TELEVISION - Nov. 20, 1993

Koppel’s Unique Contract Approach: Ted Koppel, whose contract with ABC News is up in two weeks, says he doesn’t want to leave the network but doesn’t want to sign a new contract either, preferring to become a permanent free agent. The 53-year-old anchor of “Nightline” told Knight-Ridder, “I want to be able to move when I want, where I want, how I want. . . . This is leverage that says: ‘I want to be treated as a grown-up. Treat me like a grown-up and I’ll be here, doing the right thing.’ ” Koppel’s stance reportedly stems in part from ABC’s recent request for him to join fellow ABC News superstars Peter Jennings and Barbara Walters as rotating anchors for the new magazine series “Turning Point,” a position Koppel declined to keep his focus on “Nightline.” Koppel’s move is seen as a curious one because most successful anchors attempt to secure contracts to boost their salary and security.

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Jackson Honors Tabled?: The “Jackson Family Honors,” an NBC special featuring the entire Jackson clan that was scheduled to tape in Atlantic City Dec. 11 and air on Jan. 10 has apparently been postponed indefinitely. Although neither NBC nor the Jackson camp could confirm at press time, Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd reported Friday that the show was put on hold this week at the decision of “everyone,” including Michael Jackson, who was already rumored to be out of the show due to allegations of child abuse and his addiction to prescription drugs.

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Raphael Goes to Court: Sally Jessy Raphael’s act didn’t play well with a Michigan judge presiding over an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the talk-show host. After Raphael asked several questions of lawyers from the witness stand, Circuit Judge Melinda Morris said: “Put yourself in the position of people you ask questions of on a show. Wait until you are asked. Otherwise we’ll be here tomorrow and the next day. The next time, I will take action.” Raphael is being sued over a secretly recorded conversation aired on her talk show in which a 61-year-old member of the Church of Scientology says that she earned $5,000 from her church job and loved to wash dishes for the church. The woman contends in her $72-million lawsuit that the tape made her look foolish.

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Get Ready for More: You can expect to see another free-form contest of martial artists and bare-knuckle fighters beating one another up following the success of last weekend’s pay-per-view event, “The Ultimate Fighting Championship.” The pay-per-view company SEG reported Friday that roughly 65,000 American households bought the fight, meeting SEG’s projected figures. Now SEG is looking for a location for the next “Ultimate” fight in April. The first one was held in Denver, where there is no state boxing commission to prohibit such bouts. SEG is now considering bids in Puerto Rico and an Indian reservation in Upstate New York.

POP/ROCK

Topping U2 in Their Irish Homeland: Garth Brooks is already adding dates to his first European tour, with industry experts saying there is more demand for Brooks tickets in the tour’s debut stop of Dublin, Ireland, than for past shows by hometown heroes U2. Last weekend, an estimated 130,000 fans waited in line to purchase the 34,000 seats available for four April shows, so on Friday Brooks added two more. “There has been nothing like this before,” said promoter Jim Aiken, who has worked with acts including U2. “The ticket demand for Garth has exceeded every date I have ever worked.” Said Pat Kelly of ticket distributor Roxy Records: “Compared to other concerts, the demand is far greater than U2, (Michael) Jackson and Neil Diamond.”

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Selecting Sinatra Museum Site: Frank Sinatra’s hometown is in the running for a new library and museum that would chronicle the rise to stardom of the skinny, blue-eyed kid from Hoboken, N.J. Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy Sinatra Lambert, was courted Wednesday by Hoboken Mayor Anthony Russo, and the two toured a possible site. Lambert, who is organizing the project, also is considering New York and Washington and expects to make a decision in about three weeks.

THE ARTS

LACMA Gets Major Gauguin Work: A major landscape by Paul Gauguin that was promised to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art three years ago as a 25th anniversary gift now belongs to the museum. “Swineherd, Brittany,” a placid scene painted in 1888 during the artist’s sojourn in Brittany, is a gift of LACMA trustee Lucille Ellis Simon, the first wife of industrialist and art collector Norton Simon, who died in June. The acquisition is the fourth Gauguin in LACMA’s collection, making the museum the largest repository of the artist’s work in Southern California.

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High Price Tag for Wilde’s Love Letters: Love letters between 19th-Century Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and another man were sold at auction in London Friday for $27,580--three times more than expected. The letters and a photograph revealed a close but previously unknown relationship between Wilde and Philip Griffiths, described “a wealthy man of leisure.” Wilde, author of wicked satires such as “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” made little secret of his homosexuality despite it having been outlawed in Britain at the time. In 1895, he was prosecuted for being a homosexual and spent two years in jail.