Cass Elliot, who gained fame as a member of a crowd - the Mamas and the Papas group - likes the idea of being on her own. And she likes television even more.

"Records can be a bad trip," she explained while taping her ABC special. "The audience can play your mistakes over and over. In a television special, they see you once and you work hard to make sure they're seeing you at your best.

"Of course, live audiences are the greatest of all," she continued. "You have the audience right there communicating with you."

ABC-TV's "The Mama Cass Television Program," airing Thursday, June 26 (9 - 10 p.m.) on channels 3W, 5 and 8, represents the singer's longest sustained appearance in front of a TV camera. "When the Mamas and the Papas were on TV," she recalled, "I'd just come out, do my thing and that would be it.

"This," she added, "is hard work. It's low key. It would be protection for me to do a show that wasn't."

Her guests June 26 include Buddy Hackett and Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.

That's not really performing alone, but for someone used to working with a group, it's virtually solo. And Mama Cass has hedged even more - to the extent of having several of her friends in the audience. They are Mary Travers, Joni Mitchell and John Sebastian.

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(3 W, 5, 8) - MAMA CASS SPECIAL: One-hour special of songs and quips starring Mama Cass Elliot and the following guests: Buddy Hackett, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, Mary Travers, Joni Mitchell and John Sebastian.