MOVIESAFI Picks Spielberg: The accolades keep coming...

MOVIES

AFI Picks Spielberg: The accolades keep coming for director Steven Spielberg, who on Thursday was named the 1995 recipient of the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, one of Hollywood’s biggest honors. Spielberg, who last year made box-office history with “Jurassic Park” and also had the year’s most critically acclaimed film in “Schindler’s List,” will receive the award at a dinner March 2 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The program will be broadcast at a later date on NBC. Past AFI winners include Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth Taylor and Gene Kelly.

NEW MEDIA

A Biblical Tour: Charlton Heston, who portrayed Moses in “The Ten Commandments,” takes on the entire Holy Book with a new CD-Rom production, “Charlton Heston’s Voyage Through the Bible.” The program, to be released next fall by Jones Interactive Inc., uses the full Old and New Testament text of the King James Bible. The CD-ROM will include three-dimensional computer-generated models of key religious sites, depictions of religious art from ancient to modern times and dramatic readings performed by Heston in a Roman amphitheater. Heston also narrates the CD-ROM and takes users through Egypt and ancient Palestine on a tour in his Land Rover.

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Virtual-Reality ‘Aliens’: Iwerks Entertainment has announced plans to develop Virtual Adventures, a virtual-reality attraction and simulation thrill ride based on 20th Century Fox’s science-fiction movie trilogy “Aliens.” The attraction will include a four-minute live-action simulation film, to be exhibited in Iwerks’ motion-simulation theaters worldwide. Last year, Iwerks produced a similar attraction based on the movie “RoboCop.”

TELEVISION

House of Blues on TV: Sunset Boulevard’s House of Blues will share camera time with its sister club in New Orleans in a new weekly concert series for cable TV, “Live From the House of Blues.” Set to premiere in January on the TBS Superstation, the program will feature an eclectic roster of pop, rock, country, jazz and blues concerts filmed at the clubs.

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Letterman, Norville on the Move: David Letterman will take his “Late Show” to London during the May sweeps--marking the first trip abroad for any late-night show, CBS says. The program, which currently airs in Britain via Sky TV, will broadcast out of the London Studios along the River Thames’ South Bank. Letterman plans to feature both American and British guests and to take his roving cameras out onto the streets of London. . . . It’s official--CBS newswoman Deborah Norville has been named anchor of the syndicated newsmagazine “Inside Edition.” Norville will replace Bill Reilly when his contract expires in May.

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From HBO to Networks: Viewers may soon be able to catch reruns of HBO’s saucy sitcom “Dream On” on prime-time network television. Both Fox and NBC are negotiating to buy the roughly 100 episodes that have been filmed, with Fox the leading contender, according to MCA Television Entertainment, the show’s distributor. Two versions of “Dream On,” starring Brian Benben as a sexed-up divorcee, are shot--one with adult language and nudity for HBO, and a milder one for eventual broadcast syndication. Earlier this year, Fox bought reruns of HBO’s popular “Tales From the Crypt.” It got mediocre ratings in late night but did poorly in its prime-time airings. MCA is also negotiating to bring “Dream On” back for a sixth HBO season next year.

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Infomercial Awards: Infomercial stars Barbara De Angelis, Jake Steinfeld and Kathy Smith were the big winners at Wednesday’s Third Annual National Infomercial Marketing Assn. Awards in Las Vegas. De Angelis’ “Making Love Work” won honors for infomercial of the year, best director and best writing. Steinfeld won best male presenter for “Body by Jake Hip and Thigh Machine,” while fitness expert Kathy Smith was awarded best female presenter for her “Walk Fit” infomercial.

THE ARTS

Life-Affirming Dance: Choreographer Bill T. Jones, who appeared on last week’s Time magazine cover and is a past winner of the Music Center’s Dorothy B. Chandler Performing Arts Award, will present the Southern California premiere of his acclaimed full-evening piece “Still/Here” at the Wiltern Theatre on April 27-28. The work, which premiered in France last month, focuses on survival and affirmation of life in the face of life-threatening illness--a true-to-life topic for the HIV-positive Jones, 42, who lost his longtime lover and collaborator, Arnie Zane, to AIDS in 1988. Presented by UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, “Still/Here” will replace the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co.’s scheduled April 28-29 performance at UCLA’s Wadsworth Theater. “Still/Here” would not have physically fit on the Wadsworth stage, UCLA said.

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Chung’s Successor Named: The Paris Opera has named Dutch maestro Hubert Soudant to replace ousted conductor Myung-whun Chung for the Opera’s Feb. 9-March 5 run of “The Damnation of Faust.” Chung led his final performance--Verdi’s “Simone Boccanegra”--on Monday and received a 19-minute ovation. Frenchman Alain Lombard had originally been chosen to conduct Faust, but he refused out of solidarity with Chung.