TV/RADIOChevy’s Plans: The idea that “The Chevy...

TV/RADIO

Chevy’s Plans: The idea that “The Chevy Chase Show” is being regarded as a talk show “perturbs me,” Chase told a gathering of TV critics in Universal City on Monday. “I’d like to call what we’re doing a late-night comedy show.” Chase said the one-hour show, which premieres Sept. 7 on Fox, will be built around his skills as a writer, actor, comedian and musician. Chase will interview guest stars, but he also plans to combine humor from his early days on “Saturday Night Live,” including some comedy sketches. He will do his trademark “Nightly News Update” segment at 11:34 each night--one minute before Jay Leno and David Letterman begin their monologues on competing networks.

*’Simpsons’ Voices: Ernest Borgnine, James Brown, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Caine, Robert Goulet, Gerry Cooney, Werner Klemperer, Sam Neill and the Ramones will be guest voices on “The Simpsons” this season, which returns to Fox on Sept. 30.

*On-Air Shift: In a major shift in its daily lineup, KFI-AM (640) on Monday dropped its female “TNT in the Morning” drive team of Terri-Rae Elmer and Tracey Miller, replacing them with evening host Bill Handel, who takes their 5-9 a.m. berth. Elmer will become a news anchor and Miller will switch to feature and entertainment reporting. Beginning tonight former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates will take over Handel’s 7-9 p.m. slot, giving him an extra hour on air. In another KFI change, John & Ken (Kobylt and Chiampou) add an hour today, going four hours from 3-7 p.m.

*Heeeeere’s Ed!: Ed McMahon, TV’s most famous sidekick since Tonto, is returning to NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the first time since Johnny Carson’s retirement last year. McMahon, who has had a standing invitation from host Jay Leno, is scheduled to be a guest July 30.

POP/ROCK

Stinging the Police: Pop star Sting hit back Monday after a police chief banned his planned concert in southern Italy. The singer, who called the ban “the sort of thing that happened in Yugoslavia” before war broke out there, said: “If you give a police chief the power to deny people the right to artistic expression, you run the risk of becoming a repressive country.” The concert had to be shifted 40 miles to the city of Cosenza after Catanzaro Police Chief Gianni Carnevale said the performance could provoke “unseemly and unbridled manifestations” and physical violence.

*Whitney’s Defense: Whitney Houston speaks out about last week’s disastrous Miami concert, during which fans booed her on stage, reportedly for having a bad attitude. “No, Whitney doesn’t have an attitude, no!” Houston says on tonight’s “Entertainment Tonight.” She blames problems on the Florida heat and technical delays, which made the audience become “very impatient,” “a little unruly” and “act kind of crazy.”

MOVIES

Widow Denies Allegations: Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, and daughter, Diane Disney Miller, spoke out for the first time Monday on allegations that the legendary animator served as an official informant for the FBI. The Disneys condemned Marc Eliot’s book, “Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince,” which contains the claims, as being far more fiction than biography. The Disneys denied the book’s allegations, made public several documents directly refuting the author’s claims and cited what they said were more than 150 glaring factual errors contained in the manuscript.

STAGE

Exit ‘Tamara’: The final performance of “Tamara,” the 9-year-old production in which audience members followed the cast around a Hollywood American Legion post that posed as an Italian villa, was June 27. That was the same day a “Tamara” ad appeared warning “Final Six Weeks.” A spokeswoman said producer Barrie Wexler wanted “a quiet passing,” so no announcement was made. Ticket-holders calling the box office are told how to obtain refunds.

QUICK TAKES

A Florida judge this week is expected to erase the criminal record of Pee-wee Herman, a.k.a. Paul Reubens, who was arrested two years ago for allegedly exposing himself in an adult movie theater. In a plea bargain arrangement, Reubens was sentenced to community service with the agreement that the judge would erase Reubens’ criminal record if he completed the sentence. . . . Television producer and Clinton pal Harry Thomason discusses Hollywood and Washington on CNBC’s “Equal Time With Mary Matalin and Jane Wallace,” tonight at 8:30.