POP/ROCKHouston Tops Music Award Nods: Whitney Houston...

POP/ROCK

Houston Tops Music Award Nods: Whitney Houston picked up eight nominations Wednesday for the 21st annual American Music Awards, to be presented at the Shrine Auditorium and air on ABC Feb. 7. Houston, who was named in categories including favorite female artist, favorite single (for “I Will Always Love You”) and favorite album (“The Bodyguard”), was trailed in the nominations by Janet Jackson, who received five nods, and the all-female group SWV, which had four. Receiving three nominations each were pop stars Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton, and country singer Alan Jackson. Winners will be selected through a national sampling of 20,000 members of the public.

Carey Jumps Over Snoop: Boosted by the success of her Thanksgiving network TV special, Mariah Carey’s “Music Box” album sold more than 295,000 copies last week. That’s enough sales punch to take the No. 1 spot away from Long Beach rap star Snoop Doggy Dogg on the nation’s pop album chart when Billboard magazine hits the newsstands Saturday. Snoop’s “DOGGY-STYLE,” which sold 259,000 last week, moves to No. 2 while Los Angeles rapper Ice Cube’s new “Lethal Injection” enters at No. 5 with 215,000 units in sales. Despite the controversy over inclusion of a Charles Manson song, Guns N’ Roses “The Spaghetti Incident?” falls to No. 15 in a week where almost $2.5 billion in albums were sold in the U.S.--a 9% increase over sales during the same period last year. . . . In other news for Carey, the pop star has announced she’ll donate profits from her hit single “Hero” to families of the Long Island Rail Road shooting victims. Six people shot on the train Dec. 7 have died.

TELEVISION

New Standards for Cartoon Shows: DIC Entertainment, which produces such animated children’s shows as “Captain Planet,” “Sonic, the Hedgehog,” “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego” and “Ghostbusters,” has unveiled a new “code of standards” to guide writers and directors toward story lines that enhance children’s self-esteem, foster cooperative behavior and offer means of conflict resolution other than violence. Among the code’s provisions: Dangerous stunts that can be imitated by children should be avoided; antisocial behavior should not be portrayed as glamorous or acceptable, and violent behavior should only be shown when the dangerous and negative consequences are clearly and realistically depicted. DIC says television should be “sensitive to the special developmental needs of children,” and “aware of the unique role that television plays in their lives.”

Leeza Goes Solo: NBC has dropped John Tesh from “John and Leeza.” Starting Jan. 17, Leeza Gibbons will host a new talk show in the same daytime slot all by her lonesome. The new show doesn’t have a title yet, but NBC said it would feature “timely, powerful discussions of topics affecting women today.” Gibbons also has another new project, a three-hour syndicated radio show counting down adult contemporary hits. Debuting in Los Angeles Sunday at 9 a.m. on K-LITE-FM (101.9), the weekly show has already been sold to about 200 radio stations across the country. Tesh, meanwhile, will continue to co-host “Entertainment Tonight,” and focus on his budding musical career.

PEOPLE WATCH

Stern File: It may be more than fans who show up at Howard Stern’s “Private Parts” book signing at Vroman’s in Pasadena today. The National Stuttering Project, run by Ira Zimmerman, is urging a “Stutter-In” at the signing to protest Stern’s use of the character “Stuttering John” on his radio show, and his devoting a chapter of “Private Parts” to “Stuttering John: Hero of the Stupid.” . . . Pasadena isn’t the only place Stern will show up this week. He’s also set to co-host the nationally syndicated radio program “Rockline” at 8:30 p.m. Thursday (airing locally on KLSX-FM), and to guest on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Friday. Stern’s competition for late-night talk show viewers will be none other than Rush Limbaugh, who visits Leno’s rival, David Letterman on CBS.

Bonaduce Saves Man From Suicide: Danny Bonaduce, the former “Partridge Family” child star-turned-radio talk show host, saved the life of a suicidal Vancouver man by reaching out to him over the radio, it was reported there Wednesday. When a 32-year-old man from the Vancouver area called threatening to kill himself Monday, Bonaduce alerted local police and kept the man talking for 3 1/2 hours until help arrived. Bonaduce, who beat a drug problem, told the Vancouver Sun he felt sympathy for the man, who is fighting drug addiction. “There was a time when I was not too far from that guy’s position,” he said.

Cultural Visas Granted: Although the decision came too late for them to attend tonight’s premiere, the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok has reversed itself and will issue cultural tourist visas to the Vietnamese mother and sisters of Le Ly Hayslip, a naturalized American woman whose war memoirs were the basis of Oliver Stone’s new film, “Heaven and Earth.” The visas will allow Hayslip’s mother, Tran Thi Huyen, who is featured prominently in the movie, and two of her daughters to see the film in the U.S. The embassy had originally denied the visa requests, saying that the family might try to stay in the U.S. permanently.