IN BRIEF

Telepictures President Jim Paratore last week added oversight responsibility for the station sales operations at Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, essentially making him second only to Dick Robertson, WBDTD president. Paratore, who has been president of Warner Bros.'s Telepictures unit since 1992, keeps that title but is now also executive vice president at Warner Bros. Domestic Television, too. Telepictures produces ElimiDate, Judge Mathis, Change of Heart, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and Jenny Jones, among other titles.

ABC's embattled Nightline drew a warm round of applause at a Washington banquet last week when it was named the winner of the Radio & Television Correspondents' Association's Joan S. Barone Award for Excellence.

That paved the way for a number of onstage references to the tension between Disney and the ABC news show. Comedian Al Franken referred to several apocryphal upcoming Nightline topics. Monday's, he said, was to investigate "The Safety of the Matterhorn" (a Disney ride). Tuesday: "Mickey Mouse: Has the Copyright Been Needlessly Extended?" And Wednesday: "Theme Parks: Tempting Targets for Terrorism?"

UPN canned low-rated Random Years and As If from its Tuesday-night schedule. The half-hour comedies, which ran back to back beginning at 9, are being replaced this week with a repeat airing of new Endemol reality series, Under One Roof, which premiered last Friday. The network hopes its Buffy viewers (8-9, Tuesday) will stick around to sample the show, which features families in Fiji fighting for a beachfront home. Other programs will fill in after that.