BILLS SUPER BOWL MOVIE TO DEBUT DURING UB HOMECOMING WEEK

Rob Lieberman, the University at Buffalo graduate who has gone on to become a prominent television director, is coming to his alma mater during Homecoming Week for a special series of seminars Oct. 16-18 led by prominent graduates in the entertainment industry. The series is sponsored by the UB Alumni Association.

Lieberman plans to present the world premiere of the TNT movie, "Second String," during the so-called Visiting Scholar Series. He said the fantasy film, in which a bunch of Bills' second stringers lead the team to a Super Bowl victory, will premiere during the alumni celebration of UB's Hollywood Connection.

The celebration is expected to include appearances by writer Alan Zweibel, actors Peter Riegert and Maury Chaykin, comedian Bobbie Collins, talent agents Richard Lawrence, David Brownstein and Shep Gordon, documentary filmmakers Chana Gazit and David Steward, directors John Patterson ("The Sopranos") and James Foley ("Glengarry, Glen Ross") and other UB alumni in the news and entertainment businesses.

The UB graduates will conduct seminars on their specialties during the October weekend. During his UB appearance, Lieberman will conduct a course on film.

TNT won't premiere "Second String" until August, 2003. Filmed two summers ago in Toronto, it had been scheduled to air on cable last fall, but complications arose over the merger of Time Warner and America Online that delayed its airing.

Doug Flutie has a cameo appearance in the film as the Bills starting quarterback. He comes down with food poisoning and is replaced by a second teamer, played by Gil Bellows. Flutie, of course, is now a San Diego Charger.

"Other than that anachronism, it will play fine," Lieberman said.

He is currently filming the upcoming USA series, "Dead Zone," which is set to premiere June 16. Starring Michael Hall and David Ogden Stiers, it is based on an old Stephen King novel and was originally commissioned by UPN.

You can probably cross out Dave Pasch as Van Miller's eventual replacement as the radio voice of the Buffalo Bills. The impressive 1994 Syracuse graduate is leaving his job as the voice of Syracuse University basketball and football after three seasons to become the play-by-play announcer of the Arizona Cardinals.

Did you catch Katie Couric on Monday morning on "Today" explaining how the Goo Goo Dolls got their name? Promoting the Buffalo band's appearance on the show's concert series Friday morning, Couric repeated the story about the band's original name, the Sex Maggots. It was changed at the urging of their manager. Couric added the group got its current name out of a true crime detective magazine.

Wouldn't you know it, Fox's "Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska" has a Buffalo connection. Patrick Donaldson, 29, a Cleveland Hill High School graduate who is now an architect, will appear in an upcoming episode. His mother, Starlita "Star" Donaldson, said Patrick was born in Alaska but raised here. He signed a confidentiality clause, but surely mom must know if he got married. Did he? "No," said mom.

Dominik Hasek's Stanley Cup finals ride with the Detroit Red Wings against the Carolina Hurricanes starts tonight, with the first two games of the series on ESPN and the remaining games on ABC. Judging by the ratings for the conference finals, many Western New Yorkers prefer Canadian coverage. CBC's prime time coverage of five games last week averaged a 3.3 rating here. The NHL's schedule for the Stanley Cup finals wisely avoids the NBA's finals on all but one night in the next two weeks.

Channel 2 finally figured out a way to get Buffalo viewers to a classic NBA championship series: Tell them "Law & Order" is on, then have a classic overtime game that preempts the popular drama series. The Lakers' series-clinching overtime victory over Sacramento Sunday had a 7.6 rating on WGRZ-TV until 10 p.m., when "Law & Order" was supposed to run. The rating jumped up from a 10.8 to a 13.5 when "Law & Order" was supposed to air and then jumped to a 14.1 by game's end at about 10:45 p.m.

That bodes well for the finals between the Lakers and New Jersey Nets, which starts Wednesday with Marv Albert, Bill Walton and Steve Jones at the microphone. NBC has a dream matchup involving the Los Angeles (Lakers) and New York markets for its last series before ABC takes over the package next season. The Nets may have New Jersey on their uniforms, but they are in the New York TV market.

Finally, a belated note about former Channel 7 chief photographer Bill Nailos, a legend who died last month at the age of 77 at Veteran's Hospital. Old-time and present-day Channel 7 staffers came out in full force recently for his funeral.

"Nailos was much loved and brought along many a rookie reporter, covered every major story and brought us the true sense of what Eyewitness News is," wrote assistant news director Nancy Sanders. "He started shooting film for us when the film had to be processed in a different building. He also was known as the Masked Marvel in his wrestling days at the Aud. And he was aboard a U.S. Navy ship at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. He was well-known and loved by cops, politicians and especially the news crews."

e-mail: apergament@buffnews.com