NEWS & NOTES : COSBY BACK AT WORK ON SITCOM; WILL BE AN ESPY PRESENTER.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Bill Cosby, who returned to work last week on his CBS sitcom for the first time since the Jan. 16 murder of his son, Ennis, will keep a commitment to be a presenter on Monday's ESPY Awards on ESPN.

The awards, airing live from Radio City Music Hall, honor the best performances and memorable moments from the past year in sports on TV.

Cosby will deliver a tribute to baseball great Jackie Robinson, who 50 years ago broke the Major League Baseball color barrier when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Cosby's 27-year-old son was killed while changing a tire on a Los Angeles roadway. His killer, or killers, remain at large. Last week, Cosby, who had told Dan Rather a few days before that it was time to go back to the business of making people laugh, taped two episodes of his popular CBS comedy. He followed that up with a comedy concert last weekend in Florida.

Among other celebs serving as ESPY presenters: Tyra Banks, Yasmine Bleeth, Janine Turner, Scott Bakula, Paul Shaffer, Marlon Wayans and Robert Wuhl.

Resisting the `unseemly': Explaining why ``60 Minutes'' did not run Dan Rather's interview with Bill Cosby last Sunday, CBS News president Andrew Heyward said it would have been ``unseemly,'' but he expressed pride at the considerable play the story enjoyed on other CBS News programs.

The word, ``unseemly,'' which calls up arcane notions of taste and propriety, has a sweet, old-fashioned flavor not usually found in network press releases. No one could expect Heyward or Dan Rather to resist Cosby's invitation to bring the nation his feelings about his son's death, his extramarital ``rendezvous'' and so forth; the combination of murder, sex and so widely admired a star (and a CBS star at that), was far too tempting. But seemly?

Referring to the ``60 Minutes'' decision, Heyward explained, ``We didn't see any way to avoid the perception that we were somehow adding to this hype, or somehow exploiting this tragedy.'' But, of course, that was after CBS News had milked its paltry interview in the first place.

The only thing for the network to be proud of here is that ``60 Minutes,'' the news magazine that holds the record for doing least about the O.J. Simpson case, has once again resisted the lure of tabloidism.

Hamilton `On the Line': Having buffed up for the stunt-heavy volcano flick ``Dante's Peak,'' actress Linda Hamilton should be in good shape to tackle her latest rough-and-tumble role, this time on the small screen. Hamilton is understood to have signed on as the lead female cop in David Gerber's latest descent into the mean streets precincts, ``On the Line,'' a film for ABC from All American Television. Gerber, who executive produced the 1970s hit ``Police Woman'' starring Angie Dickinson, saw Hamilton (``Terminator'') as a natural for the role of the hard-boiled homicide cop who walks the line between murder and motherhood.