'FRIENDS' FUN ASIDE, LEBLANC WOULD LIKE DRAMATIC TURN.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Friends' " Matt LeBlanc would like to prove he has a dramatic bent - but he's going to continue playing it for laughs for a while.

He co-stars with a chimpanzee in the buddy picture "Ed" that opens next month, and will do one - perhaps two - big-screen comedies this summer.

"I think I'll hold off doing drama for another year or two," he said.

He expects to continue gagging it up with his "Friends" friends on the hit show "for another three years, I think. We're all focused on staying for a while. Why not? It's hard to believe we've been so successful. I've been an actor for 11 years, and until 'Friends' started, I had more days off than on. It's very exciting."

What about the down side? Is he concerned women are coming on to him because of who he has become?

"Naw," he responded. "I think I'm a pretty good judge of character. Besides, I tend to bring out the best in people."

OK.

The videoland view: The "Home Improvement" creative team is hoping its March 5-debuting "Buddies" will do what other sitcoms don't: Grab a racially mixed audience. "If we've succeeded in doing the show we set out to do, our demographics will reflect it," said co-executive producer Carmen Finestra. The series, which stars David Chappelle and Chris Garten as friends who have a fledgling production business together, features a cast that is evenly balanced between African-Americans and whites. Judith Ivey is Garten's unconsciously prejudiced mother-in-law; Richard Roundtree plays Chappelle's highly race-conscious dad. "People are going to be surprised at how funny he is," said Finestra.

The producer lets us know, "We have an integrated staff writing the show - they're multicultural, male and female." He added, "All of the episodes are at least race conscious. ... None of them are strident, raise-your-fist kind of stories."

"Buddies" originally was set to debut last spring, but was pulled back at the 11th hour, and the white buddy was recast. "I guess it would have been even more timely last fall," Finestra said. But in retrospect, he's just as glad it wasn't on the new season lineup. "Then it would have been seen in the scrutiny of what was happening in the O.J. trial, and that would have affected people's views. Now it's, 'Oh, a series with a black and a white lead.' We're not hitting people over the head with it."

Staying in tune: "Tonight Show" bandleader Kevin Eubanks is managing to find the time to keep up his recording career - and then some. The guitarist has an album, "Live at Bradley's," due for release in coming weeks. He also guest performs on gospel greats the Winans' current album, and on jazz singer Dianne Reeves' "Quiet After the Storm." Eubanks notes that he's reached the point where his "Tonight Show" duty has "fallen into a nice, relaxed thing for me." He's learned "to have responsible fun" with the job. You don't take it too seriously, or all the energy goes out of it. But if you get too silly, you miss cues - which I have done. Themes or bits were coming up, and I was laughing so much they got away from me." That brings up another thing he's learned: "to hide it very well when we blow it."

Fulfilling her dream: "Grace Under Fire's" Julie White is planning a very special trip to Italy for her summer hiatus. "I'm going to do the trip I should have done 10 years ago when I graduated college - with a backpack and my best friend," says White, who plays Brett Butler's neighbor and best friend Nadine on the ABC sitcom. "We're just going to let serendipity be our guide."