MOVIES - Sept. 27, 1993

The Good Opening: “The Good Son” did good at the box office this weekend, its first in release, taking the No. 1 spot with a gross of $12.3 million, according to early industry estimates. The 20th Century Fox film stars Macaulay Culkin in an out-of-character role as a bad seed. In second place was Disney’s Touchstone Pictures’ newcomer, “The Program,” a football movie starring James Caan, with $6.5 million. Next, Warner Bros.’ “The Fugitive” with $5.3 million. In fourth, Columbia’s “Striking Distance,” last week’s No. 1 film, which dropped off to $5 million. But the big story is still “The Age of Innocence.” The Columbia film starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis, in limited release, took in $4.5 million for fifth place. Another film in limited release, Disney’s Hollywood Pictures’ “The Joy Luck Club,” had an auspicious weekend with a $1.5 million gross and an impressive $14,777 per-screen average.

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In the Line of Honor: Britain’s Prince Charles presented film star Clint Eastwood with a prestigious fellowship from the British Film Institute for Eastwood’s screen contributions as an actor and director. Eastwood received the 60-year-old institute’s highest accolade at London’s National Film Theater on Sunday in front of a celebrity audience. Past recipients of the fellowship include Bette Davis, Sir Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles.

TELEVISION & RADIO

Clinton at the U.N.: KCRW (89.9 FM) will air National Public Radio’s live coverage of President Clinton’s address to the United Nations today at 8 a.m. NPR’s Anne Garrels and news analyst Daniel Schorr will anchor.

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Anchored by Jennings: ABC’s Peter Jennings was voted the best anchor in network television in a survey by Broadcasting & Cable magazine. And ABC was named the best news organization for overall reporting in the trade publication’s survey of 370 radio and TV news directors. Jennings was chosen best anchor by 67% of those surveyed. NBC’s Tom Brokaw came in second with 10% followed by CBS’ Dan Rather-Connie Chung team with 8.1%. In overall reporting strength, ABC, with 46% of the vote, was followed by CNN with 35%, then CBS and NBC. The results are published in the issue of the magazine due out today.

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Millions of Minutes: CBS is giving “Sixty Minutes” a two-hour special for its 25th birthday. The celebration special will air on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. with Charles Kuralt as anchor. “Sixty Minutes,” which has broadcast more than 13 million minutes, first went on the air in 1968 with Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace as anchors. As part of the birthday celebration, a book on the history of the show, “60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television’s Finest Hour,” will be released in November.

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Gotta Dish: Gossip lovers alert. E! Entertainment Television launches “The Gossip Show,” with the buzz on celebrities, today at 4:30 p.m. The cable show features national gossip columnists including Liz Smith, Daily Variety’s Army Archerd, the Hollywood Reporter’s George Christy, syndicated writer Marilyn Beck, the Star’s Janet Charlton, USA Today’s Jeannie Williams and others dishing out their latest scoops. The show’s regular time slot will be Sundays at 10 a.m.

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Lee and Leeza From Hollywood: American Women in Radio and Television will honor Lee Phillip Bell and Leeza Gibbons as Broadcasters of the Year at the 1993 Industry Awards on Oct. 28 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Bell is co-creator and executive producer of “The Bold and the Beautiful” and co-creator of “The Young and the Restless.” Gibbons is the co-host of NBC’s “John and Leeza From Hollywood” as well as the weekend edition of “Entertainment Tonight.” She also hosts two nationally syndicated radio programs and a Lifetime cable series on parenting.

POP/ROCK

Diamond in the Rough: Neil Diamond is going up on the roof today to promote his new album, “Up on the Roof--Songs From the Brill Building,” and his upcoming concert tour. The singer is giving a concert at the Sony Music Studios complex in New York on a stage created to look like a Manhattan rooftop. Paul Shaffer and his band (of David Letterman fame) will join Diamond for the concert, which will air on talk radio stations around the country. The new album, which celebrates Diamond’s musical roots, will be released Tuesday. His tour stops at the Forum in Los Angeles on Dec. 16-18.

QUICK TAKES

Branford Marsalis brings his weekly public radio show, “Jazzset With Branford Marsalis,” to KPCC (89.3 FM) starting today. The show will air Mondays at 2 p.m. . . . Bill Moyers will interview Attorney General Janet Reno on the first “Bill Moyers Journal” of the season, Friday on PBS. He tapes the interview on Wednesday. . . . Actor Rob Lowe and his wife, makeup artist Sheryl Berkoff, are new parents. Matthew Edward Lowe was born early Friday in Los Angeles. . . . Comedian Phyllis Diller guest-stars on the Oct. 4 episode of NBC’s “Blossom.”