OH DEAR CALISTA, WE MISSED YA
                                         By ADAM BUCKMAN

                                        JUST days after backing out of a planned
                                        "Today" show interview, Calista Flockhart
                                        cancelled appearances on David Letterman's
                                        "Late Show" and ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show."

                                        The "Ally McBeal" star was due to come to New
                                        York this week to promote her upcoming movie,
                                        "A Midsummer Night's Dream." She had been
                                        booked for Monday night's Letterman show and
                                        yesterday's "Rosie O'Donnell."

                                        She was also supposed to speak at Monday
                                        night's tribute to Mike Nichols at Lincoln Center
                                        (she had worked with him in "The Birdcage").

                                        And the "Today" show had been expecting her for
                                        months. She was scheduled to be interviewed live
                                        on Monday morning.

                                        For the Nichols tribute and the Letterman and
                                        Rosie shows, the explanation is that Calista
                                        realized late last week that she would have to be
                                        in California all this week to film the "Ally" season
                                        finale, according to one of her publicists.

                                        For the "Today" show, the cancellation was
                                        because the NBC show wouldn't refrain from
                                        asking about her waif-like physique. Her publicists
                                        wanted the interview to focus only on her new
                                        movie, which opens a week from Friday.

                                        The filming of the "Ally McBeal" finale is a
                                        legitimate excuse. Sources at the Fox Network
                                        and at Twentieth Century-Fox Television,
                                        producer of "Ally McBeal," confirmed that filming
                                        on the final episode of the season - due to air
                                        May24 - commenced Monday. Production wraps
                                        next Wednesday.

                                        Still, you can't help wondering if Calista is shying
                                        away from talk shows because of lingering
                                        questions about her physique. Let's face it, we've
                                        all wondered if she's not a little too thin. And she
                                        did bag the "Today" show over the issue, although
                                        she allowed the questions to be asked for this
                                        week's TV Guide cover story (in which she has "a
                                        double cappuccino [and a] tall orange juice" for
                                        lunch). And last Wednesday on "20/20," Connie
                                        Chung got away with asking Calista if she had an
                                        eating disorder. ("No, no," she answered.)

                                        And it's a little curious that the star of "Ally
                                        McBeal," who has a major spring movie to
                                        promote, isn't planning to make the talk-show
                                        rounds to talk about it. (There are no appearances
                                        planned to make up for this week's cancellations.)

                                        All of which brings to mind those Fox promos in
                                        which Calista wears a long trenchcoat.

                                        You know - the ones Fox airs for its
                                        Monday-night lineup. Calista appears in the
                                        promos alongside Heather Locklear, the star of
                                        "Melrose Place."

                                        Sexy Heather is wearing skintight black. Calista's
                                        wearing that baggy coat. Why the coat? Next to a
                                        body like Heather's, Calista's size-zero frame
                                        doesn't measure up.

                                        That's what Calista's hiding. She doesn't want to
                                        be seen in public anymore looking all bony. Those
                                        pictures of her skeletal arms and shoulders have
                                        fueled speculation that she's too skinny. And that
                                        can lead to embarrassing questions during TV
                                        interviews.