dad.On ABC's "Roseanne," Roseanne Connor has one daughter who eloped at 18, another who has the disposition of Wednesday Addams and a 12-year-old son who has just started skipping school.

Had ABC not switched "Home Improvement" and "Roseanne," we might have witnessed a truly bizarre piece of competitive scheduling tonight: ABC's real "Roseanne" opposite Fox's ersatz Roseanne: An Unauthorized Biography."

ABC is pulling the plug on "Head of the Class" and replacing it with a new comedy starring Randy Quaid and Jonathan Winters.The last telecast of "Head of the Class" will be Dec. 25, ABC said yesterday. On Jan. 8, it will be replaced by "Davis Rules," a sitcom that stars Quaid as an elementary school teacher promoted to principal against his better judgment. Quaid plays a single parent with three children. Winters plays Quaid's eccentric father."Davis Rules" will air Tuesdays at 8:30 between "Who's the Boss?"

The latest news from Nielsen is that CBS has the miniseries hit of the TV season in "Queen."The complete, national ratings show Sunday's Part 1 of the miniseries which stars Halle Berry as Alex Haley's grandmother, was watched by an estimated 70 million people.That makes it the highest-rated movie on any network in four years and the highest on CBS since "Lonesome Dove." Those ratings carried CBS to an important victory for last week over ABC, despite the huge audience for Oprah Winfrey's interview with Michael Jackson.

Halloween episodes became an annual necessity in the 1990s because of two shows: Roseanne and The Simpsons. Roseanne Barr's ABC sitcom raised costume parties and creepy pranks to a level finally matching the adult public's preoccupation with what had long been considered a children's holiday. And Fox's animated satire tapped into the season's fantasy frights to set its writers' loopy imaginations loose for even wilder scares and sendups. We'll have to wait to see Roseanne on DVD, but the first three seasons of The Simpsons are out already, and Fox is now playing quick catch-up with later Halloween specials.

Except for baseball's All-Star Game, it's hardly an All-Star Night for television. And since the major league baseball players are considering going on strike before the season ends, perhaps disgruntled summertime TV viewers ought to get together and go on strike before the new fall TV season begins.* "Baseball All-Star Game" (8 p.m.-conclusion, WMAR, Channel 2) -- Lenny Dykstra, although voted in as an All-Star, can't play because of his appendectomy, which pretty much typifies the luck of the Philadelphia Phillies these says.

Stir up a controversy, set up a "duel" between one side and another, and watch the ratings pour in when the results of the overhyped showdown finally are televised. Olympics redux? Well, I was thinking of tonight's "Roseanne," in which the "lesbian kiss" episode supposedly "censored" by ABC, leading to a brief brouhaha just as Roseanne Arnold's autobiography was released, comes to TV intact. Will we never learn? Apparently not.* "Ancient Prophecies" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- I, too, am eagerly awaiting the millennium.