Quick Takes: Brits return to ‘Downton Abbey’

The third season of “Downton Abbey” premiered across the pond Sunday night, and the sky-high ratings suggest that fans haven’t tired of the soapy period piece.

Approximately 8.6 million viewers tuned into to ITV1, the network that airs “Downton Abbey” in Britain, to watch Shirley MacLaine make her first appearance as Martha Levinson, the wealthy American mother of Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern).

Those numbers would be impressive stateside, but they’re even more dazzling given the much smaller size of the British television audience. To put the ratings in perspective, about 34.5% of the country’s TV audience was tuned in to “Downton Abbey” Sunday night.

Ratings were down ever so slightly — about 200,000 viewers — compared with last season’s premiere, but this may have had something to do with declining viewership for the show’s lead-in, Simon Cowell’s “The X Factor,” something “Downton Abbey” won’t have to contend with when it airs on PBS early next year.

—Meredith Blake

Philip Glass receives honor

Composer Philip Glass and artist Cai Guo-Qiang are among the laureates of the 2012 Praemium Imperiale awards, organized by the Japan Art Assn. The annual awards are considered one of the most prestigious cultural honors in the world.

This year’s winners also include architect Henning Larsen, sculptor Cecco Bonanotte and ballet dancer Yoko Morishita.

The awards honor the recipients’ lifetime achievements in their respective creative fields and come with a prize of approximately $187,000 each. They’ll be presented Oct. 23 in Tokyo.

—David Ng

New pop hall lists nominees

The American Pop Music Hall of Fame won’t be open until next summer, but the first round of nominees to be inducted into the western Pennsylvania-based hall has been announced.

The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra are among the top 40 nominees, along with the Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond and Simon and Garfunkel.

The American Pop Music Hall of Fame is scheduled to open next July in a temporary home in what’s now a cafe in Canonsburg, just outside Pittsburgh.

Music fans and people in the industry can vote for their favorite nominees online starting later this week. The final list of 20 inductees will be inducted next May.

—Associated Press

Shakira, Usher to join ‘Voice’

Shakira and Usher will join the panel on NBC’s “The Voice” in the spring, filling in for Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green.

The move will allow the veteran judges some breathing room as they embark on other projects. Aguilera is releasing a new album and going on tour. Green is working on new music and developing a scripted comedy series for the network based on his life.

Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will continue as coaches.

—Yvonne Villarreal

Streisand to sing Nov. 9 at Bowl

As part of her 2012 concert tour — her first in five years — Barbra Streisand has added a performance at the Hollywood Bowl on Nov. 9. The 8 p.m. show is the only scheduled Los Angeles stop on the tour.

The concert is expected to feature the 70-year-old singer performing some of her most famous numbers, as well as appearances by jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and the operatic pop tenor group Il Volo.

—David Ng

Homer studio about to reopen

The studio where painter Winslow Homer derived inspiration on Maine’s craggy coast and produced some of his most notable seascapes isn’t heated by wood or illuminated by oil lamps the way it was in Homer’s day.

But in most other ways, the studio on the Prouts Neck peninsula has now been restored to what it was like when Homer lived there, from 1883 until his death in 1910, following a multiyear, $2.8-million restoration by the Portland Museum of Art.

With the renovation complete, the museum will begin offering public tours this month, giving visitors a firsthand look at where Homer became one of America’s foremost 19th century painters and an esteemed figure in American art.

—Associated Press