ARTMore Met: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of...

ART

More Met: New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has rotated viewing of its galleries for the past three years because of budget cuts, has reopened all galleries to the public on a full-time basis. The reopenings were made possible through the Cultural Challenge Initiative, a city-state program that has earmarked a total of $10 million for cultural institutions, including $421,000 for the Met reopenings. Cantor Fitzgerald, a New York financial holding company, has provided an additional $421,000 in matching funds. The change comes at the start of the holiday season, traditionally the period of greatest museum attendance. Most galleries have been closed for half the day--rotating mornings and afternoons--since 1991, after the Met suffered a $3.5 million cut in city support.

TELEVISION

Congresswoman Sugarbaker: It hasn’t been promoted as such, but Linda Bloodworth-Thomason’s midseason series for CBS is a sort of sequel to her former hit “Designing Women,” with Delta Burke returning as ex-beauty queen Suzanne Sugarbaker. The premise of “Women of the House” is that Sugarbaker takes over her late husband’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives; Teri Garr, Valerie Mahaffey and Patricia Heaton co-star as aides. A premiere date has not yet been set.

MOVIES

‘Free Willy’ News: Film companies Warner Bros. and New Regency Productions have announced plans to donate $2 million to a new foundation to help Keiko, the captive whale who starred in the movie “Free Willy,” which earned the studios $100 million. Keiko has been a huge public relations problem for the filmmakers ever since it was discovered that instead of swimming to freedom, as he does in the film, Keiko lives trapped in a too-small tank in Mexico, losing weight and suffering from a herpes-like skin disease. Several other efforts have been launched to help Keiko, but the Humane Society of the United States on Wednesday called the Warner/New Regency donations “the most hopeful opportunity to fulfill countless people’s desire to ‘Free Willy.’ ” In announcing its gift, Warner, the movie’s distributor, made a point of noting its past assistance in purifying and cooling the water in Keiko’s tank. Warner clearly hopes to put the controversy behind it by next summer when outtakes of Keiko from the first film will be used in a sequel, “Free Willy II: The Return Home.”

The Falcon’s Ransom: The Maltese Falcon, one of Hollywood’s most famous film props, could fetch up to $50,000 when put up for sale next month, Christie’s auction house said Thursday. The lead statue, center of the classic detective film that established Humphrey Bogart as a major star, will be sold in New York on Dec. 6. The falcon was left by studio boss Jack Warner to actor-director-producer William Conrad as a gesture of appreciation. Conrad died earlier this year. A second Maltese Falcon statuette--made of resin and believed to have been held by Bogart in publicity shots for the movie--was scheduled to be auctioned by Christie’s in June, 1993, but the auction house declined to sell the falcon when it could not be proved that the statuette was used in the 1941 movie.

POP/ROCK

Making Change: The music industry’s AIDS organization, LIFEbeat, kicks off its third annual fund-raiser, “Counter AID--It’s About Change,” on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. The week-long effort urges music patrons to round off their purchases to the nearest dollar, with the extra money donated to LIFEbeat to help those living with HIV and AIDS. As part of the effort, well-known musicians and celebrities will man the cash registers of more than 200 record stores nationwide on Dec. 3 from noon to 4 p.m. Those scheduled to appear locally include Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano, Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, 4 Non Blonde’s Linda Perry and Me’Shell NdegeOcello at Tower Records, Sunset; L.A. Laker Cedric Ceballos, Coolio, Shai and “In Living Color’s” Jamie Foxx at Tower Records, Sherman Oaks; Aaliyah, Immature and “Married . . . With Children” star Katey Sagal at Sam Goody, Universal City Walk; and Joe Penny and the band White Zombie at the Hard Rock Cafe, Beverly Center.

QUICK TAKES

Los Angeles radio station KLSX-FM (97.1) will broadcast Westwood One’s radio simulcast of “Hoodoo U Voodoo,” the Rolling Stones live pay-per-view concert from Miami’s Joe Robbie Stadium tonight. The show begins at 6 p.m. . . . Doctors for David Crosby, 53, who underwent a liver transplant at UCLA Medical Center Sunday and was moved out of intensive care on Wednesday, say the singer could be out of the hospital in two weeks.