Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards Jr. will...

Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards Jr. will star in an NBC remake of “Inherit the Wind,” the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee about the Scopes “monkey trial” that debated the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Douglas will play the character based on William Jennings Bryan; Robards will portray the lawyer character based on Clarence Darrow. Those roles were played by Fredric March and Spencer Tracy, respectively, in Stanley Kramer’s 1960 film.

James Earl Jones will be seen on a “CBS Schoolbreak Special” this month about teen-age boys whose fascination with war movies leads them to dangerous behavior. Jones plays a policeman who investigates their activities in “Soldier Boys,” scheduled for broadcast Oct. 20.

Valerie Harper is no longer starring in a sitcom for NBC, but she’ll be seen on the network Oct. 19 in a two-hour movie, “Strange Voices.” She plays the mother of a young woman (Nancy McKeon of “The Facts of Life”) who is found to be schizophrenic. Stephen Macht plays Harper’s husband.

Another November match-up pits “Perry Mason” against the “Mayflower Madam.” NBC’s “Perry Mason” movie, “The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel,” will star Robert Guillaume, Morgan Brittany, Yaphet Kotto, Rene Enriquez and George Grizzard, along with Raymond Burr, of course. . . . Candice Bergen stars in CBS’ “Mayflower Madam,” about a well-bred woman who ran an escort service. It also features Chris Sarandon and Chita Rivera. Make your choice Nov. 15.