TELEVISIONDuPont Winners: ABC News, cited “for the...

TELEVISION

DuPont Winners: ABC News, cited “for the depth and range of its news coverage,” has received the top prize of the 49th annual Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for broadcast journalism. In awarding ABC a Gold Baton during ceremonies in New York Thursday night, the jury praised correspondent Linda Pattillo’s coverage of Haiti and Peter Jennings’ report on “Washington’s failure to respond to the disintegration of Bosnia,” among other coverage. Among those honored on Thursday with Silver Batons were CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” (for a report on the effects of nuclear testing by the former Soviet Union), cable’s CNN (for coverage of the Moscow uprising in 1993), two PBS “Frontline” programs (“Innocence Lost: The Verdict” and “Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo”), PBS’ “The Great Depression,” and HBO’s “I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School.” Both the evening’s radio awards went to National Public Radio.

MOVIES

‘Waterworld’ Colony Sinks: As if its highly publicized cost overruns and production delays haven’t been troubling enough, the $160-million Kevin Costner action film “Waterworld” has suffered another setback. Production sources say the “slave colony,” a 40-foot-high set built on the water, sank Thursday night in rough seas just off the Big Island of Hawaii. The steel structure, which weighs about 40,000 pounds, was apparently found submerged in about 160 feet of water. The set was built over an old buoy located near the movie’s artificial atoll. Sources say salvage specialists will be brought in to raise the structure and determine what caused it to sink. About seven more days of second-unit filming remain around the site. The film is planned for release in late July.

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Williams Reunites With Disney: Robin Williams, who got into a public battle with Disney over the studio’s use of his voice from “Aladdin” to endorse products, has cemented his friendship with new Disney Chairman Joe Roth by agreeing to star in “Jack,” a drama-comedy for Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. The film, to be directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by former Hollywood Pictures President Ricardo Mestres, tells the story of a 10-year-old boy whose body has genetically aged into that of a 40-year-old. “Jack” is scheduled to begin filming in October, for release in the summer or fall of 1996.

PEOPLE WATCH

Chase Arrested: Actor-comedian Chevy Chase was arrested by Beverly Hills police Thursday night and charged with suspicion of driving while under the influence. Chase, 51, was seen driving erratically and then speeding up to 70 m.p.h. on Wilshire Boulevard, according to police. He was stopped at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Wilshire Boulevard near Comstock Avenue. Chase registered a 0.18 blood alcohol level--more than twice the legal limit to operate a vehicle. He spent the night in the Beverly Hills jail and was released Friday morning, police said.

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Toilet Humor: Howard Stern has a new vehicle to carry his infamy into posterity. New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman has said that she will name a rest stop along Interstate 295 after the radio shock jock. In addition to a plaque bearing Stern’s name--which is in keeping with the state’s odd tradition of honoring people by naming New Jersey Turnpike rest stops after them--the toilet facility will contain a drawing of Stern peering from an outhouse.

THE ARTS

A Local Appointee: President Clinton has named Miguel Angel Corzo, director of Santa Monica’s Getty Conservation Institute, as a member of the U.S. Information Agency’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee. Corzo, a former president of the Friends of the Arts of Mexico Foundation, will join 10 other citizens providing expertise in the fields of archeology, anthropology and the international sale of cultural property.

QUICK TAKES

Nature triumphed Wednesday night when NBC’s “30 Years of National Geographic Specials” attracted 14.1 million national viewing homes to solidly win the night’s ratings. The program was the highest-rated National Geographic Special since 1974’s “The Big Cats.” . . . Entertainer Zsa Zsa Gabor was hit in the head at a Beverly Hills drugstore on Thursday after the wooden arm of an automatic driveway security gate dropped on her after her husband let her out of the car and drove through the gate. Gabor, 77, was treated at UCLA Medical Center and released. . . . Several top artists, including Philip Glass, Bill T. Jones, Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk, will perform at New York’s Joyce Theater tonight in an emergency benefit for dancer-choreographer Molissa Fenley, who was injured in a performance at the Joyce on Tuesday.

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Quotable: “We’re an equal opportunity offender and if these protesters don’t like the show, they should change the channel.”--”House of Buggin’ ” executive producer Michael Bregman, responding to about a dozen Orange County residents who congregated at St. Mary’s Church in Fullerton on Thursday to protest “negative portrayals of the Chicano/Latino community and other minorities” on Fox’s new John Leguizamo show.