A Rash of Ritter

Ever seen those late-night cable TV programs that masquerade as talk shows but are really advertisements for baldness remedies and real estate correspondence courses? Then you also know how most are hosted by actors whose careers have seen better days--like Robert Vaughn and Lyle Waggoner.

So what’s John Ritter, the still-hot star of ABC’s “Hooperman,” doing pushing a videotape that promises to help high school and college students get better grades? The product is called Where There’s a Will, There’s an A--and Ritter’s pitches are on the air ad nauseum.

“We didn’t realize it was going to be on everywhere ,” sighed Bob Myman, Ritter’s lawyer and “Hooperman” exec producer. “I guess we envisioned it was going to be on in another country or something.”

During the half-hour spot--Ritter’s first commercial--he speaks to the audience and interviews a professor who made the videotape. Myman said Ritter felt it was “a quality product” that would help kids. Now, Myman concedes, the actor’s a bit embarrassed by it.

“If we had known it was going to play so heavily, I wouldn’t have let him do it,” Myman said.

“But remember that Michael Landon sold a water filter!”