NEWS & NOTES : ALLEY'S NEW SITCOM WON'T BE MORE `FRIENDS,' SAYS PRODUCER.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Six over three to one.

Translation: After juggling six stars for almost three seasons, the ``Friends'' brain trust will focus on just one - Kirstie Alley, whose new NBC sitcom debuts in the fall. Thirteen episodes have been ordered. Alley gets paid for a full season's 22 segments, even if NBC doesn't pick up ``the back nine,'' as they say in the biz.

``We didn't want to do another ensemble piece,'' David Crane said. ``We didn't want to do `Friends' again. We just did it. We didn't want anything we do next to be compared to that.''

Crane and his producing posse - Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright - will call the shots on the Alley sitcom, part of the trio's contract with the Peacock. No title or supporting cast yet. One hint: It will be ``a little more adult'' than ``Friends,'' says Crane, 39.

And a lot easier to produce. He hopes.

``On the face of it, it's easier to come up with one plot than three plots every week. You only have to make sure one person has enough lines, as opposed to six people. It's a real challenge. The actors never come to us and say, `Why am I so light this week?' That's a responsibility we put on ourselves.''

Kauffman agrees.

``Sometimes we look at a scene and go, `God, Courteney (Cox) hasn't said a word!' The bigger issue is making three stories every week. Characters never get a chance to breathe, just sit around and talk and be people. That pace is what makes `Friends' different from other shows.''

Crane and Co. will stay involved with ``Friends,'' thanks to a staff of ``extraordinarily strong writers and producers. We'll be delegating a lot of responsibility,'' Crane says. (Reality check: Fat chance on the delegating - ``We're control freaks,'' Crane admits.)

Alley, whose sultry Rebecca tormented libidinous Sam (Ted Danson) on ``Cheers'' from 1987 to '93, was Crane's choice from the get-go. ``I had loved her for years. She was looking to get back into series TV. We took a meeting, loved her, made the deal. That was the easy part.''

`A seamy surprise': Father and son Alan and Adam Arkin will play - you peeked! - father and son in an episode of CBS' ``Chicago Hope'' now in production. No air date.

Sharp-eyed viewers will remember that Rip Torn (``The Larry Sanders Show'') played Dr. Aaron Shutt's dad in an earlier episode. No worry. Arkin the younger says ``a seamy surprise in Shutt's past'' will be revealed.

And if that's not enough nepotism, Adam's mom, Jeremy Wakefield, a retired R.N., made a cameo Monday as a nurse assisting Dr. Shutt in a short scene with one of her idols, Isabella Rossellini.