Last week I wrote about Don Diamont, whose character, Brad Carlton, has “come out” as Jewish (“George Kaplan”) on “The Young and the Restless.” “Y&R” head writer Lynn La tham says the storyline was prompted by the fact that nothing was known about Brad’s past – despite his being on the show for nearly 20 years.

“That fascinated me,” she says via e-mail. “So we started asking ourselves questions . . . Ultimately, we decided he should be protecting another person . . . Finally, we landed on a story which stemmed from the Holocaust . . . And we didn’t start off with the concept of making Brad Jewish. It evolved dur ing the process.”

Latham also says she wanted to “explore cultural differences and similarities.”

“We are a nation of immi grants,” she says. “On ‘The Young and the Restless’ we have an African-American family, we have Latinos. We have Protestants and Catho lics. Now we have a Jew.

“The more realistic our world is, the more compelling our stories can be.”

* * *

Familiarity breeds . . . a lot of profitable business.

The theme promoting Meredith Vieira’s debut on “Today” is called “It’s a New Day” and comes courtesy of 615 Music in Nashville, Tenn. 615 founder Randy Wachtler is no stranger to “Today,” having developed and produced the show’s “Only on Today” campaign (2002-05). He also wrote the music that accompanies Matt Lauer’s annual “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” series.

Last, but not least:

* Premieres: “Flavor of Love 2” snared 3.3 million viewers last Sunday – the top series premiere in VH1 history. A&E’s “Gene Sim mons Family Jewels” aver aged nearly 2 million viewers Monday in its debut.

* Ch. 5’s Linda Schmidt dishes on the biz Saturday at Kutsher’s (Monticello, N.Y.) and volunteers for City Har vest’s silent auction Aug. 24.

* Author/voiceover actress Joan Baker moderates a panel of industry movers- and-shakers Aug. 15 at The Learning Annex. All proceeds will be donated to the Alz heimer’s Association.