VAN DYKE TO REMAIN IN THE GAME AFTER `COACH' WRAPS.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Jerry Van Dyke has changed his mind about retiring after ``Coach'' comes to an end this season.

``I'm getting all kinds of offers, so I figure as long as they want me I'll try to do another series.'' The actor, who's played Luther Van Dam on ``Coach'' for the last nine years, is currently working out a deal with ABC to return in a midseason show next year.

Meanwhile, he's recuperating from a hard week's work in Las Vegas for ABC's Feb. 26 Las Vegas Night crossover that will have the stars of ``Coach,'' ``Grace Under Fire,'' ``The Drew Carey Show'' and ``Ellen'' all popping up on each other's shows in the Vegas setting.

Van Dyke says he was working 17-hour days to prepare for his special dance number. ``I was supposed to do Elvis in the suit he wore in `Viva, Las Vegas.' I worked all week on doing Elvis and you know, my knees aren't that good and I probably took a few years off them, but that's all Elvis did was knees. Then the day we were supposed to shoot it, I'm told I can't do the legs and the snarled lip! Evidently, Elvis' Memphis estate is really tough (about imitating him on TV). I said, `Wait a minute. How am I supposed to do Elvis?' So I just did Luther having a good time in Elvis' suit. It's still kind of funny.''

Filmland flair

The lineup of stars who took part in the 65th birthday tribute to Elizabeth Taylor Sunday night at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre seems sure to assure impressive ratings for ABC when it is airs the gala as a two-hour special Feb. 24 - and a bonanza for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Over $1 million has already been raised through advertising and the sale of tickets to the show - and producer Gary Pudney says the 800 number where pledges to the charity can be sent will be flashed on the screen twice during the telecast.

Who appeared? Madonna (in her ``mother mode,'' wearing what looked like a housecoat, with slip exposed), Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Burnett, Rod Stewart, Lily Tomlin, Paul Reiser, Shirley MacLaine, Cher, Arsenio Hall, Drew Barrymore, Roseanne. ... And then there was Michael Jackson, whose song, written especially for Elizabeth, was laden with bitter jabs at the industry and heaven only knows who else. The lyrics included the words, ``They robbed you of your childhood ... took your youth and sold it for gold. ... You reached your peak and they wanted you to fall.''

No mention was made, by Jackson or anyone else, that Elizabeth Taylor is now headed for the hospital and brain surgery. Somehow it seemed unnecessary to mention. Everybody knew that she knew that she goes with the good wishes and prayers of everyone in that room - and elsewhere.

Swooping back

We told you last summer that Paul Simon was deep into composing a Broadway musical, ``Capeman.'' Now we can tell you that the show's heading for a fall opening - with Ruben Blades starring as Puerto Rican New Yorker Salvador Agron, who was imprisoned in 1960 for a gang-related slaying. Casting for the rest of the company is planned for New York, Florida and L.A. Lots of musical range will be required. Simon has mixed musical styles from Puerto Rican salsa to doo-wop, early-'60s pop and Latino Pentecostal music in the show, which he's co-producing with Jimmy Nederlander.

New horizons

``It's a dream come true,'' says Tim Reid of his New Millennium Studios, Virginia's first full-service film facility. Reid wrapped ``Sister, Sister'' last week and flew to Petersburg, Va., to be on hand for today's ground-breaking ceremony. His wife, actress Daphne Maxwell Reid, will be by his side, and Virginia's first lady, Susan Allen, will also be on hand for the event.

Reid says the first lady ``was one of the people who got really involved early on with what Daphne and I were trying to do. She helped us get the state to put up some money and, because of her support, the city of Petersburg became involved. It's really been a wonderful example of what you call `the New South' ... a multiracial effort of people who have a love for the state and a passion to change things for the better.''

Reid expects the studio to be up and running by summer and already has the first film project set. It's ``Mack With Cheese,'' which is, says Reid, ``a wonderful romantic comedy written by Blair Underwood's brother, Frank, that will mark Blair's directorial debut.''