TELEVISION - June 26, 1993

Dave Lives On: We all know that when David Letterman shows up on CBS starting Aug. 30, his show will have a slightly new name: “Late Show With David Letterman.” But Letterman’s people promise some things will be carried over--unchanged--from the 11 1/2-year-old NBC series. Paul Shaffer owns the theme song, so the new show gets custody. Also moving to CBS: the Top 10 List, Stupid Pet Tricks and Stupid Human Tricks. The verdict is out on Larry “Bud” Melman. “He might have to be retired,” one producer said. “We own the actor (Calvert DeForest), but we don’t own the character.” Also, the World’s Most Dangerous Band also might lose its name to NBC.

*A Slow Start: KTTV’s new morning news show, “Good Day, L.A.,” had a first week that was anything but good. Channel 11’s copycat version of Channel 5’s “The KTLA Morning News” was crushed in the ratings by its 2-year-old rival. In its first four outings “Good Day” managed a mere .9 Nielsen rating and 4% share of the viewing audience between 7 and 9 a.m. The audience decreased as the week went on. All three network morning shows also easily beat “Good Day, L.A.,” while trailing Channel 5.

*Write Stuff: “Roseanne” topped the list of Humanitas Prize finalists Thursday. “I’ll Fly Away” and “Life Goes On” are among the 27 finalists for the prize given annually to television writing that best communicates human values. The award will be announced July 7.

MOVIES

From Dinos to the Big Top: Steven Spielberg is going to the carnival, literally. The “Jurassic Park” director’s Amblin Entertainment will adapt the Broadway musical “Carnival” into an animated feature film with Universal Pictures. Based on a story by Paul Gallico, “Carnival” follows a small-town girl who joins a touring circus. Amblin Entertainment produced the animated films “An American Tail” and “The Land Before Time.”

*The Karate Girl: “The Next Karate Kid” will throw a twist into the high-kicking Columbia Pictures movie series. This time, the “kid” is a girl. Eighteen-year-old newcomer Hilary Swank will star in the fourth installment of the series, which has grossed more than $300 million worldwide. Noriyuki “Pat” Morita, who earned an Academy Award supporting actor nomination for his role in the first “Karate Kid” in 1984, will co-star, but his original “Kid,” Ralph Macchio, will not appear in the film.

STAGE

South Coast News: South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa will present a play by its own literary manager, John Glore, on its Second Stage in the Nov. 2-Dec. 5 slot. Glore’s “The Company of Heaven” is described as a play about two strangers who “experience separate unexplainable visions” in the English countryside and “makes the mistake of talking about them.”

ART/DANCE

Return of Matisse: The Henri Matisse museum in Nice will reopen today after six years of renovations, which cost $10 million. Exhibition space has been doubled with a modern extension to the 7th-Century villa overlooking the French Riviera city where Matisse, who died in 1954, spent the last 16 years of his life.

*Gotta Dance: The Aman Folk Ensemble, Jazz Dancers Inc., L.A. Chamber Ballet, Loretta Livingston & Dancers, Terri Lewis Dance Ensemble and Mehmet Sander Dance Company are the nominees for outstanding performance by a Los Angeles dance company in the Dance Resource Center’s second annual Lester Horton Dance Awards, which will be presented today at California Plaza . . . . Merce Cunningham was recently inducted into the National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame. He began his career in 1939 as a soloist with Martha Graham and formed his own company in 1953.

QUICK TAKES

Guillaume Depardieu, the 22-year-old son of actor Gerard Depardieu, has been sentenced to a three-year prison term, with two years suspended, for selling heroin. The son, himself a budding actor, was arrested last December in his family home west of Paris with several small bags of heroin . . . . Smokey Robinson is co-producing “Sang Sista’ Sang,” a live original musical about Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Josephine Baker and Mahalia Jackson. The show opens July 1 at Los Angeles’ El Rey theater. . . . Nell Carter returns to television this fall on ABC’s “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” Carter, who has been absent from TV since “Gimme a Break” went off the air in 1987, will play a principal in Mark’s (Mark Curry) school . . . . Oprah Winfrey, Bob Hope and boxer George Foreman will be among those honored for succeeding against the odds during Sunday’s “One Child, One Dream,” an NBC special featuring highlights from the annual Horatio Alger Awards. Emceed by sportscaster Bob Costas, the special combines celebrity profiles and testimonials with students’ real-life dramas.