Rita Moreno and Allison Janney will guest star in the third season of USA's "In Plain Sight," which has its season premiere March 31.

Moreno will play the aunt of Cristian de la Fuente's character Raph, who is in the midst of planning his wedding ceremony with Mary (series star Mary McCormack). Janney has the role of a newly appointed U.S. Marshal who clashes with Mary.

Steven Weber (as an FBI agent for two episodes) and Tess Harper (as a federal prosecutor) will also appear as guest stars in the coming season, the network said.

Grammy-winner Liz Phair has been brought on to be the show's music composer. Phair has previously worked on "90210," "Swingtown" and "The Beautiful Life."

Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Jack Nicholson is smack in the horns of a dilemma.

It's no secret the Oscar winner and film icon is a huge Lakers fan, sitting courtside for the last few decades whenever he's in town. So it's only natural to assume he'd be at Staples Center Thursday night for the fourth game of the Lakers-Celtics matchup.

But that same night one of Jack's best friends, Warren Beatty, is receiving the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award at the Kodak Theater, which will be broadcast on USA Network on June 25 at 9 p.m. and midnight. The two have worked together on such films as "Reds" and "The Fortune" and have been neighbors on pricey Mulholland Drive forever.

But, hey, he can see Warren taking out the garbage every week. How often do you get a chance to watch Kobe in the Finals?

Word has it Jack has decided to catch the game, which starts around 6:15 and should last til about 9. At that point, he could head over to the Kodak and give Warren all the support he needs before the "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Bugsy" star delivers his accceptance speech.

Others in attendance include Halle Berry, Faye Dunaway, Robert Evans, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Barry Levinson, Quentin Tarantino, "Chinatown" scribe Robert Towne and natch, Mrs. Beatty herself, Annette Bening.

(Photo: Wire Image)

Bonnie Hammer went a few steps beyond the garden-variety charitable kudos acceptance speech Tuesday night at the Anti-Defamation League's Humanitarian Award at the org's annual showbiz gala fundraiser.

NBC Universal's prexy of Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios "reined in the rhetoric" by citing, in detail, incidents from her own experience as a mother that taught her a lot about the pernicious subtleties of prejudice in kids who are raised in a progressive environment.

She noted that her brood is a blended family consisting of a daughter, Kimae, from her husband Dale Heussner's previous marriage who is part Malaysian and part Caucasian; and her son, Jesse, now 14, who shares his mother's Russian-Jewish heritage and Dale's Midwestern WASP roots.

At an extended family dinner seven years ago, Jesse declared himself to be at least "one-eighth Chinese," judging from the diversity around the table. "That line brought down the house," Hammer recalled.

A year or so later, Jesse regaled his mother and father at dinner with a joke he'd picked up on the playground, which was crudely racist and utterly intolerant of Chinese cultural differences, Hammer recalled. The jolt reminded her of the importance of being vigilant and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy against stereotyping and expressions of ethnic bias even in its most seemingly innocuous forms (i.e. no brushing it off with "oh, he's just a kid").

Hammer was saluted by the ADL for spearheading USA Network's Emmy-winning "Erase the Hate" public service campaign in the 1990s during her first tour of duty at the now top-rated cabler. More recently, she's championed USA's "Character's Unite" initiative designed to promote the importance of diversity in all aspects of life. Dule Hill and James Roday, stars of USA's drama "Psych," emceed the dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel (which also doubled as a polling place on Tuesday).

As always, the evening included a witty tribute reel, full of pics and clips of the guest of honor sporting bygone hairdos and retro fashions that weren't at the time.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer and U Studios prexy Ron Meyer)

Bonnie Hammer's footprint at NBC Universal continues to grow.

News that caught many in town by surprise out of the Peacock today is that in order to keep Hammer in the fold for a new multi-year pact, NBC Universal has given her oversight of scripted cable production -- cutting Universal Media Studios in half, basically -- and as well as oversight of a bunch of its fledgling networks like Sleuth, Chiller and Universal HD. She exchanges the mouthful of a title of prexy USA Network/Sci Fi Channel for the slightly streamlined prexy, Cable Entertainment and Cable Studio, as reported by Variety's Michael Schneider (news first broke on the L.A. Times' website).

Rewarding Hammer with more turf comes as no surprise; her USA Network and Sci Fi Channel are among the brightest jewel's in NBC U's crown. She's highly regarded by NBC U topper Jeff Zucker. We know she's been on short lists to conquer other fields within the conglom. What is a little surprising is that her gain this time around would come partly at the expense of NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairmen Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman and Universal Media Studios prexy Katherine Pope. Not that those three don't have their hands full with the ongoing rehab of NBC proper (two words: "Bionic Woman"), but as we all know, execs tend to get fussy about losing turf.

Another immediate question is if Hammer's bump could have a ripple-effect within USA Network. In January, Sci Fi channel marketing guru Dave Howe was boosted from exec vp and general manager to prexy of Sci Fi Channel. There's already insta-speculation that a similar promotion could be in the works for one of Hammer's hard-working lieutenants at USA.

(Pictured above: Bonnie Hammer in December at the L.A. premiere of Sci Fi miniseries "Tin Man," with a new-model Toto.)

Not much of an upset Saturday night during the first leg of the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony as HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" maintained its trophy market share with a total of five wins, followed by Discovery Channel's "Planet Earth" (wha?) and NBC's "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" with four apiece. (For a proper report on who-won-what, click here for the report from Variety's Jeff Sneider, who sacrificed his Saturday night so that you and I wouldn't have to.)

Contrary to conventional wisdom the Creative Arts ceremony isn't all craft and tech honors (though let it be said here that the below-the-line folks are not only H'wood's salt of the earth but its true artisans). NBC nearly swept the guest-star awards categories, which can be a handy career reviver for the right actor at the right moment if the sun and the moon and the stars align...

Elaine Stritch (pictured left) bagged the guest actress in a comedy trophy for her turns in "30 Rock." Leslie Caron (pictured right) took the drama trophy for her one-shot on "Law & Order: SVU." John Goodman's visits to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" were recognized for guest actor in a drama, while Stanley Tucci (pictured above) got the nod on the comedy side for having fun with the great Tony Shalhoub on "Monk." (So if you count USA Network as one of "the networks of NBC Universal," as the Peacock likes to put it, NBC U did sweep the category. That bit of bragging rights and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee at Musso & Franks...)

(Pics of Stritch and Caron on Creative Arts Emmy red carpet by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)