Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 85

television B21 i I DVD REVIEW mm mm Kiss and tell: Glam band vs. Snyder -5 i -J that week, mature Catskills comic Totie Fields, who memorably looked beyond Simmons skull-and-crossbones leather and flesh-veiling makeup to call the Israel native a nice Jewish boy. You cant hide the hook. That surreal clash of cultures what did Douglas housewife viewers make of Kiss at a time when even rockheads weren't sure what they were? was supplemented on VoL 1 by other classic tube excerpts. The Midnight SpedaL Don Kirshners Rock Concert And the showbiz bizzarerie of 1976s Paul Lynde Halloween SpedaL (Quips the fey Lynde, Just what Ive always wanted four kisses on the first date!) Kissology VoL 2 covers a longer period and a broader swath of territory.

This one unearths TV appearances from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal, in addition to ABCs Fridays rock-out Add in CNN and MTV coverage of the band, led by video jockey J.J. Jackson's chat during the 1983 unmasking when they revealed their feces sans makeup. Simmons and co-founder Stanley recently sat down to provide fresh commentary on it aU, bluntly assessing their youthfol behavior, the bands evolution and various missteps along the way. The vintage dips remain the most priceless (though a crisp wide-screen European cut of their NBC TV movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park is a hoot of its own). The Tomorrow show finds Stanley recalling how the Queens boys started out playing in Am-ityville, Long Island, and we always said, This is the Garden.

Every night. Even then they knew they were making what they already called Kisstory. Now its satisfyingly amassed and interpreted for all to savor. Hey, didnt these guys ever visit Merv Griffin? K1SSOLOG VOt. 2i -1978-1991.

Rockers' irrter-views with Tom Snyder and MTV, plus NBCs Phantom of the Park TV movie, along-' side vintage conceit footage; out this week from VH1 1 Classic, list price $35. BY DIANE WERTS diane.wertsnewsday.cofn As the Iegendsof TV talk keep departing this realm in alarming numbers, fan of Tom Snyder particular should do a very peculiar thing. Obtain the DVD set Kiss-ology VoL 2: 1978-199L Within its three biographical discs of rock-and-roll-all-night lies a hilarious encounter between said Tomorrow show host and four dudes tricked out in pseudo-space gear and outrageous makeup, all laid helpless by the giggles. Except, of course, for Kiss-master Gene Simmons, who slumps sulking in his fhair for reasons he explains in another of die DVDs delights, optional audio commentary, looking back now on NBCs 1979 late-night tfite-i-tfite. He was the Barbara Walters bigger than Barbara Walters, todays imperious Simmon says of the expressive Snyder, who would have loved hearing that before he died July 29.

Important entities would sit there and they would sort of delve into the what-is-it- that-malrahinhingtirlr, ahn- are-these-people. So we were honored to be on the show. Guitarist Ace Frehley was, in fact, honored that he got completely blitzed, and acted plastered, which Snyder loved, beseeching Ace to describe his outfit. I think this outfit is self-explanatory. Fm a plumber," Frehley deadpans before another burst of mirth.

left Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, visit to Tom Snyder's 70s show. if in i' '1 3 ri i bONV MUatC PHOTO AN EVENING WITH THE DIXIE CHICKS 10 p.m. WNET 13 In this August 2002 concert; the trio performs itg hif inrhlfting wg Time Gone, Travelin Soldier, Cowboy Take Me Away and Goodbye EarL TV notes MANTEGNA JOINING CRIMINAL MINDS. Joe Mantegna is set to fill the Criminal Minds vacuum left by departing star Mandy Patinkin, reports Zap2itxom. Ed Bernero, showrunner on the CBS hit drama, made the announcement last week on a Criminal Minds fen blog.

We are very excited to tell you all that Joe Mantegna is officially joining the cast of Criminal Minds, Bernero wrote. After two years playing FBI Behav-. ioral Analysis Unit leader Jason Gideon, Patinkin left Criminal Minds last month. Both sides said the departure was due to that favorite Hollywood condition of creative differences. Its still unclear what function Mantegnas character will play, when hell be introduced and if hell be the only major new addition.

Mantegnas last two regular network series gigs were on CBS "Joan of Arcadia and 1 First Monday. HBO PICKS UP BALL'S VAMPIRE DRAMA. Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball is returning to HBOs prime-time lineup as the pay cable network has picked up his vampire drama True Blood, says The Hollywood Reporter. Production on the shows first season is slated to begin in the falL Based on the Southern Vampire book series by Charlaine Harris, True Hood takes place in a world in which vampires can buy Japanese-made synthetic blood. Their integration into a maii Louisiana town causes quite a stir, and a love story ensues between a vampire (Stephen Moyer) and Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Parpiin), an innocent waitress who can read peoples minds.

The band IGss Ace Frehley, Peter Criss makes a riotous Listen, replies the talkmeis-ter devilishly, Tve got a little piece of pipe backstage Td like to have you work on. Tell me about id blurts Ace, dissolving into convulsive cackles. When Ace would have a few gallons, Simmons drawls in commentary, he would turn into a happy guy. The result is kind of a grumpy old man who used to stick his tongue out that would be Simmons and a bombed guitar player. The exchange is laugh-out-loud hysterical.

God help the closed-captioners trying to tran news and products. Bringing reeHugger.com into this Discovery family gives it the resources to continue doing what it does best: bringing green living to the masses, Bruce Campbell, president of Ducov- Ss digital media, 1 in a written statement. TreeHugger is Discoverys first acquisition under chief executive David Zaslav, who began in I is mt Discovery's chief David January and is the midst of scribe all the antic crosstalk dialogue. (Yes! Its captioned this time!) Why doesnt everybody strip-mine TV history the way these Kiss sets do so deliciously? The highlight of last years three-disc lussology VoL 1: 1974-1977 was another talk-fest artifact: the rockers ultra-early 74 appearance on daytimes amiable Mike Douglas Show. As Kiss Paul Stanley recalled in commentary, Mike Douglas pretty much made Merv Griffin look like Ozzy Osbourne.

But it was Douglas co-host at least 25 percent of the companys workforce and closing the Discovery stores. The company is diverting resources into new-media products and the distribution of high-definition television series, such as the BBCs Planet Earth. Discovery would not say how much it paid for TreeHugger, but industry estimates put it around $10 million. Discovery has Discovery greens up with TreeHugger i i more green advertising, much in the way the company bought PetFinder.com last year and aligned it with the Animal Planet channeL It is a sign of the quickly changing ethos on the environment that until only recently, the term tree hugger was considered an insult in many quarters. Now it is a valuable brand inside a global, mainstream television network.

TreeHugger, based in Manhattan, was founded by designer-entrepreneur Graham HilL The company and staff will remain largely intact under Discoverys ownership, TreeHugger said on its rite. The Washington Post It looks like Discovery YwnmimiraHruis thinks this Teen thing might just catch tn. In April, the cable program-ning giant said it would switch ts Discovery Home channel to Planet Green channel early lext year. Two weeks ago, the compa-ly based in Silver Spring, McL, ixpanded its eco-portfolio by innoundng it will buy Tree iugger.com, a Web site found-id 2004 that provides news ind product information for he environmentally acute. The ite claims L4 million unique isitors a month and has more ban 50 writers around the rorld blogging about green executive Zaslav found an intense advertiser interest in buying time a housecleaning and reorgani- on the Planet Green channel zation that will end up cutting and will use TreeHugger to sell i s7 i 1 rii.