NEWS & NOTES.

Filmmaker Spike Lee will write, produce and direct an ABC sitcom slated to air next fall.

The program, to be done in association with former NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff, will revolve around two close male friends - one white, one African-American - who have been able to bond despite their different views of the world.

ABC has ordered six episodes of the series, which will be shot in New York. No casting yet.

Hey, it's little Jimmy Olsen: Jeepers! It has been a while since Jack Larson was last tugging on Superman's cape. Closing in on four decades, in fact. But he'll be mixing with the Superman gang once again this fall when he guest-stars on ABC's ``Lois & Clark.''

Larson, as any self-respecting baby-boomer will tell you, played Jimmy Olsen in the old ``Superman'' TV series, which starred George Reeves as the Man of Steel. Next week, he heads into production to guest-star, as Olsen, in the current ``Superman,'' starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher.

After the original ``Superman'' series ended in 1959, Larson found further success as a playwright, opera librettist and film producer. Although he spent many years trying to distance himself from his Olsen identity, he now appreciates the affection and attention of those who grew up enthralled with the '50s ``Superman'' series.

In fact, Larson and co-star Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane, were in New York this week to accept awards from Columbia House, which has just launched a Re-TV Video Library of classic old shows.

After the ceremony Wednesday night at the American Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Larson said that in his guest shot on ``Lois & Clark,'' the current Jimmy Olsen (Justin Whalin) gets zapped by a mad scientist and is turned into an older version of himself, which is where Larson comes in.