The laughs that arose from “Beverly Hills, 90210” weren’t necessarily meant to be there. Filter in a little nostalgia, some stunt casting and a couple of pasted-on sideburns, though, and you have some real comedy.

At least that’s what the folks “What I Like About You” are hoping. Friday’s episode of The WB’s third-year sitcom features a “90210” reunion of “What I Like” star Jennie Garth and Luke Perry, guest-staring as a plumber that Garth’s Val recognizes as a one-night stand from high school.

“We have a very good time in this episode to the sort of Dylan-Kelly callback,” Garth says, referring to her and Perry’s “90210” characters. “It’s not Dylan and Kelly, but they look exactly like Dylan and Kelly. It’s really funny.”

Perry’s appearance is part of a sweeps stunt The WB is calling Flashback Friday. The “What I Like” episode also features footage Garth’s co-star, Amanda Bynes, in her pre-Nickelodeon days, and ex-“Brady Bunch” kid Christopher Knight will show up later in the evening on “Blue Collar TV.”

For Garth, working with Perry again meant reteaming with an old friend; the two have stayed in touch since “90210” ended in 2000, and she made the first call to Perry to see if he’d be interested.

“He was a little nervous, but he actually came in and jumped in with both feet – he was awesome,” says Garth, who’s also a national spokesperson for Angel Soft Angels in Action, a program that honors kids for community service.

– Knight Ridder Newspapers

‘Blue’ star hears wedding bells

With “NYPD Blue” having wrapped production and awaiting its final episode next week, one of the show’s stars is moving on to another TV gig.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who’s played Detective John Clark on the ABC series for the past four seasons, has taken one of the lead roles in Fox’s wedding chapel pilot, the showbiz trade papers report. He’ll play half of a brother-sister team that runs a full-service wedding chapel in Las Vegas. Whether this means the Spelling TV-produced show has any chance of being called “Saved by the Wedding Bell” remains to be seen.

“NYPD Blue” marked something of a career renaissance for Gosselaar, who shook off his “Saved by the Bell” persona definitively in the gritty world of the 15th Precinct. Prior to joining “Blue” in 2001, he starred in two WB series, “Hyperion Bay” and “D.C.,” neither of which lasted very long.

– Knight Ridder Newspapers
‘SVU’ has killer part for Modine

For the final Tuesday of sweeps, “Law & Order: SVU” will make a bit of a departure from its discover crime-investigate crime-catch criminal formula, with guest star Matthew Modine giving an assist.

Modine (“Full Metal Jacket,” TNT’s “The Winning Season”) will play a killer named Gordon Rickett, whom Detective Stabler (Chris Meloni) believes is responsible for the murder of a young girl whose body is found in the Hudson River.

The detective also has a past with Rickett: “When Stabler confronts a child rapist, who he tried to convict 14 years earlier, he must now confront his own built up rage before it leads to tragedy,” executive producer Neal Baer says.

The episode, scheduled for Tuesday, opens with Stabler interrogating Rickett about the new case, then follows the detectives into the field as they look for clues in the girl’s death. Stabler hopes to break Rickett with an intense interrogation, but a lack of evidence in the case means he doesn’t have much time before Rickett is released.

Modine’s film credits include “Vision Quest,” “Short Cuts” and “The Real Blonde.” He earned an Emmy nomination in 1993 for HBO’s “And the Band Played On” and co-starred in CBS’ “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” last season.

– Knight Ridder Newspapers