THEATERNAACP Theater Nods: The touring production of...

THEATER

NAACP Theater Nods: The touring production of “Once on This Island” has won nine nominations for the annual Theatre Awards sponsored by the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP, closely followed in the larger theater category by Long Beach Civic Light Opera’s production of “Into the Woods” (eight), “Stardust” (seven) and “B/C Historia” (five). Leaders of the field in the more competitive smaller theater category are “Indigo Blues” with seven and “The Diva Is Dismissed” and “Children of the Night” with five each. The awards will be presented Nov. 15 at the Directors Guild. James Earl Jones will receive the lifetime achievement award, Juanita Moore the Trailblazer award, Jo Marie Payton-Noble the President’s Award, and Young Saints Scholarship Foundation wins the Community Service Award.

TV

NBC Pick-Ups: NBC has picked up the Saturday night comedy series “The Mommies,” starring Marilyn Kentz and Caryl Kristensen, and “Cafe Americain,” starring Valerie Bertinelli, for a full season order. The 8 and 8:30 p.m. shows have been coming in second in their time periods behind CBS’ “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” but have exceeded NBC’s ratings in the time period last year. The move may also bespeak a lack of strong replacement material--through last Sunday the sitcoms ranked 72nd and 74th, respectively, among 93 network entries after five weeks of the season.

Pa and Co.: NBC will air a bonanza of programming for Ponderosa fans on the last Sunday of the November ratings sweeps. Up first will be an hourlong special, “Back to Bonanza,” hosted by Michael Landon Jr. and Dirk Blocker, looking back at 14 seasons of the second-longest-running Western in TV history. The sons of Michael Landon (Little Joe) and Dan Blocker (Hoss) will then co-star in the two-hour movie following the next generation of the Cartwrights. “Bonanza: The Return” also features Ben Johnson, Richard Roundtree, Dean Stockwell and Linda Gray.

PEOPLE

Raye Hospitalized: Entertainer Martha Raye was in critical condition Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after doctors were forced to amputate her left leg below the knee. Raye, 77, had been at Cedars-Sinai before with circulatory problems with her leg. “Right now she’s listed in critical condition--that’s mostly a function of the surgery, and I would expect her to be improving in the next day or so,” a spokesman said.

Stern Advice: Never mind that he’s got a No. 1 best-selling book and he made the cover of Time. Howard Stern got a lecture from his parents during his nationally syndicated radio program Friday morning. His mother told him he needs to do more meditating. His father told him he needs to spend more time with his family.

MOVIES

De-’Programmed’: Three teens were arrested in Bristol, Conn., after they lay down in the middle of the road during rush hour, the latest imitators of a stunt in the movie “The Program.” The teens were not injured as they jumped onto the busy street and lay down for about 10 seconds Wednesday. “It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, a stupid thing to do,” said one 16-year-old. “We were bored. That’s basically what it comes down to.” The three were each charged with reckless use of a highway and fined $35. Walt Disney Co. pulled the scene of three high school football players performing the stunt in “The Program” after one teen died and two others were seriously injured trying to duplicate the scene.

Michael and Them: Principal photography began Friday in Niagara Falls and Toronto on “Canadian Bacon,” the new film from Michael Moore (“Roger & Me”). John Candy, Rhea Perlman and Alan Alda star in the comedy, set in the post-Cold War America, which has the President of the United States, depressed over his falling approval ratings, approve a plan concocted by his advisers to convince the American public that the new enemy is Canada.

MEDIA NOTES

Taking Issue: The Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America host a daylong symposium on sexual harassment today at the Directors Guild Theatre. Representatives from the guilds, TV networks, movie studios and casting associations are scheduled to participate . . . . Rapper and “Living Single” star Queen Latifah co-hosts “Don’t Dis Your Sis,” a teen summit on cable’s Black Entertainment Television examining “the prevalence of disrespectful male attitudes and behavior toward women”--an occurrence that is commonly cited in rap music. The program airs today at 9 a.m., with a second installment on sexual harassment airing Nov. 6.

QUICK TAKES

The award-winning comedy “Jeffrey” has been extended indefinitely at the Westwood Playhouse. . . . Hugh Hefner has established an endowment to further academic research in censorship issues at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. The founder of Playboy magazine donated an undisclosed amount to fund an ongoing course, “Censorship in Cinema,” and an annual First Amendment lecture. . . . If the U.S. Senate debates the Ethics Committee’s attempt to subpoena the diaries of Sen. Robert Packwood (R-Wash.), C-SPAN will air live coverage. The debate is expected following a roll call vote Monday at 9 a.m. . . . Vince Edwards, Chad Everett and Larry Linville, who portrayed three TV doctors (“Ben Casey,” Dr. Joe Gannon on “Medical Center” and Frank Burns on “MASH”) will appear as themselves on the Nov. 13 episode of NBC’s “Nurses.”