BACK TO THE PAST

It looks like Showtime is turning the lights back on at 28 Barbary Lane. TV Guide has learned that the cable network has been busy casting roles for the TV adaption of the third book of Armistead Maupin's six-part "Tales of the City" series about a pansexual group of friends who meet in San Francisco in the 1970s. Showtime aired the second set of episodes, "More Tales of the City," in 1998, four years after the initial miniseries earned high ratings and critical praise on PBS.

"Armistead Maupin's Further Tales of the City" will bring the endearingly quirky characters into the 1980s, where they get involved with a Jonestown-type cult, a gay rodeo and the rescue of kidnaped twins. There will also be a romantic coupling with a major Hollywood movie star and "some ripsnorting love scenes of every variety," says a source close to the production. "It's true to the book."

Showtime would not confirm the project, but a number of original cast members are reportedly returning, including Olympia Dukakis as transsexual landlady Anna Madrigal, Laura Linney as eternal optimist May Ann Singleton and "Once and Again's" Billy Campbell as gay gynecologist Jon Fielding. Expect some big-name cameos as well. "The series has been great fun to do," says a happy Linney ("The Truman Show"). "And the people involved are wonderful." A source close to Dukakis says the actress, who was nominated for an Emmy for her role in "More Tales of the City," is "wildly eager" to begin shooting in early June in Montreal. The two-part, four-hour series is expected to air sometime next season.__TV Guide (May 27 - June 2, 2000)