TELEVISION’George’ Gets K.O.’d: ABC’s new Saturday night...

TELEVISION

‘George’ Gets K.O.’d: ABC’s new Saturday night lineup is reeling. Heavyweight boxer George Foreman’s sitcom was canceled after only two outings--both last weekend--the network confirmed Thursday. The program did well on Friday, but lost more than half of its viewers and finished fourth in its regular 8 p.m. time slot on Saturday. So ABC will air one more episode this Saturday then knock “George” out for good. The news came a day after ABC canceled “The Paula Poundstone Show” after two low-rated episodes. For the next three weeks of the November ratings sweeps, ABC will replace “Poundstone” Saturdays at 9 p.m. with “Matlock” repeats and “The American Music Awards” on Nov. 27. ABC expects to replace “George” with “Sister, Sister” sometime in December. The sitcom stars Jackee and Tim Reid as a couple reunited with their children, who are identical twins.

AIDS Figures to Be Interviewed: “A Time of AIDS,” a four-hour documentary miniseries charting the cultural and medical history of the disease, airs Sunday and Monday nights on cable’s Discovery Channel. Narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, the international production includes interviews with many of the real-life characters depicted in the HBO film “And the Band Played On,” based on the book by Randy Shilts. Among those interviewed are Dr. Robert Gallo, the controversial American researcher who engaged in a race with the French to identify the AIDS virus; Dr. Luc Montagnier, who pioneered the French effort to find the AIDS virus; Dr. Don Francis, the Center for Disease Control scientist whose job was to work out how to control the spread of AIDS, and Dr. Selma Dritz of the San Francisco Health Department.

MOVIES

Montalban Gets SAG Honors: Actor Ricardo Montalban will receive the Screen Actors Guild’s Annual Achievement Award for both career achievement and humanitarian contributions at ceremonies in Universal City Dec. 12. Montalban, best known for his 1970s TV series “Fantasy Island,” is the first Latino chosen to receive the national award. His 40 film performances include “Sweet Charity,” “Neptune’s Daughter” and “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Past recipients include Jack Lemmon, Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn.

POP/ROCK

The Country’s Listening: Lest anybody doubt the gaining popularity of country music, a Nashville radio study has made it official. According to the new 1993 Simmons Study of Media and Markets, country radio stations have registered major nationwide audience gains in 1993, with 42% of adults--or 77.3 million--tuning in regularly. That’s 10.4 million more adult listeners than in 1992--a jump that pushes country radio into a lead over other nationwide radio formats. The closest competitors? Adult contemporary radio with 32% of adults identified as regular listeners and news/talk formats with 27%.

Carey’s Reviews Rebound: By the second stop on her first-ever concert tour, chart-topper Mariah Carey appeared to have worked the bugs out of her show, earning positive notices from the Boston press Thursday following strongly negative reviews for her debut in Miami last week. “She delivered a spectacular performance,” said the Boston Globe, which called her “a vampy female counterpart to Bruce Springsteen, slapping high-fives with fans in the front rows and shedding her shyness for good.”

STAGE

Hall of Fame Inductees: New York University celebrated the 100th anniversary of Broadway on Wednesday by dedicating its new Musical Theater Hall of Fame. Among the eight inaugural honorees: George and Ira Gershwin, whose collaborations include “Of Thee I Sing!,” “Girl Crazy” and “Strike Up the Band”; Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who collaborated on such musicals as “Oklahoma!,” “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music”; Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, creators of “My Fair Lady,” “Brigadoon” and “Camelot”; Jerome Kern, who with Hammerstein composed the landmark musical “Show Boat,” and Ethel Merman, the performer who scored hits in such plays as “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Gypsy.” Receiving separate awards were “Hello, Dolly!” star Carol Channing and “Peter Pan” and “Funny Girl” composer Jule Styne.

QUICK TAKES

Tuesday’s episode of the “Donahue” show on KNBC-TV Channel 4 scored a big ratings victory in Los Angeles, with approximately 220,000 local households--a 51.7% increase over regular viewership--tuning in. The show featured beating victim Reginald O. Denny and Henry Keith Watson, who was convicted last month of misdemeanor assault against Denny in conjuction with 1992’s civil unrest. . . . The Music Center Operating Company has named Andrea L. Van De Kamp, vice president and West Coast managing director of Sotheby’s auction house, as the chair of its board of directors. The operating company manages the Music Center’s three-theater downtown arts complex. Van De Kamp is the wife of former state Atty. Gen. John Van De Kamp, who now practices law in Los Angeles. . . . Sherry Lansing, chair and CEO of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, on Thursday received the 30th Annual Humanitarian Award from the National Conference of Christians & Jews.