Alan does Disney; Fay plays King

Alan Wendt is proving there's a whole lot life left after leaving WTVT-Ch. 13.

How about a little trip to Disney World?

He's not going on vacation but to work as an independent producer.

The popular anchor, who left Channel 13 last December when he was bumped off the morning news after 17 years at the station, plans to make some "innovations" at Disney.

Walt Disney contracted his Wendt Productions to produce a video press kit, a short feature video and a live broadcast of EPCOT center's newest attraction, Innovations.

The new display will feature state-of-the-art technology from Apple, SEGA, IBM, Honeywell and AT&T. Wendt said the production was tricky because it had to be produced before Disney finished the display itself.

"The challenge with this production was to be innovative ourselves," said the anchor-turned-producer. His company is based in Odessa.

The very busy Wendt was on the road Monday, but there's been speculation he could be hired as an anchor at WFTS-Ch. 28, which is aggressively building a news team. Channel 28 will be the new ABC is about six months. I think he'd be dandy.

LARRY KING SCOOP _ Michael Fay, the U.S. teenager who was caned in Singapore for vandalism, will make his first TV appearance on CNN's Larry King Live Wednesday night. The hour-long interview airs at 9. The 19-year-old has said the four cane lashes hurt but were not the torture he expected. Larry King, who is craftier than a Singapore interrogator, will be sure to pry more details from Fay.

STRATEGY, STRATEGY _ Like any good football strategist, ABC is already drawing up the game plan for Coach. ABC will start airing Coach re-runs Aug. 1 for two weeks so viewers can get used to the new Monday night time slot, then new episodes will start mid-August in the 8 p.m. slot before all NFL pre-season games.

Kicking off your season early is a trick innovated by Fox, which starts its TV season well before the traditional Labor Day week.

Although a popular series, ABC needs to build a strong audience for Coach because it held the coveted (and protected) 9:30 p.m. time slot after Roseanne on Tuesdays.

STRATEGY, Part 2 _ Talking about an early season debut! Fox really kicks into high gear with its new series Models, Inc. a soapy spin-off of Melrose Place. Linda Gray stars as the head of the modeling agency that is brimming with a bevy of Fox-like beauties, all of whom have problems. Natch.

The pilot airs at 8 this Wednesday before moving to its regular time slot at 9 p.m.

PLEASE REPEAT _ Summer is great way to catch up on series that were ratings runner-ups during the season.

Don't miss a single episode of The X-Files on WFTS-Ch. 28 at 9 on Fridays. The cult sci-fi favorite is about to become a huge mainstream hit in the fall.

Also back on Fox is Bakersfield P.D., a witty, wacky detective spoof that lamentably was canceled. Four new episodes start this week, airing at 9:30 on Thursdays, also on Channel 28.

Before you tune into The X-Files, check out Against The Grain, a wholesome family drama, which NBC killed. The story of a small-town football coach who instills morals in his players was one of the season's best dramas. The chance of it ever returning are scarce, so say farewell in the summer repeats. Fridays at 8 on WFLA-Ch. 8.

_ Reports from Times wires contributed to this column.