TELEVISIONTaking a Gamble on Gumbel?: What will...

TELEVISION

Taking a Gamble on Gumbel?: What will be the fate of “Today” host Bryant Gumbel? An industry source told Newsday that Gumbel, whose NBC contract ends this week, has received a major offer from Fox. Details of the package are unknown--except that Fox is very eager to land him and most likely wants him to headline its new untitled late-night news program, scheduled to air this season. As reported several weeks ago, Fox was expected to make a play for Gumbel because of the late-night project. But what does Gumbel want? The host, adept at the art of negotiating in the newspapers, told USA Today he’ll “certainly sign with someone.” Gumbel always has said he didn’t want to leave “Today” until it was back on top, which it is. But he’s also something of a homebody, who has spent most of his career at NBC. Gumbel and Fox executives could not be reached for comment.

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They’re No Rejects: They couldn’t get seats for David Letterman’s show, but they did sit down to Thanksgiving dinner--courtesy of Letterman. A group of 19 people--strangers until being rejected in the ticket line for CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” last week--were sent on an impromptu, all-expenses-paid trip to Miami by the talk-show host. On Thursday, the group was treated to turkey dinner with dressing and grits at the Hyatt Regency. Then they greeted Letterman on his show.

MOVIES

Hey Oscar, It’s Felix: French filmmaker Robert Bresson was honored for his life’s work by the European Film Academy on Sunday in Berlin. Actor Max von Sydow led the presentation of the 1994 Felix awards, an event that began seven years ago as the European answer to the Academy Awards. Bresson’s films include “Pickpocket” (1959), “The Trial of Joan of Arc” (1962) and “L’Argent,” for which he won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1983. The Felix for best film went to Gianni Amelio’s “Lamerica,” from Italy. The prize for best movie by a young filmmaker went to France’s Agnes Merlet for “Le Fils du Requin” and Hungary’s Janos Szasz for “Woyzeck.”

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Along the Nile: In a departure from its usual restrictions on violent movies, the 18th Cairo International Film Festival, which opens today in Egypt, will include Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” among the films to be screened. Stone is expected to participate, along with directors Charles Burnett (“To Sleep With Anger”), Matty Rich (“Straight Out of Brooklyn”), Charles Lane (“Sidewalk Stories”) and Luis Valdez (“La Bamba”). Actors Nicolas Cage and Marsha Mason, also set to attend, will be honored with screenings of their work. The festival ends on Dec. 11.

STAGE

Radio City, Mo.: Now you can see Radio City Music Hall’s holiday extravaganza without going to New York City. “The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular” premiered at the Grand Palace theater in Branson, Mo., over the Thanksgiving weekend--the first time in the past 60 years that the annual show has been seen in a place other than Radio City Music Hall. The revue runs through Dec. 22 in Branson, through Jan. 8 in New York.

NEW MEDIA

The King Logs Off: Elvis has left the Internet. A computer system at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was home for almost a year to the “Elvis Home Page,” a billboard accessible through the SunSITE destination on the Internet. Fans could access sound clips of Elvis Presley’s recordings, photos and even a “Cyber Graceland Tour” with images of the King’s Memphis home. The free billboard was taken off line this month at the request of the Presley estate’s attorneys because it included copyrighted material. A lawyer said the estate might want to do its own version of Elvis in cyberspace in the future.

QUICK TAKES

TV producer Norman Lear and his wife, Lyn Davis Lear, are the parents of twin girls born on Thanksgiving Day. A surrogate mother gave birth to Madelaine Rose and Brianna Elizabeth Lear, said a spokeswoman for the couple. The Lears are the biological parents. Lear, 72, and his 47-year-old wife, who is a psychologist, also have a 6-year-old son, Benjamin. . . . Radio shrink Dr. David Viscott returns to the airwaves in Los Angeles beginning this week. Viscott’s show will air on KIEV (870 AM) from 2-4 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3-4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 2-3 p.m. on Fridays. . . . Connie Chung interviews Paul Hill, who shot and killed Florida abortion doctor John Britton, on Thursday’s “Eye to Eye” on CBS. . . . Tom Arnold will star in a movie sendup of “Highway Patrol,” the ‘50s cop show with Broderick Crawford. Arnold will play the son of Crawford’s character, Chief Matthews.