LOS ANGELES -- The Hollywood paparazzi are out in force and former Wichitan Kirstie Alley is trying to walk down the sidewalk without tripping over them as constant camera flashes create an odd strobe effect.

She was in Canada filming "Mountain King" when she learned she would succeed Shelley Long in NBC's popular "Cheers" and this is one of the first times the photographers have had a chance to catch her and new co-star Ted Danson together. She wasn't even available a few weeks back to appear for the network affiliate honchos; she sent a videotape message instead.

Now, she is commanding all cameras and taking it all in stride.  Once described as "A Bacall for the Eighties," she notes that "sure I feel pressure. I mostly feel pressure just to do a dandy job, but there's a pressure with replacing 'the other girl.' "

Alley will be the new verbal sparring partner for bartender Sam, played by Ted Danson, but she won't be Diane's replacement as a romantic interest. At least, not in the same way, according to one of the show's creators, James Burrows.

"When we originally conceived "Cheers" it was Tracy-Hepburn and the woman was supposed to be an executive.... Through evolution, it became a more pretentious-type college student.  So in a way, it's going back to the original roots of "Cheers" with this professional woman and this ex-professional ballplayer," Burrows noted.

Alley will play Rebecca Howe, who represents the corporation that bought Cheers, the bar where the sitcom is anchored, from Sam.  Why he sells and why he stays on as the bartender are plot elements of the first new show of the season that Burrows won't disclose.

But he will say that Rebecca is Sam's boss, and that the humor will arise from the one-upsman-ship competition. Since Sam is no longer the owner, he can be more of a free spirit, an irreverent bad boy who doesn't have to worry about mundane details.

"I love having the idea of a boss because now I don't think the conflict has to be so much dumb-bright.  Now, the conflict Is boss-employee. I won't have to play dumb so much," Danson said.

For her part, Alley describes her character as an executive on a limb trying to prove herself.

"She's an executive, so she's bright. But she's kind of an executive gone askew. She has two personalities: very responsible, very upstanding and very bright, then she goes psychotic every once in a while.

"I should have said 'more neurotic.' She's under a lot of pressure from someone above her.  And she's really trying to do a good job. She hasn't done such a swell job for this corporation in other areas, so she's kind of on the line. She gets a little neurotic and worries about personal things, like whether she has a mustache," Alley says with a laugh.

"The point is we see women that are in a position of power, and we think they are rocks.  But they have idiosyncrasies and things just like anbody else.... They're the kind of things to make her vulnerable, too, so that she isn't this perfect 'b-bustlng' kind of woman."

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Show creator Burrows sees Alley's arrival not as a replacement for Diane, but as a way to shiit creative gears and take the show in a new direction. The romantic relationship between Sam and Diane had monopolized the show, sometimes obscuring the notion of the bar as a family and the other charcters.

"If Shelley had stayed on through the sixth and seventh seaons, we would probably have gone into marriage and made it more of a domestic show.  And us pretty creative people, the male chauvenist pigs we are, wouldn't like that," Burrows noted with tongue in cheek. "Well, that's not true. What we're saying is "Cheers" is a show about a bar and not a show about a marriage."

Long left the show after five years to pursue a movie career, she was not dumped.  But NBC honchos from chief programmer Brandon Tartikoff on down have said they believe the change will extend the life of "Cheers" for extra years.

"We don't dislike Shelley, and I hope that doesn't come across," Burrows cautioned. "I mean, Sam and Diane were a great, great television couple. They were just wonderful, and people liked to watch them. But their relationship is over; we're starting a new relationship."

Danson agrees, adding that he is positive about the change. He refuses to characterize the revamped show as "better," only "different" He points to the precedent of replacing Nicolas Colasanto as the lovable bartender-father figure Coach when the actor died in the third season.  Woody Harrelson was brought In as a much younger bartender, and he eased his way into the cast without detracting from the memory of the character he replaced.

Dansan believes the same will be true in this case.

"The writing is good. I really trust the people I work for and with ...so that's why I'm excited. Obviously, they have hired a really good actress. I'm really looking forward to working with her. So now we'll see what happens"

Nobody else will be leaving the show, Burrows noted, but there will be some other noticeable shifts of plot.  Carla will have another baby because actress Rhea Perlman is pregnant, but this time "the baby will be legitimized."

Does that mean Carla will get married? Perhaps even a return to her former sleazeball hubby Nick Tortelli, now that his own spinoff series is in the dumper?  Coyly, Burrows won't say.

Cliff, the middle-aged know-it-all postal carrier who lives with his mother, will -- in Burrows' words - "take a step in his life towards manhood." Norm will get a permanent job and Woody will, well, move -- not move on, just move, Burrows says.

Alley, the newcomer, notes that this will be her big break into comedy. She came to attention in 1981 in "Star Trek II" as the half-Vulcan, half-human [actually half-Vulcan, half-Romulan ! - Webmstress] Saavik. Since then, she was the fiery Virgilia in the monumental "North and South" miniseries and Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"' on stage in Los Angeles to considerable acclaim. That's where Burrows says he picked up on her for the "Cheers" role.

"She was absolutely brilliant in that and commanded the stage," Burrows said, adding that that is the quality he wanted for Rebecca.  ''When this woman walks out, she has to take the stage, and Kirstie does."

Bob Curtright in L.A.