EMMY RULE CAPSIZES COUSTEAU SHOW

A syndicated Jacques Cousteau TV special that had been nominated for an Emmy Award has been dropped from consideration because it originally was shown on cable TV, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences reported.

“Jacques Cousteau: The First 75 Years,” which had been nominated as best informational special of the 1985-86 season, apparently got on the ballot through a misunderstanding of Emmy qualification rules, an academy spokesman said. Subsequent research revealed that the cable broadcast on station WTBS had come prior to the program’s national syndication, he said.

The program with the next highest nominating votes was given the Cousteau show’s place among the five nominees, the academy said. It was “W.C. Fields Straight Up,” a documentary about the late comedian that was broadcast on PBS.

The winner will be announced Sept. 6 in the nontelevised first round of ceremonies for the 38th annual prime-time Emmy Awards. The second round will be broadcast on NBC Sept. 21.

Meanwhile, three other winners have been announced in advance. The academy said that at the Sept. 6 event, Emmys will be presented to CBS’ “Dinosaur!” and ABC’s “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” for outstanding achievement in special visual effects, and to NBC’s “Stingray” for outstanding achievement in graphic design and title sequence.

JOCKEYING FOR SLOTS: “L.A. Law,” the much-acclaimed new series from “Hill Street Blues” co-creator Steven Bochco, was to have its socko two-hour premiere Sept. 28 in the “NBC Sunday Night at the Movies” slot. Sunday nights traditionally find the highest number of viewers in front of their sets, so the reasoning was that the series would get a good “sampling” before moving to its permanent home Fridays at 10 p.m.

But that was before ABC programmers scheduled the hit film “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as the premiere of their Sunday night movie on Sept. 28.

NBC has still managed to keep the spotlight on “L.A. Law,” however, with what entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff is calling an “innovative and unprecedented” move: “Law” now will make its debut Sept. 15 on “Monday Night at the Movies” and the pilot will be re-broadcast in the “Saturday Night Live” spot Sept. 27. One-hour episodes will commence Oct. 3.

BACK TO SCHOOL: With schools across the country about to resume, “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” will devote its five episodes next week to the problems besetting education in the United States.

Among the topics to be covered by reporter John Merrow are illiteracy, school bureaucracy, the growing dropout rate and the high cost of going to college.

TAKING UP THE FIGHT: As the new prime-time season officially gets under way Sept. 22, CBS will launch a campaign of nightly public service ads “to alert Americans to the dangers of drug abuse.”

The 10-second “Stop the Madness” spots will air each night between 8 and 8:15 p.m., featuring performers and personalities from various CBS programs. Among those schedule to appear the first week are actors Stacy Keach, Michele Lee, Bob Newhart, Kate Jackson, Gerald McRaney, Linda Gray and sportscaster Pat Summerall.

The series will continue indefinitely, CBS said.