See stars rising to shine

When VH1’s “Best Week Ever” recently unearthed five glorious minutes of a mulleted George Clooney-as-construction-guy in a “minisode” from “The Facts of Life,” we just had to see for ourselves what other guest appearances and old-school gems we could find on the online Minisode Network ( www.myspace.com/minisodenetwork).

Catering to people with little time for TV or with short attention spans, the Sony-owned site is an online repository of older classic (and some newer manga and cartoon) television episodes that have been whittled to four- to six-minute stories.

Most of the fare is based on half-hour sitcoms such as “What’s Happening!!,” “One Day at a Time” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” but the site’s editing wizards have also managed to pare hourlong dramas, including cop shows such as “T.J. Hooker” “Starsky & Hutch” and “Police Woman.”

Besides the aforementioned Clooney find, there’s a nearly six-minute story line dedicated to a young Geena Davis finding true love on “Fantasy Island” in “Don Juan’s Last Affair.” You’ll even find a “Silver Spoons” minisode featuring Christina Applegate as star Ricky Schroder’s prom date.

In one of our favorites (“Charlie’s Angels’ ” “Angels in Chains” minisode), we spotted Kim Basinger as a young prostitute who needs liberating by Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and the then-credited Farrah Fawcett-Majors.

All the Web network needs now are a few episodes of “Battle of the Network Stars” to make the trip down memory lane complete.

-- Christine N. Ziemba