TELEVISIONWinter Games Soar: CBS’ coverage of Saturday’s...

TELEVISION

Winter Games Soar: CBS’ coverage of Saturday’s Winter Olympics opening ceremonies drew a record 20.8 rating, according to figures released Sunday by the A. C. Nielsen Co. With each national rating point representing 942,000 homes, it means about 19.6 million households were tuned in. By comparison, ratings for CBS’ coverage of the opening ceremonies for the 1992 Winter Olympics received a 14.5 rating. Ratings in Los Angeles Saturday lagged behind the national average with a 16.7, but were 55% higher than 1992’s 10.8.

GLAAD Ad: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has placed a full-page ad in today’s Daily Variety expressing its shock at ABC’s refusal to broadcast an episode of “Roseanne” that includes a kiss between Roseanne Arnold and a character played by Mariel Hemingway. “ABC . . . don’t break America’s heart,” is the headline of the ad, which goes on to call the kiss in a gay and lesbian bar “affectionate, funny and part of the story.” The ad, in the form of a letter to ABC executives Robert Iger and Ted Harbert, praises the network for airing programs that show diversity in America, including “Roseanne” for its responsible portrayal of lesbians and gay men. “What has changed?” the ad asks. It encourages ABC to show the episode and let the American people judge for themselves. The network has said the episode, which was set for March 1, violates its broadcast standards.

Educational TV: Live TV coverage of California’s Education Summit will be available Tuesday and Wednesday on KLCS-TV Channel 58 and two cable outlets, the California Channel and the Los Angeles CityView channel. The two-day conference in San Francisco will bring together leading educators and politicians to discuss the problems confronting the state’s public education system and what solutions are possible.

Long Live ‘The King’: Responding to upset viewers who missed the final installment of the “Masterpiece Theatre” miniseries “To Play the King,” KCET-TV Channel 28 plans to rebroadcast the episode next Sunday at 1:30 p.m. “Masterpiece Theatre” normally airs in one-hour chapters on Sundays, but in the case of “To Play the King,” KCET showed parts three and four back-to-back on Jan. 30. Not everyone got the word, however, and when they tuned in Feb. 6 for what they thought was the conclusion, it wasn’t there.

POP/ROCK

Help!: A London newspaper report that the three surviving Beatles are planning a concert in New York’s Central Park is an “out and out lie,” an aide to Paul McCartney said Sunday. Jeff Baker, McCartney’s personal assistant, told ABC Radio News that “there’s not a shred of truth” to the report in the Mail that caused an international flurry. The newspaper said McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr would perform in Central Park later this year, and would be joined onstage by the late John Lennon’s sons, Julian and Sean. The newspaper did not identify its source. It said each of the former Beatles would be paid $30 million for the concert, which would be televised worldwide. The report also said McCartney chose New York as a tribute to Lennon, who was gunned down there in 1980.

MOVIES

‘Outbreak’ Director Breaks Out: Wolfgang Petersen (“In the Line of Fire”) has been hired to direct “Outbreak,” a Warner Bros. film about a deadly virus that is out of control. The movie is scheduled to begin filming in June and is one of two virus movies being developed for major studios. Last year, 20th Century Fox won the bidding war on behalf of producer Lynda Obst to make “Hot Zone,” a film about a virus outbreak in a monkey research lab that was based on an true story that appeared in the New Yorker. The original screenplay for “Outbreak” was scripted by Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool with final screenplay credit given to Ted Tally (“Silence of the Lambs”). It is being produced by Arnold Kopelson and Gail Katz (Petersen’s partner).

School’s in Session: John Singleton’s next movie, “Higher Learning,” goes into production today in Los Angeles for Columbia Pictures. Academy award-nominee Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube and Regina King are among those starring. The film chronicles a semester in the lives of a group of college students who are confronted with issues of identity, sexism and escalating racial tension. Singleton is directing the movie from his original screenplay.

Nice for Rice: Anne Rice can keep the film rights to her novel “The Mummy,” a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled. The dispute between the author and film producers Frank Konigsberg and Larry Sanitsky focused on an agreement for which there was no written contract. Rice got $50,000 from them in the late 1980s for the film rights. But she said they failed to arrange a film within two years and lost their chance. The producers sued, saying they should have been allowed to extend the length of the agreement. Rice denied there ever was a formal agreement.

STAGE

‘Ruthless’ Recording: The Beverly Hills cast of “Ruthless!” will record a cast album Tuesday in North Hollywood, to be produced by Bruce Kimmel for Varese Sarabande Records. The show already ran in New York--without a cast album to show for it. Is this the start of a trend in L.A.? The local cast of “Sunset Boulevard” also recently was tapped to record a cast album.