Mackey’s back in town

New York — Michael Chiklis is hitting the streets again — FX has picked up “The Shield” for a fourth season.

The renewal marks the first time the cable channel has brought back any of its original series for a fourth season. Fifteen new episodes of the graphic police drama are scheduled to begin airing in early 2005.

Chiklis was a surprise best-actor Emmy winner in 2002 for playing rule-breaking Los Angeles police detective Vic Mackey. “The Shield” has been a critical favorite and has developed a strong fan following, even though it airs on basic cable because of its violence and strong language.

Cooper just an alter ego

Phoenix — School’s in for Alice Cooper.

The rock star, whose hits include “School’s Out,” is being awarded an honorary doctorate by a Christian liberal arts college. The 56-year-old will receive the honorary degree Saturday at Grand Canyon University’s commencement ceremony.

Cooper, whose classic albums include “Killer,” and “Welcome to my Nightmare,” has been a financial supporter of the school, university officials said.

He was known for shocking audiences with gruesome concert performances featuring simulated hangings and infant dolls gushing blood. More recently, he’s been known in the Phoenix area as a family man who sometimes coaches Little League.

No doubt they’ll stay together

New York — No worries: No Doubt isn’t breaking up.

“I thought it would be a good publicity stunt to say we were breaking up, but really we’re not,” the group’s lead singer, Gwen Stefani, tells Cosmopolitan magazine for its June issue.

“We decided after our album ‘Rock Steady’ that we were going to take some time apart to pursue independent projects,” she says. “And I really wanted to do a movie.”

That movie is “The Aviator,” the Howard Hughes biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.

Stefani’s new solo CD, which comes out in August, is “going to be a fun ’80s-inspired retro dance album.”