POP/ROCKPearl Jam Tour Delayed: Pearl Jam will...

POP/ROCK

Pearl Jam Tour Delayed: Pearl Jam will postpone its U.S. summer tour, in part because the suicide of fellow Seattle rocker Kurt Cobain “knocked the wind out of the band,” the group’s manager said Tuesday. The tour, which was scheduled to begin in July and was expected to be one of the summer’s hottest tickets, could be delayed two months or more. Manager Kelly Curtis said the group also needed more time to work out details of an ambitious plan to ensure a maximum ticket price of $19.80--service fee included. Lead singer Eddie Vedder said in a separate interview that Cobain’s death was the main reason for the delay. “I’m going to need some time to cope with what just happened,” he said before an appearance last weekend on “Saturday Night Live,” where Vedder displayed the letter K on his T-shirt and put his hand on his heart at the show’s sign-off.

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Kids Stand by Michael: Allegations of child abuse apparently haven’t harmed Michael Jackson’s standing with a lot of kids. More than 75% of 100,000 8- to 16-year-olds from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut picked Jackson as the celebrity who “cares for kids,” citing reasons ranging from “he gives money to the children’s foundations” to “he’s a nice, caring person.” Jackson will receive his Caring for Kids Award on April 28 at the second annual Children’s Choice Awards in Manhattan. The awards are sponsored by Body Sculpt of New York, a nonprofit drug prevention program for at-risk youth.

TELEVISION

Taking Down the Shingle: After eight seasons and 15 Emmy Awards, “L.A. Law” will close its offices next month, NBC said Tuesday. The final original episode will air May 19 and will bring closure to the series, but no details were available on what turn the plot will take. “L.A. Law” won Emmys as TV’s best drama series in 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Corbin Bernsen, who has starred throughout the run as attorney Arnie Becker, already is at work on a pilot for CBS.

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Kushnick Sues Over ‘Late Shift’: Helen Gorman Kushnick, Jay Leno’s former longtime manager who was fired from her post as “The Tonight Show’s” executive producer in late 1992, has sued Disney Book Publishing and New York Times reporter Bill Carter over her depiction in Carter’s book “The Late Shift,” which details the behind-the-scenes maneuverings between Leno and David Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson as late-night king. Kushnick seeks $30 million for “damage to her reputation, shame, mortification and emotional distress,” plus punitive damages. The suit charges that the book portrays Kushnick as “being mentally unfit and incompetent” and cites eight statements contained in the book that Kushnick claims are “false and defamatory.” “Basically, (Kushnick) comes off very badly in the book, and most (depictions of her) are unequivocally, absolutely not true,” Kushnick’s attorney, Barry B. Langberg, said Tuesday. Langberg added that Carter interviewed Kushnick for the book, but “talked to her only about innocuous things” and “didn’t give her a chance” to defend accusations against her. “The Late Shift” is scheduled to be made into a cable movie for HBO, which had no immediate comment.

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Menendez Movie Rates Third: Despite mostly pans from the critics, Fox Broadcasting’s “Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders” pulled in enough viewers Monday night to make it the network’s highest rated made-for-TV movie ever. The hastily produced film was watched in about 9.6 million households, accounting for 17% of the total television audience, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. But that wasn’t enough to help Fox against the national competition, as the network finished third between 8-10 p.m., trailing CBS and NBC, which each drew nearly a million more viewing homes. “Honor Thy Father and Mother” did win its time slot in several markets, however, including Los Angeles, where it averaged about 23% of viewers, and New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Phoenix and Orlando.

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‘Roseanne’ Return Predicted: ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert said Tuesday that he expects “Roseanne” to return to ABC next fall despite Roseanne Arnold’s filing for a divorce from husband and co-executive producer Tom Arnold. “I’m certain ‘Roseanne’ will be on the schedule for next season,” Harbert told reporters in New York. “She’s got a contract to do the show.” He said he had spoken to the actress recently and, while declining to discuss details, added, “This is a genuinely tough time for her.”

QUICK TAKES

Noted filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is appealing the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s NC-17 rating for his latest movie, “Kika.” The ratings board cited a rape scene and what the filmmakers describe as a “comic, consensual, lovemaking scene.” Almodovar has hired prominent First Amendment attorney Martin Garbus to argue his case before the appeals board. . . . Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan are co-developing and starring in a remake of the 1939 George Cukor classic “The Women.” Production on the New Line Cinema film is slated to start in the fall of 1995. . . . Actor James Garner will film several two-hour movies of his former series “Rockford Files.” The new episodes will air on CBS; the old detective series ran from 1974 to 1980 on NBC. . . . Radio station KIEV-AM (820) today premieres “HIV Talkline,” a weekly, hourlong call-in show geared to providing up-to-the-minute information about AIDS and HIV. The show airs on KIEV at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.