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Show by Joey Sasso CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: Peter Falk is putting his rumpled trenchcoat on again as America's most lovable detective 'Columbo' is set for a big return to NBC-TV. "I always felt people loved this character and I feel they want him back," Peter said. "I'm ready to go back into production now. I never wanted to put 'Columbo' to bed anyway." But 18 months ago, Peter did just that. The 52-year-old actor walked out on his hit series because he felt the quality of the scripts was going down. "When you realize how many detective stories have been written and how many movies made, you'll understand that a good clue is like finding a hen's tooth," he explained. "We used to sit three, four, five days banging our heads against the wall trying to come up with something. In the end, I just refused to do 'Columbo' with fake clues." . . . The Ingalls family on NBC-TV's hit series 'Little House on the Prairie' is one of the happiest and most loving on the screen. Ironically, in real life its cast members have suffered tragic childhoods. "My childhood was really strange," star Michael Landon revealed. "My parents just flat out didn't like each other and never did 'during their married life." Mike's mother, Peggy O'Neill, performed in New York musical comedies and his father, Eli Maurice Orowitz, was a radio commentator. "My father gradually went down the tubes," Landon said, "and my mother was always sticking her head in the oven pretending she was going to commit suicide. In a case like this you either end up spending the rest of your life in analysis or you get a helluva lot of guts. In my case it worked out great." CELEBRITIES IN CANDID: CBS boss William S. Paley, TV's most daring leader for 30 years, has a great new idea that's going no-place. He'd like to give you, the viewer, something better to look at three times a week. He wants each network to choose one (different) night during the week to present an absolutely top-quality show. The big novelty would be: No ratings on these specials. So the folks putting them together could be as creative as they liked without worrying about snagging those big Nielsen numbers. Unfortunately, though, the other networks don't want to play . . . The International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association has launched a campaign to get Hollywood filmmakers to produce more responsible dramatizations of drug abuse, smuggling and law enforcement. John Bellizzi, executive director of the association, is quoted: "We know that a movie like 'Midnight Express' or a documentary like 'Scared Straight' can do more good than all the pamphlets we can print." . . . Sexy Lisa Todd of TV's 'Hee Haw' wants to fall in love, but men just aren't interested. "I can't find a man who's willing to commit himself to marriage," she told me. "The guys I go out with are looking for just one thing." And despite her TV image. Lisa, 28, is serious about maintaining a clean life. "I've even learned kung-fu," she said. "I've got the moves to knock a guy out." BEHIND THE TUBE: Even though divorce papers have already been filed, Lou Ferrlgno wants a reconciliation with wife Susan. The co-star of CBS's 'The Incredible Hulk' says he's miserable without the lady and is telling friends that if she'll come back to him, he'll swear off the "extra-curricular activities" which caused the breakup . . . Joyce DeWitt, of 'Three's Company,' is sporting a new hairdo after nearly two years under long, curly tresses. Says Joyce: "I just couldn't take it anymore, so I had it cut short. It's my new look for the TV season." . . . Romantic Re-play: As 'Poldark' continues contin-ues its Mobil-funded encore Monday evenings on PBS. Ross (Robin Ellis) and Demelza (Angharad Rees) have no respite from the adventures that invade their life at Nampara. j |