Oprah: Double Duty

Women Who Can’t Stop Working . . . on the next “Oprah.�

They’ve tried to keep it hush-hush, but Oprah Winfrey will star in a weekly dramatic series for ABC--while continuing to host her daily gab show.

The network has ordered 13 half-hour episodes based on last season’s hit ABC miniseries, “The Women of Brewster Place,� about black women facing the rigors of ghetto life. It’s scheduled to begin production in January for an April debut, according to producer Earl Hamner. (The creator of “The Waltons� and “Falcon Crest� was surprised by our call.)

The series will be shot in Winfrey’s own Chicago studio, allowing her to handle her two shows simultaneously, he added.

“Brewster,� the third highest-rated mini of the 1988-89 season, starred Winfrey, Robin Givens, Jackee and Paula Kelly. In the spinoff, Winfrey will reprise her role as Mattie Michael, the poor girl from the country who takes up residence in a big-city tenement. Mattie aged considerably in the two-parter, but she’ll remain relatively youthful in the new show, said a network source.

Winfrey will co-exec produce the series, through her Harpo Productions Inc., with Hamner’s King/Phoenix Entertainment and Don Sipes.

While the series will remain faithful to some aspects of the original, Hamner told us, a number of new characters have been created, with casting now in progress.