For all the fuss being made over Kelsey Grammer, who's about to tie "Gunsmoke" star James Arness' record for having played the same character for 20 years - first on "Cheers," then on "Frasier" -- I'm still waiting to see anyone match Richard Belzer's feat.

Since 1993, Belzer's played Detective John Munch in five series, two of them as regulars, "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." He's also guest-starred as the character on NBC's "Law & Order," UPN's "The Beat" and Fox's "The X-Files."

Now he just might add a sixth show to his IMDB.com listing.

"Homicide" producer Tom Fontana's here today plugging his latest series with director Barry Levinson, a drama for Fox called "The Jury" that will follow a New York City trial each week from the point of view of the jury. This, the "Oz" creator knows, is likely to make him more popular than ever with the New York acting community, since he'll need at least a dozen new actors a week for his jury pool alone.

But what makes New York an appealing setting for Fontana, besides the strong acting community, is that in New York state, everyone has to serve jury duty, from the governor to Fontana himself, who's been a juror twice.

"Richard Belzer has to serve," he added. "Either as Munch or Belzer."