TELEVISIONMonty Python Salute: The Directors Guild Theatre...

TELEVISION

Monty Python Salute: The Directors Guild Theatre in West Hollywood will salute British comedy team Monty Python’s 25th anniversary with “Monty Python: Lust for Glory!,” a five-day television and film festival beginning Sept. 9. Organized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the American Cinematheque, the program includes salutes to both the collective and individual work of the six Python members--Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones. Highlights include “Life of Graham,” an opening night tribute to Chapman; rarely seen animated shorts by Gilliam; two full-length TV specials never broadcast in America; and a 12-hour marathon of 24 episodes of the “Flying Circus” TV series. Several Python members are scheduled to attend the festival.

Taylor vs. NBC: Elizabeth Taylor is putting up a fight against an upcoming TV miniseries that will claim she was beaten by three of her seven husbands. The actress has sued NBC for $10 million to block the broadcast of the miniseries based on an unreleased book by C. David Heymann. Also named in the L.A. Superior Court complaint are producer Lester Persky, screenwriter Gerald Ayres, author Heymann and his publisher, the Carol Publishing Group. Taylor’s lawsuit contends the miniseries would be an inaccurate invasion of Taylor’s privacy and would hurt her financially.

‘Extra’ Shake-Up: Less than three weeks before its Sept. 5 premiere on KNBC-TV Channel 4, Warner Bros. new “Entertainment Tonight”-style magazine show “Extra” has already had a shake-up of its on-air talent. Ben Patrick Johnson, a former disc jockey and commercial model, has been bumped from his post as co-host, and instead will serve as a senior correspondent, conducting celebrity interviews. Moving onto the anchor desk with co-host Arthel Neville is broadcaster Dave Nemeth, whose most recent post was as movie critic at Detroit’s WXYZ-TV. Warner Bros. said the move follows a $2-million, four-week trial run, which showed “an excellent chemistry between Arthel and Dave.”

POP/ROCK

Upcoming Releases: Rock star and environmental activist Sting will be joined by U2, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Paul Simon, Genesis and other as-yet-unnamed acts on an upcoming album to benefit the Rainforest Alliance and other environmental groups. Called “Earthrise,” the Pyramid Records release is due in late September or early October. . . . Among other unusual upcoming releases: Raffi returns to his roots Sept. 13 with “Bananaphone,” his first album release in seven years of studio music for young children; rappers Tag Team, Salt-N-Pepa and Hammer, pop group Color Me Badd and actress-singer Whoopi Goldberg will be joined by Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters in “Mickey Unrapped,” a Sept. 1 Belmark/Life Records release aimed at building a more positive image for the rap music genre; and for those who hung on to their old turntables, Capitol Records will release 5,000 vinyl copies of each of the first 17 albums by California’s Beach Boys--including “Little Deuce Coupe,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Surfin’ Safari”--on Sept. 12.

Brown’s Deja Vu: Singer Bobby Brown is facing foreclosure on his 14,000-square-foot Atlanta mansion for the second time in about a year. According to a legal notice advertising a Sept. 6 public auction of the home, Brown, who is married to pop superstar Whitney Houston, is in arrears on an $850,000 mortgage he took out to halt foreclosure last summer. The notice also cites a second mortgage for $950,000, and two Internal Revenue Service tax liens against the property totaling more than $1.3 million.

ART

Museum Expansion: San Diego’s Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art is gearing up for a major expansion that will relocate the museum to a new 41,000-square-foot space in Balboa Park by the end of 1996. The previously low-profile museum will leave its 6,000-square-foot gallery at La Jolla’s University Towne Center to become the major tenant of a $6-million, city-funded project on the site formerly occupied by the House of Charm, which was built for the 1915 Pan-American Exposition. The historic building’s exterior will be reconstructed according to the original design, and two lower levels will be added. The Mingei’s plans call for permanent and changing exhibition space, education facilities, an auditorium and an audio/visual folk art reference library. The building’s basement will be occupied by the San Diego Art Institute and the Globe Theatre, which will create new rehearsal space.

QUICK TAKES

Beleaguered pop star Michael Jackson apparently hasn’t lost any fan support in Europe, where he has been voted his fifth Golden Otto Award for music by readers of the popular entertainment publication Bravo magazine. Jackson won previous Ottos in 1987-89 and 1992. . . . The L.A. City Council has formally approved a partnership program in which local arts groups will help run several struggling city arts centers, including the L.A. Photography Center and North Hollywood’s Lankershim Arts Center.