Arnold hopes for cease-fire with Roseanne

GOOD MORNING: "Hopefully time will heal things," says Tom Arnold about the relationship between him and ex-wife Roseanne. "After all," says Arnold, "I see that even Cher is now saying nice things about Sonny!" Both Roseanne and Arnold have since remarried, with Roseanne (Mrs. Ben Thomas) again a mom and Tom saying that he and wife Julie (23) are about to celebrate their first wedding anni, and hope to start a family. Arnold just wound "McHale's Navy" (directed by Brian Spicer) and has "Car Pool" (Arthur Hiller), "The Stupids" (John Landis) and "Touch" (Paul Schrader) also completed. And Thursday, Sid Sheinberg was giving Arnold a tour of the Bubble Factory and talking more pics to follow "McHale's." Sheinberg says Arnold "showed extraordinary good judgment in improving things." They also have high marks for director Spicer, who was spotted by Sheinberg from "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." TV'er. "I've had some good luck starting directors (in features)," Sheinberg noted modestly -- you recall Steven Spielberg was one of his "starters"... There's a possibility of sequels with Arnold in "McHale's Navy"-- depending, of course, on the public's reaction to the first one. Before launching into another pic, Arnold says he'll ride his bike (not a motor scooter) across Iowa on the state's 150th birthday celebration -- with 7,500 other cyclists. The land he and Roseanne formerly owned in Iowa has been contributed to a community college, he says, and the eatery they planned (with Planet Hollywood) is shuttered ... Roseanne, meanwhile, is readying to start the new (last?) season of her series with the first read-through on Aug. 6, taping Aug. 9. Will John Goodman be back? He's, of course, returned from Paris and "The Double," and Goodman may do two or three "Roseanne" segs between August and September.

AND TALKING ABOUT THE NAVY -- I got a phone call from Stephen Baldwin aboard a nuclear attack sub, the USS Portsmouth, outta San Diego. He was there along with "Sub Down" (mebbe to be called "Crush Depth") director Gregg Champion, producers Daniel J. Sladek and Silvio Muraglia. The Navy's Cmdr. Gary Shrout told me the Navy's been working with 'em even pre-script. "We're open to research and offer to be a creative partner (to movie-TV companies). We'll help take 'em through mine fields!" ("McHale's Navy," he said, chose to work on their own -- but the Navy even helped that pic's femme stars learn the (nautical) ropes.) Gabrielle Anwar will co-star aboard the "Sub Down" as a scientist as the sub heads beneath the ice cap in Iceland and Greenland. It gets trapped under the ice and from there on in, says Sladek, it's "Apollo 13" escape time! The sub will be built by the same experts who created "Das Boot." This one will be lensed on stages in Luxembourg -- whose bank finances the movie. Sladek says this is the third feature their banner (Cine Grande) has produced independently over the past two years ("Silent Trigger," recently wound with Dolph Lundgren, and "The Shooter," acquired by Miramax) ... It's back to the bigscreen for George Hamilton, who joins Joe Pesci and Dyan Cannon in "Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag" with Cannon as Hamilton's wife. Although it's a comedy, Hamilton says his role is "humorless." And, he claims, "It's a harder thing to do in a comedy!" Hamilton wants to continue the bigscreen return with "The World's Guest"-- about someone he knew, "Marvelous Marvin, the World's Guest," who had intro'd a young Hamilton to some of his guestints. Hamilton would play the worldly Marvin, of course, and Ashley Hamilton, George's son, would play his dad -- as the youth. Asked about the recent KO'd talker with ex-wife Alana, Hamilton asked, "Would any other husband get in the ring with his ex-wife?" He added, "It was wonderful fun -- but I don't think any new talkshow has a chance today (against the established) unless it's kept on (the air) for a long time." He has just completed a "Hart to Hart" with Bob Wagner and Stefanie Powers in Munich, and George says he and R.J. worked so well together, they are talking about doing a series.

CHRISTOPHER REEVE WAS ON HAND for "The Royal Family" bow at the Williamstown Theater -- of which he's a member of the Board of Trustees, and a former regular performer. The show includes Kate Burton, Blythe Danner, Andrea Martin, Marian Seldes. Joanne Woodward is nearby at the Berkshire Theater starring in "Hay Fever"... Mishulam Riklis is recuping post-prostate surgery at Cornell Hospital in N.Y. ... Shirley Jones, who starred in the 1956 movie, led the standing ovation for "Carousel" Wednesday at the Ahmanson. She was there with husband Marty Ingels, sons Ryan, Sean and Patrick. Others applauding included: Kathy Bates, Debbie Allen, Hal Linden, Diane Ladd, Tracey Ullman, Ann Miller, JoAnne Worley ... 20th's Tom Sherak kicks off the Variety Club/K-Earth radiothon today by presenting a $36,000 check on the Robert W. Morgan show and KTLA simulcast.