TELEVISION - April 22, 1994

‘seaQuest’ Renewed: Capping a banner year for Steven Spielberg, NBC on Thursday renewed its Sunday night underwater adventure series, “seaQuest DSV,” co-produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Television, for next season. The series, which goes head-to-head with the indomitable “Murder, She Wrote” at 8 p.m., ranks only 83rd in the year-to-date national Nielsens. But NBC on Thursday called the show a “self-starter,” noting it has done well with young-adult viewers and was one of three new drama series nominated this year for a “People’s Choice Award.”

*No Boost for ‘Tom’: If the marital rift between Roseanne and Tom Arnold is a publicity stunt, as some suspect, it does not seem to be prompting added interest in Tom Arnold’s struggling CBS series, “Tom.” The show came in last again in its 8:30 p.m. Wednesday time slot, and drew almost identical ratings to the previous week’s episode. “Tom” last week drew 10% of the available audience, as it did Wednesday. Roseanne Arnold on Monday filed for divorce, alleging emotional and physical abuse.

PEOPLE WATCH

DeLuise Charged: Actor Dom DeLuise has been charged with criminal sexual contact based on a complaint from a male casino employee in Atlantic City, N.J., who alleges DeLuise touched him in a sexual way. DeLuise was charged Friday, Atlantic City police said. The incident allegedly occurred March 26 while DeLuise was a guest at Merv Griffin’s Resorts Casino Hotel. The employee was not identified, and police declined to elaborate. DeLuise, 60, denied any wrongdoing and wasn’t taken into custody.

*Dancing for AIDS Causes: Actresses Rosie Perez, Ellen DeGeneres, Julianne Philips, Debi Mazar and Christina Applegate are among the celebrities scheduled to take part in Saturday’s AIDS Dance-a-thon, a 7 p.m. to midnight fund-raiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles and other AIDS groups. The annual event, held at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, is expected to draw about 7,000 participants, who will dance to music performed by acts including Jade, Jeremy Jordan and Me’Shell NdegeOcello. Other celebrities, including Madonna, frequently show up unannounced.

THE ARTS

Arts Funding Update: Mayor Richard Riordan’s $4.3-billion municipal budget, presented Wednesday to the City Council, includes no significant new reductions in allocations for the city’s Cultural Affairs Department, according to a department spokeswoman. However, because the department suffered a substantial cut last September--as well as the ongoing problem of declining arts revenues from the city’s “bed tax”--Cultural Affairs will see its 1993-94 budget of $9.4 million drop to $8.1 million for 1994-95, she said. Meanwhile, at the state level, members of a Senate subcommittee have recommended elimination of the California Arts Council budget, which has been targeted for elimination in the past but has so far retained its funding. A Senate budget hearing on the issue is scheduled for Wednesday.

New Coronet Programming: New York producer James Freydberg is taking a lease on the 279-seat Coronet Theatre, one of L.A.’s most prominent mid-sized theaters, beginning Sept. 1. He plans to use the La Cienega Boulevard theater for imports from New York, as well as exports to New York, probably beginning with his current New York show, “Blowin’ Sideways Through Life.” He was one of the producers of “Wrong Turn at Lungfish,” which played the Coronet in 1992. He also co-produced “Fool Moon” and “Burn This.”

*On the Block: Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Last Sitting,” a suite of 59 photographs taken by Bert Stern for Vogue magazine a few days before her death in 1962, will be auctioned off as one lot on Saturday as part of Sotheby’s spring photograph auction. Additional offerings in the New York auction include important works by masters including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston and Man Ray, plus a group of 57 photographs consigned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s Comedy Central will cover radio shock jock Howard Stern’s bid to win the Libertarian Party’s New York gubernatorial nomination. The resulting 30-minute documentary, to be called “Citizen Stern: The Road to Albany,” debuts Monday. The cable network is billing coverage of Stern’s campaign as “the most serious thing we’ve ever done.” . . . Fox’s sketch comedy series “In Living Color” holds an open audition for new cast members on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sunset Gower Studios (1415 N. Gordon St.). . . . “Fox Morning News” anchor Tony McEwing expands his duties today to become co-anchor of Fox’s 7-9 a.m. program, “Good Day L.A.” McEwing, who joins co-anchors Susan Lichtman and Mark Thompson, replaces Antonio Mora, who left the program in February for a position with ABC’s “Good Morning America.” . . . That final “L.A. Law” hour May 19 might not be its last after all. The show’s production company, Twentieth TV, is trying to persuade NBC to air a really final two-hour “L.A. Law” TV movie next season. . . . Sinbad and Vanessa Williams will host the 1994 Essence Awards, an annual special celebrating the achievements of outstanding African Americans. Honorees include Eddie Murphy, Spike Lee, Quincy Jones, Denzel Washington and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The special airs June 6 on Fox.