In what Hollywood calls the "jiggly" syndrome of successful TV series featuring winsome leading women, Three's Company's Suzanne Somers has been one of the leading jiggleos. But now the sensuous half of the feminine two-thirds of Three's Company wants to act seriously. Somers is in London's Wembley Stadium shooting Yesterday's Hero, the story of a veteran British footballer fighting age and alcohol. In the female lead, she is a hip rock singer. The role is certainly more fulfilling than her only previous feature film credit, a wandering blond in American Graffiti whose one line was a wan "I love you."

If it weren't for teenylobbers like Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver, U.S. tennis this season would be nothing but schmaltzy mixed doubles. First it was Jimmy Connors wedding his onetime Playboy playmate. Then last week, Chris Evert, long a top-ranker in women's play and once that way in Connors' court as well, wed British Davis Cup Player John Lloyd in a home-town candlelight ceremony in Fort Lauderdale. The 24-year-old queen of the base lines sounded blushingly unprofessional. Said the woman who has won Wimbledon three times and the U.S. Open four times: "This is only going to happen once."

Talk about embarrassing moments. There was Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal in San Francisco's tony Beethoven's restaurant with a hefty dinner bill, an expired Visa card and a waiter demanding extra identification for an out-of-state bank check. Blumenthal solved his predicament uniquely: producing a dollar bill, he invited the waiter to match the check signature against the neat W M Blumenthal inscribed on the greenback's lower right-hand corner.

Why the frowns on those familiar television faces? In Howard K. Smith's case, it's because the venerable newscaster is piqued that ABC News under Roone Arledge seems less and less interested in the learned commentary that Smith delivers. As a result, he tacked a bull to the newsroom bulletin board announcing an abrupt resignation from "a job without a real function."

Over at NBC, meanwhile, Tonight Host Johnny Carson loudly complains of fatigue after 17 years at the helm and wants to break out of a contract with two more years to run. Carson's blasts about overwork and diminishing creativity have a strangely familiar sound. Not unlike the media war he waged against NBC two years ago in order to trim his five-a-week live appearances.

Take heart, you runners. Time was when the American Presidents reserved congratulatory calls for more formal sports. Golfer Dwight Eisenhower had a preference for Augusta Masters champions; Richard Nixon was fond of Super Bowl coaches. And then last week there was Jimmy Carter calling Boston after watching the 83rd running of the best-known U.S. marathon. White House operators tracked down three-time Winner Bill Rodgers at his running-goods store in Brighton. "Hi," said jogging Jimmy, offering congrats and asking about other finishers. The President also invited Rodgers to a White House dinner next month honoring visiting Japanese Premier Masayoshi Ohira. When Carter mentioned his own daily jaunts, Rodgers applauded in return: "You're doing a good job as a runner--and as a President too."

On the Record

Ruth Carter Stapleton, on whether she will help Brother Jimmy's 1980 campaign: "I guess so, because we have a real close family. We weren't so close until Jimmy went into politics. Now Jimmy needs us every year for something."

Pierre Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister, asked if he had read estranged Wife Margaret's lurid autobiography: "You want to know the nature of my thoughts? You won't get them."

Lilli Palmer, actress turned successful author (The Red Raven), on her new writing career: "It's very nice to discover halfway through your life something you really want to do, instead of sitting home playing mother or worrying about your figure."

Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine author and philosopher (The Book of Sand): "The U.S. is a great power because it was left with no other choice, which is a form of decadence."

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