Larry King Is in His Counting House : Television: On April 29, CNN’s $8-million man joins the likes of Barbara Walters and Connie Chung with his own celebrity-interview special.

TV or not TV. . . .

TALKATHON: What with CNN and radio, you’d think that talk-show host Larry King has enough to do.

But Ted Turner’s $8-million man--that’s what King’s new cable contract pays--keeps trying to branch out.

He flopped a while back as emcee of a badly produced Ed Sullivan-style variety show on NBC. But now, on April 29, he invades the prime-time celebrity interview terrain already occupied by ABC’s Barbara Walters and CBS’ Connie Chung.

King will turn up on TNT, one of Turner’s four cable channels, with an hour special in which he interviews Oscar winner Jeremy Irons (“Reversal of Fortune”), James Woods, Barbara Hershey and pro basketball star David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs.

Seems a natural format for King to take on--and for Turner to exploit.

Which is exactly what Turner is doing: The show gets a double airing so that it will be seen in prime time on both the East and West coasts.

WESTWARD HO: C-SPAN, the Washington-based cable channel that focuses on government activities, is expanding its coverage of California politics.

Several staff positions are being created to intensify the coverage. The reasons:

* “Particular interest in California during the state’s 1992 political races.”

* “California is also home to the largest number of C-SPAN subscribers.”

* “San Diego and Los Angeles consistently top the list of most frequent callers to C-SPAN’s signature live viewer call-in programs.”

THE WAY IT WAS: In the wake of the Gulf War and the landmark PBS series “The Civil War,” there should be particular interest in a 10-part TV study of World War II that begins Sunday on KCET Channel 28.

Narrated by Eric Sevareid, it is called “America Goes to War: The Home Front--WWII.” Sevareid, of course, began his distinguished CBS career reporting from Europe during the conflict.

Also Sunday, by the way, KCET offers the one-hour documentary “War Reporters,” which seems especially timely given the many news correspondents who became household names during the battle in the Gulf.

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of Operation Desert Storm, isn’t the first of his clan to gain attention on the airwaves.

His father, also named H. Norman Schwarzkopf, was likewise a general, later headed the New Jersey state police--and gained added fame as narrator-host-moderator of the popular old radio show “Gangbusters.”

The TV version, narrated by creator Phillips H. Lord, also gave viewers a chance to tip police to “most-wanted” criminals and was highly successful in a brief 1952 run on NBC. But the network turned the time slot entirely over to “Dragnet.”

SLEUTH: Actor Tony Peck, Greg’s son, arrives on Monday as the star of a new series on cable’s Arts & Entertainment channel, “Hollywood Detective,” playing a 1930s private eye who helps out famous writers.

His first client: F. Scott Fitzgerald, who’s trying to cut it as a screenwriter.

A&E; notes that this is “basic cable’s first hour-long prime-time dramatic series produced in America.”

Basic cable consists of those channels--like CNN, ESPN, Lifetime and A&E--that; you get as part of the package when you subscribe to cable, as opposed to pay-TV outlets like HBO that cost extra.

UPWARDLY MOBILE: Is it just a coincidence that NBC’s “Today” series has shown some ratings momentum the last few weeks while Katie Couric has subbed for Deborah Norville, who’s on maternity leave?

TEAMWORK: CBS Entertainment told advertisers that all of the network’s day parts--meaning the various parts of its schedule--are up in the ratings except the “CBS Evening News.”

BLUEPRINT: Carrie Fisher, who’s working up a CBS sitcom, “Esme’s Little Nap,” for her mom, Debbie Reynolds, cracks: “It was a way to get my mother off the road and back in town.” In the show, Reynolds plays a woman who must take care of her grandchildren when her daughter goes into shock after a freak accident.

ROOMMATES: Seems like nifty casting with Julie Hagerty, Twiggy and Fran Drescher as three women who share a rent-free apartment in New York in the CBS sitcom project “Princesses.” Remind you of “How to Marry a Millionaire”?

ROYALTY: NBC, promising “risk-taking” in its new fall lineup, says that “Cheers” will be “the only show that will be locked into its time slot next season.”

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT: The “Anything but Love” episode in which Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis consummated their relationship was one of the comedy delights of the TV season--incorporating witty tributes to “The Front Page,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Noel Coward and “Twin Peaks.” Hey, folks, this has been one terrific series--whenever ABC lets us see it.

METEOR: ABC’s sudden ratings rocket, “Family Matters,” was watched by more people than any other show in last week’s rankings--more than “60 Minutes,” more than “Cheers.” Considering that it airs on Friday, not a big TV night traditionally, the show’s takeoff is astonishing.

NOTEBOOK: The New York-based Museum of Broadcasting, which recently concluded its annual festival here, has changed its name to the Museum of Television and Radio.

BEING THERE: “A strong man makes a weak people. Strong people don’t need a strong man.”--Marlon Brando as Emiliano Zapata in John Steinbeck’s script of “Viva Zapata!” shown by KTLA Channel 5.

Say good night, Gracie. . . .