CARROLL O'CONNOR JOINS THE `PARTY'

The producers of "Party of Five" hoped they'd get Carroll O'Connor on their show, but they never really expected they would.

Early last season, executive producers Amy Lippman and Chris Keyser introduced a storyline indicating that the orphaned Salinger children on "Party" had a long-lost grandfather out there somewhere. When they decided to bring that character aboard, they made up a dream list of actors to play the part.And at the top of the list was the actor who won Emmys for his roles on "All in the Family" and "In the Heat of the Night."

"Carroll O'Connor came almost immediately to mind," Keyser said. "We thought - there's no way this is going to happen. There is no way he's going to say yes to this. But we sort of took a chance and went out there. And he knew of the show. And, amazingly, it worked out."

They had to do a little persuading, but not a whole lot.

"I hadn't seen enough of the show, so I asked them to send me a copy and the script they had in mind, and they did," O'Connor said. "It was a very good part. And it was just four or five shows, and so I said, `Sure, I'll do it.' "

O'Connor comes aboard "Party of Five" tonight (8 p.m., Ch. 13). And he's rather self-deprecating about his contributions.

"There's a hundred guys that can play grandpas out there, you know," O'Connor said. "It's not a hard part to play. Just relate to children in a normal, loving way."

But this is not a normal, loving grandfather. He deserted his daughter when she was only a child, and he has never met any of his five grandchildren.

"I, myself, don't know how it's going to evolve," O'Connor said. "And so, what made him walk out and how he feels about it now - he must feel some remorse about it. Why he comes back now is all a mystery. I'll learn how this takes place when Amy gets ready to tell me all that."

But beyond what's going to happen with his character, O'Connor's mere presence has already shaken up "Party of Five."

"I have to say it was really interesting to see the intimidation factor with the cast, because I think it was considerable," Lippman said.

According to Lippman, Neve Campbell (who plays Julia) was nearly hyperventilating with excitement when she first ran into O'Connor.

"I was intimidated by the fact that I was working with this incredible actor," Campbell said. "It's such an honor to work with someone who's this amazing. And the experience of learning from someone such as Carroll is a great thing."

O'Connor, for his part, will have none of this.

"They didn't seem to be intimidated," O'Connor said. "They told me they were, but I don't believe them."

And Lippman said the intimidation didn't last long.

"We have found him to be a very warm and lovely presence on the set," Lippman said. "And so unintimidating and easy to approach that I think that diminished very quickly."

That's certainly the indication from 12-year-old Lacey Chabert.

"He is so nice. I mean, he really, really, really is," Chabert said. "He's always smiling and he always has a happy spirit. And he makes us laugh on the set a lot. He always tells us jokes. And doing scenes with him, it's pretty cool."

SHE'S GONE: For those of you "Party of Five" fans who are still wondering - yes, Paula Davicq and her character, Kirsten, are both gone from the show.

Kirsten, of course, almost married Charlie (Matthew Fox) - but didn't. And although Devicq wasn't happy about being written out of the show, that's what happened.

"It's incredibly hard conversation to have with an actress who you think has added an extraordinary amount to the series," Lipp-man said. "I think our feeling was, and she understood, that there was a reason to tell the story the way we did. And I think we don't rule out the possibility that she would return to the series in some way."

NO REUNION: Carroll O'Connor, who was talking about a possible reincarnation of Archie Bunker a couple of years ago, now calls the idea of an "All in the Family" reunion both "dopey" and "ri-dic-u-lous."

"However, being ridiculous, I've been asked about it, yes," he said. "Naturally, the network asked about it. I mean, CBS asked about it. They ask ridiculous things. You get a ridiculous request, it's usually from a network executive. It's not from a producer.

And his denial of any such possibility was rather pointed.

"Have you seen Rob (Reiner) lately?" O'Connor said. "Have you seen Sally lately? 'Nuff said."

CH. 2 MAKES CHANGES: KUTV-Ch. 2, in the wake of some very disappointing November ratings, has shaken up its afternoon schedule quite a bit, effective today.

Perhaps the most notable change comes at noon, when the Ch. 2 news returns to an hourlong format. The newscast was cut to 30 minutes in September, when the station became a CBS station, and the half-hour show fell behind Ch. 5's noon newscast in the ratings.

And the competitive landscape at noon has changed lately. Ch. 2 faces not only Ch. 5's hourlong newscast, but the new hourlong newscast on Ch. 13 as well.

The rest of KUTV's afternoon lineup looks like this - "Guiding Light" remains at 1 p.m.; "Bold and the Beautiful" moves to 2 p.m.; "Hard Copy" moves to 2:30 p.m.; "Maury" moves to 3 p.m.; and "Day & Date" moves to 4 p.m.

The switch of "D&D" seems particularly appropriate - the show is designed as a lead-in to local news, which it will be at 4 p.m.

The syndicated "Carnie" also disappears from the late-night schedule at the end of the week. No loss there.

Ch. 2 - a CBS owned-and-operated station - is also dropping NBC's "Saturday Night Live," effective immediately. The CBS ownership hasn't been comfortable with carrying the show, and all the promotion for NBC's coverage of the Super Bowl, which aired locally on Ch. 5, didn't exactly thrill them at Ch. 2.

No word yet on whether another local channel will pick the show up.

SPARKY STRIKES AGAIN: Young Sparky Mortimer turned in another winning performance for David Letterman, with some very funny taped bits at the Super Bowl.

Although you have to wonder if Sparky is always aware of when Dave is laughing with him and when Dave is laughing at him. At any rate, Sparky's a good sport.

And for readers still wondering why I get so annoyed with Jay Leno, here's a case in point: Leno had an 8-year-old boy (a Sparky wannabe) cover the Super Bowl for him last week. Just another example of how Leno and his "Tonight Show" are the greatest plagiarists in TV today.

If only Jay would just be himself and stop stealing from Dave.