Poor Jessica Biel. The 18-year-old actress has gone and posed nearly nude and talked trash for the March issue of the Guccione mag Gear, in hopes she'll be sacked from WB's wholesome series "7th Heaven" because it's wrecking her image--the series, that is.

But "7th Heaven" executive producer Aaron Spelling says no dice. Biel has two more years on her contract and she's going to be held to it, Spelling said through a spokeswoman. Silly Biel--doesn't she know that Spelling fires hot young women only if they get pregnant and lose their figures?

Biel has portrayed wholesome, basketball-playing teen Mary Camden since the August 1996 debut of the show, which in spite of its squeaky-clean image is the real hit of the Wanna Be television network. Though the show has a weekly following of 7 million (it's also the eighth most popular show on TV among teen girls), Biel claims that playing Mary is keeping her from being considered for roles in the unending stream of teen feature films. For instance, she tells Gear, she read for the role of the breast-baring teenager in the movie "American Beauty," but did not get a call back.

So, she's put her breasts on the cover of Gear to show the "American Beauty" producers just exactly what they missed.

Biel also talks dirty for the article that accompanies the photo spread. And makes the interviewer wait while she hops into a photo booth to get some snaps taken for a fake driver's license a pal has promised to deliver.

She tells the Gear writer that if she ever encountered the strait-laced Mary, she'd "kick her [expletive heinie]."

Asked if the Gear photo spread could get her fired from the show, Biel responds, "I hope so."

Not forever, Biel--just two more years.

"Jessica Biel is a talented actress and a great asset to '7th Heaven,' " Spelling said in a statement. "Currently she is under contract to Spelling Television and '7th Heaven' for the next two years and we look forward to working with her."

Of course, this is not the first time that a young TV actress has appeared clothing-challenged in a "men's" magazine to adjust her good-girl image. You'll recall it was recently tried by Melissa Joan Hart, star of ABC's "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," who appeared in Maxim and Bikini magazines. Longer ago, the tactic was employed by Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano who--ohmigosh--are now both on a Spelling TV show!

Seems the only way to get sacked from a Spelling show is to get pregnant. That's what happened to actress Hunter Tylo on Spelling's prime-time soap "Melrose Place" back in '96. In court, Spelling TV reps didn't deny that Tylo had been let go because she was pregnant; they just claimed it was the company's right to do so because she couldn't play a vixen and a seductress if she was eight months pregnant, now could she?

Biel business manager Chad Dalton told Gear that he saw her nearly nudie spread as "the proclamation that Jesse can do different things."

And her new image is sure to lead to lots more opportunities in the film business. I mean, how many beautiful young women do you think there are in Hollywood who know how to strip down to their underwear?

When Pat Mitchell, president of CNN Productions, told boss Ted Turner that she might be offered the job overseeing PBS--which would make her the first woman ever to do so--what was the response of Turner, that great champion of women's rights?

"You mean the whole thing?" Turner said, according to Mitchell.

"You can always count on Ted for a good quote," Mitchell quipped at a news conference yesterday announcing that the PBS board of directors had unanimously voted to name her PBS president and CEO. She's replacing Ervin Duggan, who bowed out last October.

Since Mitchell doesn't even start her new gig until March 1, we should cut her some slack. But I just can't get past the fact that when she was asked what made PBS programming "singular" and "unique" compared with other channels that produce shows like those seen on PBS--you know, children's educational programming, tony documentaries, news programming and BBC-produced period pieces--Mitchell responded that the difference is that on PBS, programs air without commercial interruption, except at the beginning and end of programs. When the surprised reporter who'd put the question to her asked if that was all, Mitchell indicated that, as a former documentary producer, she thought that was a lot. Then, thinking better of that, she added that the "purpose" of PBS's programming was different from other networks'. And, she said, PBS isn't driven by ratings.

And so Pat Mitchell began to navigate the minefield that is PBS.

Talk show host Rosie O'Donnell will guest-star as a paramedic who assists a gunshot victim on NBC's "Third Watch" on Monday, Feb. 21. That very same day, O'Donnell welcomes the cast of the freshman drama series to her syndicated talk show and will give her fans a peek of Rosie's day on the "Third Watch" set.

Coincidence? Don't you believe it; both shows are produced at Warner Bros.

It must be the February sweeps.

NBC has sacrificed "3rd Rock From the Sun" to save "Just Shoot Me."

"Just Shoot Me" has been getting pummeled in its Tuesday 8 p.m. time slot since ABC moved "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" into the 8-9 p.m. hour that night. So too has "3rd Rock," which is airing at 8:30 Tuesday nights.

So, starting Feb. 22, NBC is moving "Just Shoot Me" out of the path of "Millionaire" and into the protected Tuesday 9:30 p.m. time slot--hammocked between "Will & Grace" and "Dateline."

"3rd Rock" suffers a different fate. It's moving from 8:30 to 8, which from the vantage point of the cast and producers of that show has to be a real "thanks for nuthin' " move.

Also given up for dead is NBC's new animated sitcom "God, the Devil and Bob," which, starting March 7, will get the unenviable Tuesday 8:30 p.m. berth. And it's going to take an act of God to get the show, which stars the voices of James Garner and Alan Cumming, launched there.

Apparently, "God, the Devil and Bob" drew the short straw. Luckier were NBC mid-season sitcoms "Daddio," starring Michael Chiklis as a stay-at-home dad, and "Battery Park," a cop sitcom from Gary David Goldberg ("Spin City," "Family Ties"). They're getting the 8:30 and 9:30 slots, respectively, on Thursday night--NBC's strongest night of the week--starting March 23. They're replacing "Jesse" and "Stark Raving Mad."

Better late than never, Eileen Murphy has been promoted to vice president of ABC News media relations. Murphy has been overseeing the news division's public and press relations since 1995, including "World News Tonight," "20/20," "Good Morning America," "Nightline" and "This Week." Murphy also managed the team that generated pots and pots of coverage for the "ABC 2000" millennium coverage. She joined ABC News in 1993 as associate director of media relations, working in the Washington bureau.

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