TELEVISIONDueling ‘NYPD Blue’ Campaigns: Viewers for Quality...

TELEVISION

Dueling ‘NYPD Blue’ Campaigns: Viewers for Quality Television, a 10-year-old advocacy group that supports excellence in network programming, is urging viewers nationwide to back ABC’s “NYPD Blue” by joining a letter-writing campaign pledging support to the show’s advertisers. The call comes in response to the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon’s previously announced plans to spend the entire $3-million annual media budget of his American Family Assn. to “dissuade” advertisers from backing the show, which he targeted as “soft-core pornography” even before it premiered. “It’s important that viewers . . . sit up and applaud advertisers who are taking a risk on a controversial show,” said Dorothy Swanson, president of the Virginia-based VQT, noting that advertisers usually hear only negative responses from viewers. “I would like to stir up those complacent viewers that through their silence are allowing the Wildmons of this country to have their power.” For an “NYPD Blue” sponsor list, viewers can write to VQT at P.O. Box 195, Fairfax Station, Va. 22039.

* Fox Goes 3-D: Fox TV has announced plans for what it calls “two nights of interactive fun” with a prime-time event tied in to such promotional items as scratch-and-sniff cards and 3-D glasses. Called “Fox-O-Rama” and hosted by “Married . . . With Children” star Ed O’Neill, the programming starts May 8 with the show “Martin,” which will air viewer-submitted impersonations of oversexed series character Sheneneh. The 3-D glasses, to be used for a specially filmed episode of O’Neill’s series, plus scratch-and-sniff cards matching scents presented on “Living Single,” will be contained in promotional kits that will be sold for 33 cents at participating 7-Eleven stores beginning next Friday. The glasses and cards will also be matched to the May 9 movie “Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love.”

* NBC to Focus on Jobs: NBC News will focus on “Jobs: America’s Most Wanted,” with related debates, features and news reports on all its news programs April 24-30. America’s Job Bank, a national employment coordinator, will join in the effort by publicizing available jobs in various areas of the country. Among the programs devoting all or part of their air time to the coverage: “Meet the Press,” “Today,” “NBC News at Sunrise,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Dateline NBC,” “Now With Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric,” “Saturday Today” and “NBC News Nightside.”

* Washington Insight: Author Peggy Noonan, a Washington lawyer and former aide to Presidents Reagan and Bush, is heading to public TV with a series set to premiere next year at the latest. PBS President Ervin Duggan says Noonan’s book “What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era” blends humorous and serious insights about the Washington political scene, which is what he expects she will do on PBS.

THE ARTS

Self-Censorship Made Easy: A new form of self-censorship is being introduced in strict Singapore by the Singapore Repertory Theatre, which is presenting a bawdy comic drama there by the British troupe Lu Man Theatre. In an effort not to offend audience members, the theater will flash a red light just before a nude appears onstage so bashful members of the audience can close their eyes. Then a bell will ring when the “flash of flesh” is over, signaling they can resume watching. Artistic director Tony Petito said the idea was his own, and the government, which only last year allowed the country’s first sexually explicit musical production (“The New Rocky Horror Show”), was not trying to censor the show. “It’s very innocent nudity; we’re just talking about a couple of bare bottoms,” said Petito, who said that nonetheless, any public nudity in Singapore is still an “issue.”

POP/ROCK

Examining AIDS’ Impact: Musicians Robert Plant, Roger Daltrey, Melissa Etheridge, MC Lyte and the B-52’s are among those taking part in “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll: AIDS and Music,” a special focusing on the impact of AIDS on the music industry. The program, which also analyzes the industry’s response--or lack thereof--to the crisis, premieres April 20 on cable’s VH-1. Actress Ann Magnuson is the host.

QUICK TAKES

Bruce Willis will start work on “Die Hard 3” in June. John McTiernan, who directed the first “Die Hard,” returns as director. The story takes the action to New York, where the fate of the city rests in the hands of Det. John McClane (Willis). . . . “Tales From the Crypt” reruns will preempt the low-rated Fox newsmagazine “Front Page” from May 3 through June 14. “Front Page,” which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m., is scheduled to return June 21. . . . Tony-winning actor Ben Vereen guest-stars in the May 9 episode of NBC’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” playing Will’s father.