THE KINDEST CUT

Directors have become vehement about how their films are slashed for TV. But Milos Forman will praise KTLA Channel 5 Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. when he introduces the uncut “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

“I wanted somehow to make the viewers aware that Channel 5 is probably the first one taking this very civilized and noble step in informing the audiences what version of the film are they seeing,” Forman said in his familiar Czech accent.

Forman, who won a best director Oscar 10 years ago for “Cuckoo’s Nest,” has reason to be touchy: He remembers hearing from friends that one station, trying to fit a timeslot, deleted nine songs from his film adaptation of “Hair.”

KTLA’s nobility, it seems, may be short-lived. “This is pretty much a one-time thing,” said a station spokesman. “It’s not going to be an on-going policy.”