Don Bellisario

"I said: 'I'm going to pitch an idea that's going to scare the hell out of you,' " writer-producer Don Bellisario recalled, reminiscing about a meeting many months ago with NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff, who wanted him to create a TV series for the network. "And then I pitched 'Quantum Leap.'

"I said: 'I'm going to pitch an idea that's going to scare the hell out of you,' " writer-producer Don Bellisario recalled, reminiscing about a meeting many months ago with NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff, who wanted him to create a TV series for the network. "And then I pitched 'Quantum Leap.'

Federal agents seized four F-14 Tomcat fighters in San Bernardino County on Tuesday -- three from airplane museums -- after investigators determined that the jets were not demilitarized and were improperly sold or transferred to private companies, including the producer of the TV show "JAG," authorities said.

By spring 2007, the CBS drama "NCIS" looked to have run out of luck. The show, about a team of special agents who investigate Navy crimes, had become a stalwart of the CBS lineup, even though it never attracted the media buzz enjoyed by many far less popular shows. But a poisonous rift with star Mark Harmon led to the sudden and unceremonious departure of co-creator Don Bellisario, who happens to be one of the most successful producers in TV history (his credits include "Magnum, P.I."

The Final 'Leap'?NBC's low-rated, science-fiction drama "Quantum Leap," praised by critics for its social conscience and kept on the air by a core of loyal fans, may soon be leaping from network television for good. Creator Don Bellisario is preparing to shoot the season's final episode with two endings--one to be used in case NBC cancels the series, which ranks 81 out of 127 prime-time TV shows this season.

"Tequila & Bonetti" is "Turner & Hooch" meets "Look Who's Talking." Premiering at 9 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8), this is another of those series about unlikely crime-fighting teams. Highly unlikely. Nico Bonetti (Jack Scalia) is a tough, single New York cop on loan to a California beach community's police department, where his new captain (Charles Rocket) is an aspiring screenwriter who teams him with a widowed rookie (Mariska Hargitay) and a dog named Tequila.

CBS has been lamenting since last season that its very popular shows don't get a lot of water-cooler buzz. But we must say Wednesday morning's press tour executive session with President of Entertainment Nina Tassler was kinda juicy!

The NBC series "Quantum Leap" took a leap past network censors on Friday with the disclosure that a controversial episode featuring a gay character contemplating suicide had been approved for broadcast with slight modifications. NBC spokeswoman Pat Schultz confirmed that the episode had been sent on for review by the NBC ad sales division. No air date has been set, she said, but it will not air during the November ratings sweeps.

It happens, every so often, that an actor comes upon a role that permits him to explore a strange new life. Dustin Hoffman put on a bra for "Tootsie." Daniel Day-Lewis was born with cerebral palsy in "My Left Foot." Tom Cruise lost the use of his legs in "Born on the Fourth of July." For some actors, such choice roles come once in a lifetime. For Scott Bakula, they come along about once a week. In the NBC series "Quantum Leap," which is in reruns on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.