TELEVISIONReal Improvement: The first matchup between ABC’s...

TELEVISION

Real Improvement: The first matchup between ABC’s defending ratings champion “Home Improvement” and NBC’s Emmy Award-winning “Frasier” was a decisive victory for Tim Allen & Co. National ratings figures showed Wednesday that “Home Improvement” not only was unhurt by its new time slot and competition Tuesday night, but its ratings were also 4% higher than its average last year. “Home Improvement” was seen in about 21.6 million homes, compared to 13.8 million for “Frasier”--which suffered a 17% drop in ratings over its average of a year ago. Still, NBC, which is trying to establish a solid presence on Tuesdays, said its ratings for the new prime-time lineup were 38% higher than last season’s Tuesday night average.

THE ARTS

NEA Gets Reprieve: The proposed National Endowment for the Arts budget got a reprieve from its battles with the Senate Wednesday when a House-Senate conference committee agreed with a House proposal to cut the agency’s 1995 budget by less than 2%. The Senate, miffed at a controversy last spring over performance artist Ron Athey, had voted to slash the arts budget by 5%, targeting 40% cuts for visual arts, theater and presenting and commissioning programs. The conference committee threw out the targeted cuts, allowing the NEA to decide where to trim, pending congressional approval. Wednesday’s proposal would reduce the NEA’s $170.2-million budget by $2.4 million. The measure goes back to both chambers for a vote, possibly by the end of the week.

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Controversy on Video: Meanwhile, the above-mentioned Athey’s “Four Scenes in a Harsh Life,” the controversial program that provoked the NEA backlash, has been released on home video by its distributor. The hourlong performance, which includes various onstage rites of body modification--including piercing and bloodletting--is available for $69.95 by calling 1-800-REEL-GAY. Writers Showcased: Three Los Angeles artists are among 10 writers nationwide selected by cable’s HBO to be showcased next month in the HBO New Writers Project Festival. The festival, which takes place Oct. 12-30 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, features four programs of one-act plays, selected from more than 2,700 submissions. Los Angeles-based participants are Heather Morgan (“Dad, Cancer, Fear & Boys”), Nancy de Los Santos (“The Answer to My Prayer”) and Maryanne Melloan (“The Blonde at the Party”). HBO launched the New Writers Project to cultivate new multi-cultural comic writing talent.

MOVIES

‘List’ Returning to Theaters: Although it’s already out on video, Steven Spielberg’s multi-Oscar-winning film “Schindler’s List” will return Friday to 55 U.S. and Canadian theaters, including Los Angeles’ Fine Arts Theatre and Orange County’s South Coast Town Center. The Holocaust-themed film also continues to be screened for high school students, with an estimated 1 million students having seen it so far as part of a free educational program. Meanwhile, “Schindler’s List” will add to its honors when it receives the Studio Crystal Heart Award at the Oct. 27-31 Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis; and in Beverly Hills on Oct. 1, Spielberg will receive the 1993 Chaim Weizmann Award for Philanthropic Leadership from the American Committee for Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science.

POP/ROCK

Michael, Lisa Won’t Sing: Neither Michael Jackson nor his new bride, Lisa Marie Presley Jackson, will perform at an Oct. 8 Memphis concert honoring Elvis Presley’s contribution to pop music. “Lisa has had no intention of taking on a music career for a few years now. There has never been any intention to perform at the tribute concert. This idea was strictly based on rumor and media speculation,” the Graceland division of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. said in a statement Wednesday. The tribute concert, whose lineup includes Tony Bennett, Michael Bolton, Dwight Yoakam and others, will be offered as a live pay-per-view special.

Clapton Tops Chart: Eric Clapton and Anita Baker got off to good starts with their new albums last week, but the latest offering from controversial Irish singer Sinead O’Connor was sluggish. Clapton’s “From the Cradle,” which sold an estimated 209,000, will enter the Billboard pop chart at No. 1 this week and push Boyz II Men’s “II” into second place. Baker’s “Rhythm of Love,” which sold 181,000 albums, comes in at No. 3 and O’Connor’s “Universal Mother,” which sold only 26,000 units, will rank No. 37.

QUICK TAKES

“Melrose Place” fans can get a behind-the-scenes look at the show’s stars in “A Day in the Lives of Melrose Place,” airing Oct. 5 on Fox. . . . Actress Elizabeth Montgomery, 61, has filed suit against Columbia Pictures Television in Los Angeles, seeking $5 million she claims she’s owed from reruns of her 1964-72 series “Bewitched.”