BURNETT TO STAR IN SOAP SENDUP ‘FRESNO’

Carol Burnett is set to star in a five-hour CBS miniseries next season titled “Fresno,” a comic takeoff on prime-time soaps about the rival families “in the raisin capital of the world . . . who attempt to drive each other into oblivion, or Bakersfield, whichever is closer.”

The comedy miniseries is scheduled to air in five one-hour installments. The MTM Production, from the makers of “Newhart,” has Barry Kemp as producer and Kemp, Mark Ganzel and Michael Petryni as writers.

Fresno, a city of 285,000 people, is the center of the San Joaquin Valley’s farm economy and the bulk of the nation’s raisin producers are within a 50-mile radius.