John Fasano

The dogfight at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board over the future of its cursed regional subway system spilled over into the ballot box for the second time Monday, as three frequent opponents of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced plans to try to kill his anti-subway initiative with a similarly worded--but vastly different--measure of their own.

The dogfight at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board over the future of its cursed regional subway system spilled over into the ballot box for the second time Monday, as three frequent opponents of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced plans to try to kill his anti-subway initiative with a similarly worded--but vastly different--measure of their own.

Biker pictures may be roaring back onto the big screen--with director Walter Hill leading the pack. "48 HRS.--NOW!" will find heroes Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) and Nick Cates (Nick Nolte) returning to face bad-guy bikers led by a lean, mean dude named Willie Hickok. An ex-con and member of the Aryan Brotherhood, Willie's got pals who sport lots of tattoos--as well as some nasty attitudes about women.

"Megiddo: The Omega Code 2" finds Michael York reprising his role of Satan in this unconvincing sequel to the 1999 surprise hit co-produced by Matthew Crouch, son of Trinity Broadcasting Network operator and televangelist Paul Crouch, executive producer of both films. Its title refers the plains of Megiddo, near present-day Jerusalem and the place fundamentalist Christians believe will be the site of Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil.

Martha Plimpton, Ione Skye, Hector Elizondo and Mary Kay Place star in Planet Productions' "Samantha," a drama about a violin student, abandoned as a baby, who tries to find her real parents. Director Stephen La Rocque rolls cameras March 18 in L.A. for producer Donald Borchers. Jeff Goldblum and Rosanna Arquette star in "Fathers and Sons," an independent film partially funded by RCA/Columbia, to shoot in Atlantic City. Paul Mones writes-directs the family drama. John Kilik produces.

Connoisseurs of the later work of aging stars of old detective shows -- and you know who you are -- will find their cups runnething over this weekend. Paul Michael Glaser, who was Starsky of "and Hutch," headlines "Ladies Night" Saturday night on the USA Network, and Tom Selleck, once the eponymous "Magnum, P.I.," stars Sunday on CBS in "Stone Cold," taken from a novel by Robert B. Parker (author also of the "Spenser" novels, from which sprang the Robert Urich series).

When it comes to subways, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board is like an addict who can't help thinking about his next fix, even though he doesn't have a dime in his pocket to pay for it. Case in point: MTA board members Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Gloria Molina and John Fasano are expected to press for a vote by the board today in favor of a November ballot measure.

Character-driven dramas and comedies carried the day Wednesday as the two branches of the Writers Guild of America announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for films released in 1997. For best screenplay written directly for the screen, the nominations went to Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks for "As Good as It Gets," Paul Thomas Anderson for "Boogie Nights," Simon Beaufoy for "The Full Monty," Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for "Good Will Hunting" and James Cameron for "Titanic."