Fall Schedule

Heartfelt thanks to reporter Greg Braxton for sounding the alarm, and thanks to The Times for seeing fit to run a whole series on the travesty of the upcoming TV season ("TV's Diversity Dilemma," July 20-25). Lost amid the rhetoric and the weak shrugging by various execs is the truly troubling argument that white people will not watch shows with people of color in the forefront. If this is not true, then white viewers should be insulted that the networks simply assume that they desire a cultural apartheid.

It's not too soon to start planning for the fall semester, officials with the Ventura County Community College District said last week. Fall schedules for campuses in Moorpark, Ventura and Oxnard are available online at http://http://students.vcccd.net/ and printed copies will be available at public libraries and in high school counseling offices.

Thursday was once the most profitable night of the week for NBC. But the network's prime-time ratings and fortunes have eroded dramatically in recent years, forcing network executives to rethink their strategy. Last fall, NBC's schedule contained a curious recruit for the marquee time slot of 10 p.m. Thursday: "Rock Center With Brian Williams. " The news magazine show occupied the spot once reserved for the hallmark NBC dramas "ER," "LA Law" and "Hill Street Blues. " Ratings for Williams' show were weak, attracting fewer than 4 million viewers an episode.

Thousand Oaks-area youths ages 12 to 17 can choose from fall classes at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center that include fitness, football and dance. The classes, which begin the week of Sept. 26, range in price from $5 to $10 for a six- to eight-week session. Other classes include music and vocals, calligraphy, drama and watercolor. Fall workshops include self-defense and rape prevention, magic, cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, first aid and an instant make-over.

Seth Meyers has been tapped to be the host of NBC's "Late Night" after Jimmy Fallon takes over for Jay Leno as host of "The Tonight Show" next year. The appointment of Meyers, a cast member and head writer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," had been expected for weeks. Lorne Michaels, the producer of "Saturday Night Live," will oversee Meyers' show, which airs at about 12:30 a.m., after "The Tonight Show. " Michaels also will be executive producer of "The Tonight Show" after it moves to New York with Fallon as host.

Pierce College has dropped 130 classes from its fall semester, and as much as one-third of the curriculum could be cut next spring if proposed state fee hikes are approved and the school receives no new revenues, an administrator said Tuesday. The community college, faced with a more than 11% drop in its budget to $21.

"Twin Peaks" will return in September, "America's Funniest Home Videos" gets a twin and ABC will air a new Steve Bochco show described as part opera, part rock concert and part cop show, the network announced today. The shows to get the ax were "Saturday Mystery Movie," "Anything But Love," "Just The 10 of Us" and "Mission Impossible." Continuing in production but not on the schedule are "Equal Justice" and "Head of the Class."

Advertisers in the coming days will make billion-dollar bets on the TV networks' new fall schedules — and this time around, they actually like the script. In recent years, with production costs soaring and profits falling, the broadcast networks scaled back prime-time comedies and dramas. To the dismay of advertisers hoping to place their products in a classier environment, the networks instead added cheaper reality shows and tried cost-saving gambits like shifting Jay Leno to prime time.

A clearly challenging schedule has proven even more difficult for the winless Ventura College football team than had been anticipated. Presumably, the Pirates' lone early-season break was supposed to be a Sept. 22 game against West Los Angeles, which entered the season with a 21-game losing streak. However, West L. A. beat Ventura, 34-17, and this week moved into J.C. Athletic Bureau state rankings at No. 17 with a 3-0 record. The combined record of Ventura's opponents is 8-2.

Students interested in attending Coastline Community College can now view the fall class schedule on the Internet. The college, which caters to working adults, offers a variety of general education courses, telecourses and weekend classes. There are several campus locations throughout the county. Visitors to the World Wide Web site can also click on information about how to apply to the college and learn about programs, services, faculty and locations.