Duo Overcomes Adversity in Heat of the Ratings : Television: Despite off-camera crises, Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins still find their series near the top of the Nielsens.

You have to hand it to Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins of NBC’s “In the Heat of the Night” for hanging tough despite personal crises.

During a tense period in which Rollins battled admitted addiction problems and O’Connor had heart bypass surgery, they’ve somehow clawed and scratched to stay on top.

And it’s paid off, with O’Connor, who’s also co-executive producer of the series, publicly standing by Rollins.

In last week’s Nielsen ratings, their police show was No. 2 among all network programs, behind only “Cheers.”

And when “In the Heat of the Night” has its season premiere next Tuesday, Rollins--as detective Virgil Tibbs--is the focus of the special two-hour broadcast as he’s arrested in Philadelphia for a cop’s murder.

At the same time, Tibbs’ wife, played by Anne-Marie Johnson, is about to give birth back in Sparta, Miss., where the show is set and where O’Connor is Police Chief Bill Gillespie.

This is a series where there’s been more drama off-camera than on.

BLUES IN THE NIGHT: CBS’ late-night lineup looks like a great big void again now that producer Norman Lear has scrapped his much-awaited series, “Jody Gordon and the News.”

The network has used action series and tried talk programs to fill the late-hour gap since “The Pat Sajak Show” flopped.

But the Lear series, which was due in October, was to be the highlight--about a woman news producer who “relaxes into fantasy” watching a sexy, eccentric television character called “The Storyteller.”

Lear previously scored a late-night breakthrough with the successful satire “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

Over at ABC, meanwhile, the new, late-night Rick Dees show, going nowhere, nonetheless has been picked up by the network for another 13 weeks.

At this rate, NBC’s Johnny Carson may still be king of late-night when he’s 75.

CBS could well have a way out of its dilemma--if it created a nightly series with the Charles Kuralt-Lesley Stahl news team that has been quite good in its late-hour specials during the Persian Gulf crisis.

Isn’t Kuralt really the most trusted person in network news, along with Ted Koppel? Of course he is.

STRAIGHT TALK: NBC President Bob Wright is so concerned about the state of network TV that he sent a memo to all employees telling them:

“Take any brainstorms you might have to your supervisors and division heads or directly to me. We’re all open to your insights and perspectives.”

In his memo, Wright refers to the “barrage of press reports about the decline in network viewing. Those reports and the impact they have had on our business are most troubling.

“Viewing of the three networks has been at all-time lows this summer and NBC has seen the most erosion. This trend has been going on for several years, but the last eight months have been particularly harsh for us. . . . We’re in a very tight squeeze.”

Wright continues, “We are not doing anything ‘wrong,’ ” but his memo cites the increasing competition:

“Cable TV is now purchased by 60% of households. Almost 70% have one or more VCRs. . . . There are now 65 cable networks nationally available, plus the Fox network. Over 100 new independent TV stations have come on the air in the last decade.”

Keep these blunt admissions in mind this TV season when you see the reasonably innovative new series, hear the racier language--and wonder why.

FUTURE SHOCK: If the fall season’s stronger, racy dialogue doesn’t halt viewer defections from the networks, there’ll be real panic at ABC, CBS and NBC, because they’re running out of weapons. But if the new-style dialogue helps, well, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet--the floodgates will be wide open as the networks smell blood.

HARD SELL: Susan Lucci, the femme fatale of daytime’s “All My Children,” has this new commercial kidding the fact that she’s never won an Emmy. She won’t win one for this, either.

BIG NIGHT: Circle Sept. 23 on your calendar. CBS has Suzanne Pleshette in “Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean.” And NBC has Veronica Hamel, Judd Hirsch and Lee Grant in “She Said No,” about a rape victim who’s sued by her attacker. Alas, the two TV films are opposite each other.

THE OTHER CAPONE: That TNT cable film “The Lost Capone,” which debuted Monday and deals with Al’s younger brother Jimmy --a Nebraska sheriff--was co-produced by longtime journalists James Bacon and his wife Doris. It airs again today at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

MAKING THE GRADE: Funny debut tonight at 8:30 for British comedian Billy Connolly as the teacher replacing Howard Hesseman in ABC’s “Head of the Class.”

JUST A THOUGHT: When Deborah Norville goes on maternity leave, do you think Jane Pauley might sit in for her?

OLD PRO: Mike Wallace is 72, and CBS think it’s time for a prime-time tribute to the “60 Minutes” star, who has been in broadcasting half a century. The tribute is called “Mike Wallace, Then and Now,” and it airs Sept. 26.

CAREER MOVE: Pretty smart of ABC to grab Julia Duffy--the pretentious maid Stephanie Vanderkellen in “Newhart”--as the star of its upcoming sitcom “Baby Talk,” based on the hit movie “Look Who’s Talking.”

BEING THERE: Gregory Peck well remembers turning down the classic role in “High Noon” that then went to Gary Cooper. In an interview on the American Movie Classics channel, Peck says: “I just don’t know what was wrong with me!”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .