CABLE PAY IS AS OUTDATED AS THE RERUNS, ACTORS SAY.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

Pat Morita, who played Arnold on ``Happy Days,'' recently got a check compensating him for 28 reruns of the show on cable television.

The sum: $14.18, about enough for lunch for two at Arnold's '50s diner.

That's a windfall compared to what Joe E. Tata, who plays Nat on ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' once got: an 18-cent residual check for a cable rerun of a ``Mannix'' episode.

Despite the popular notion that many actors live comfortably on residuals - royalties paid for reruns of old shows - past roles don't earn them much money, at least from cable, where most vintage shows are played.

Broadcast television is different. Instead of the pittance Morita got for cable repeats, the same 28 shows rebroadcast on free television would have netted him about 60 times more - $850.

The problem is that contracts defining residuals were written many years before anyone realized how big an impact cable would have.

Around Hollywood, the issue that's been building for two decades has heated up with contracts expiring June 30 between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the two actors unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The heart of the issue: Actors share 6 percent of the revenue, directors and writers 2 percent each. Producers and distributors get the other 90 percent.

``Cable is a rip-off,'' said James B. Sikking, who played Lt. Howard Hunter on ``Hill Street Blues.''

``The union has to put on some effort. In many cases we are in competition with ourselves, the more reruns they put on television.''

Judd Hirsch, famed for his role on ``Taxi,'' said the unions failed to anticipate the importance cable would have. He recalled a meeting of the Screen Actors Guild back in 1980 when the subject of residuals for cable came up.

``They told us that cable was just starting,'' Hirsch said. ``They told us to hold on; it was an infant industry and nothing was happening. They don't have money. It has to be built up.''

Cable boom

Vintage programming has exploded on television. Cable outlets, which have grown from 65 in 1990 to 123 today, have padded their schedule with the old shows, a much less expensive proposition than developing original shows.

On any given day, more than 90 hours of television shows that are no longer in production are available for viewing on cable.

Nick at Nite's TV Land, television's version of an oldies radio station, has led the way since it debuted in the cable ranks 21 months ago.

``It has to do with the quality and the playability,'' said Larry W. Jones, the general manager of Nick at Nite and Nick at Nite's TV Land.

By buying only critical hits that were popular during their original runs, TV Land has compiled a lineup of some phenomenal television from decades past. There's everything from '50s classic ``Gunsmoke'' to '60s sitcom ``That Girl,'' from the '70s variety show ``The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour'' to award-winning dramas from the '80s like ``Hill Street Blues.''

Those TV Land offerings are available in 11.1 million homes nationwide. Its sister station, Nick at Nite, also features a steady diet of television classics and is available in 70 million homes.

``I like the simplicity of the old shows,'' said Idrea Lippman of Studio City. ``Now they're trying to be slick, hip and cool. They're forgetting about the basic fundamentals of relationships.''

In many cases, parents who tune in to reminisce about the old days now have kids who love Lucy, dream of Jeannie and have spent more than a few evenings in ``Night Court'' - just as mom and dad did when they were younger.

Tom Selleck, the ``Magnum, P.I.'' star, said he has encountered college and high school kids who ``know more lines from the show than I do.''

Added Bob Newhart: ``I'm getting more fan mail written in crayons than I used to.''

There's a reason for the old shows' popularity with the younger set, Morita said.

``Parents feel it is safe to show these shows to youngsters,'' he said. ``The `Happy Days' and `Laverne and Shirley' worlds were goofy worlds, but fairly real environments. There doesn't seem to be enough goofiness anymore.''

Nostalgia shows

The proliferation of nostalgia shows on cable television is most evidently measured by the escalating amount actors receive for their old work.

In 1993, members of the Screen Actors Guild earned $4.2 million for airings of recycled shows. The following year, as retro-TV continued to take off, the figure jumped to $7.3 million. In 1996, it advanced to $9.5 million.

The distributors, meanwhile, hauled in nearly $160 million.

In short, the popularity of old shows on cable has given actors a chance to see themselves with thicker hair or thinner waistlines, but it hasn't done much for their wallets.

The formulas for figuring residuals are anything but straightforward. Factors such as the distributor's take, how many days an actor worked and the original salary are calculated into the compensation for residuals.

``I used to think I knew exactly how residuals worked, but now it has gotten so convoluted that I don't know what I'm entitled to and when I'm getting ripped off,'' said Dennis Franz, who played Sal Benedetto and later Lt. Norman Buntz on ``Hill Street Blues'' before taking on his current role as Detective Andy Sipowicz on ``NYPD Blue.'' ``They have been restructuring it ever since I've been in the business.''

Finances aside, Ed Asner, best known to TV audiences as ``Lou Grant,'' doesn't care for the mass recycling of old television shows.

``When someone sees someone in a show, they automatically identify him as that,'' said Asner, now working on two sitcoms: ``Ask Harriet'' on Fox and ``The Closer'' on CBS.

The former SAG president said reruns also can limit work opportunities for actors.

``On one hand it's wonderful to keep it alive,'' Asner said. ``But the problem with the old work, it does militate against getting new work.''

Whether the producers will give ground is problematic.

Nick Counter, president of the producers association that represents major companies such as Warner Bros. and Universal, would not discuss the upcoming contract talks or the fact that cable residuals will be a major issue.

``Until we see their proposal, I really can't comment,'' Counter said.

Nick at Nite's, however, is ready for anything the unions and the association iron out, Jones said.

``We built this business on this idea. So if there is an economic change, we will have to deal with it when it happens.''

Daily News Staff Writer Heesun Wee contributed to this story.

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Chart: Cutting the residuals check

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