BERGEN JOINING 'BOSTON LEGAL' LINEUP.

Byline: - Compiled by Valerie Kuklenski

In her first series-regular role since ``Murphy Brown,'' multiple Emmy winner Candice Bergen has joined the cast of ABC's freshman drama ``Boston Legal.'' The David E. Kelley series, spun off from ``The Practice,'' is set within Crane, Poole & Schmidt, a high-end civil law firm with a proclivity toward cases with ethical gray areas. Bergen will play the firm's name partner Shirley Schmidt. William Shatner stars as Denny Crane, while Larry Miller plays recurring character Edwin Poole. ``Boston Legal,'' which has a full-season order, also stars James Spader, Monica Potter, Rhona Mitra, Mark Valley and Rene Auberjonois. Lake Bell, whose character had been involved with Spader's, is not expected to be invited back after the show's first 13 episodes.

WINGS TAKES OFF: Discovery Wings Channel will get a new name and a somewhat revised mission. The network becomes the Military Channel on Jan. 10, looking at history, battlefield strategy, technology and personal stories of men and women in uniform. It should be a great showcase for heroic stories and the Pentagon's finest hardware for land, sea and air. But some viewers will miss Wings' programs focusing on peaceful applications of flight, from the space program to gliders.

NOBEL EFFORT: Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey will co-host the ``Nobel Peace Prize Concert,'' which will be televised at 8 p.m. Dec. 23 on E! Entertainment Television. Scheduled performers include Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, Patti LaBelle, Cyndi Lauper, Sondre Lerche, Baaba Maal, The Polyphonic Spree, Joss Stone and Martin Yates.

AIDS DAY PROGRAMMING: In recognition of World AIDS Day today, MTV will premiere a 30-minute special, ``Staying Alive,'' produced jointly with CNN. The show, airing at 7:30 a.m., is a first-of-its-kind production between the two unaffiliated channels and is being made available to other broadcasters around the world without cost in hopes of reaching more than 1 billion viewers.

IS THAT YOU, MICHAEL?: ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' moviemaker and self- proclaimed slacker Michael Moore was exceptionally spiffed up Monday night for his appearance on ``The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.'' Moore had shaved his scruffy beard and trimmed and combed his hair. Gone were the windbreaker, jeans, T-shirt and baseball cap. He actually wore a suit and tie. ``If you can't beat them, you might as well look like them,'' he joked.

TOON TIME: Turner Classic Movies is digging into its vault of animated treasures for the new weekly program ``Cartoon Alley.'' If you can pull the kids out of their usual mindless rut at 11:30 a.m. Saturdays, they'll be introduced to some terrific ``Merrie Melodies'' shorts from the '30s and '40s.

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BERGEN: A ``Legal'' eagle