TELEVISIONThe Golden Touch: The results are in...

TELEVISION

The Golden Touch: The results are in for the majority of winners of the Radio & TV News Assn. of Southern California’s 1993 Golden Mike Awards. KCBS Channel 2 was a big winner, taking the awards for best newscast writing, best live coverage, best investigative reporting and best entertainment reporting. KCOP Channel 13 took best news reporting for a segment called “Illegal Nannies,” and best sports segment went to KNBC Channel 4. KTTV Channel 11 won for best spot news reporting and KABC Channel 7 for best hard news series reporting. Two big awards, the best 60-minute newscast between 4 p.m. and midnight and the best 30-minute newscast during the same time period, will be named at the group’s Golden Mike awards ceremony Jan. 22 in Universal City. Finalists for best 60-minute broadcast include KCAL, KCOP and KTLA and San Diego station KGTV. In the running for best 30-minute newscast are KABC, KCAL and KCBS.

More ‘Picket Fences’: The acclaimed series “Picket Fences,” starring Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker, will soon air not once, but twice on Friday nights. A selection of about 10 episodes have been handpicked by the show’s creator, David E. Kelley, to be rebroadcast Fridays on CBS at 12:35 a.m. after the “Late Show With David Letterman,” beginning Dec. 31. The show’s current episodes air at 10 p.m. Fridays. Kelley said he chose important episodes for the rebroadcasts: “I picked these knowing that the story lines would make it really hard for people to fall asleep.” As a result of the new plan, “Kids in the Hall” will move to Thursdays at 12:35 a.m. beginning Dec. 30.

Talk-Show Lineup Changes: “The Les Brown Show” has become the latest casualty of the talk-show wars. The syndicated show hosted by inspirational speaker Brown has been canceled by its producer and distributor, King World, due to poor ratings; the final edition will air Jan. 14. But King World has announced a new entry into the talk-show fray: TV journalist Rolonda Watts will have her own hourlong syndicated daily show, “Rolonda,” starting on Jan. 17. The show will air on KCAL Channel 9 in Los Angeles in Brown’s former 2 p.m. time slot. Watts is known for her work on “Inside Edition,” Lifetime’s “Attitudes” and WABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News” in New York.

Miniseries in the Works: Two miniseries are on the way from Laurel Entertainment: “The Langoliers,” based on a Stephen King novella, and “The Invaders,” which is drawn from the 1970s sci-fi TV series. “The Langoliers,” published in King’s “Four Past Midnight,” is about a flight from Los Angeles to Boston that enters an unfriendly sky. The four-hour miniseries will air on ABC sometime in late 1994. “The Invaders” miniseries will also air late next year.

Cable’s Time to Shine: Beau Bridges, Mariel Hemingway and Sinbad will host the 15th CableACE awards Jan. 16 at the Pantages Theatre. The ceremonies honoring excellence in cable television will be carried by cable’s TNT. Presenters include Bruce Boxleitner, Harry Connick Jr., Melissa Gilbert, Jill Goodacre, Evander Holyfield, Timothy Hutton, Larry King, Kathy Najimy, Catherine O’Hara, Phylicia Rashad and Garry Shandling.

MOVIES

Spielberg Cited for Directing: Steven Spielberg has finally received a best director honor for his film “Schindler’s List.” The Boston Society of Film Critics tapped Spielberg for the award Sunday. The filmmaker did not win the best director award from the New York or Los Angeles film critics in their year-end voting. “Schindler’s List” was also named best picture by the Boston critics; best supporting actor went to the film’s Ralph Fiennes and the cinematography award to Janusz Kaminski. Holly Hunter was named best actress for “The Piano” and Daniel Day-Lewis took best actor for “In the Name of the Father.”

Academy Awards Alert: Jeff Margolis will direct the telecast of the 66th Annual Academy Awards, which will air March 21 on ABC. It marks the sixth time Margolis will direct the show. Meanwhile, motion picture scientist Petro Vlahos has been named the winner of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his technological contributions to the movie industry. He’ll be given the award Feb. 26 at the academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards ceremonies; the presentation will also be included in the March 21 broadcast of Academy Awards.

QUICK TAKES

People magazine’s “Insider” columnist Mitchell Fink will develop and host a syndicated daily series on gossip for Viacom Entertainment. . . . “Children of Fate,” one of the Grand Jury Prize-winning films at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival, will premiere on Cinemax on Wednesday. The film is about the Cortile Cascino slum in Palermo, Italy, in the past and present. . . . . The National Assn. of Broadcasters announced that ABC News president Roone Arledge will be the 1994 television inductee into the group’s Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted in March in Las Vegas.