TELEVISIONNew Late-Night Entry: Actress and spokesmodel Lauren...

TELEVISION

New Late-Night Entry: Actress and spokesmodel Lauren Hutton is set to join the late-night TV market with “Lauren Hutton And . . . ,” a half-hour syndicated series set to air locally on KCAL Channel 9, starting in the fall. The New York-based, Monday-through-Friday-night program, taped without an audience, will feature Hutton in informal, one-on-one interviews with a different guest each night. Guests will come from the fields of entertainment, politics, sports, music, fashion and publishing.

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Tuesday Night Fare: ABC’s new sitcom, “Buddies” (formerly called “Take Two”), starring Jim Breuer and Dave Chappelle as two would-be filmmakers, will premiere April 18 in the Tuesday 9:30 p.m. time slot, after “Home Improvement.” The coveted slot opened up after ABC decided to move “Grace Under Fire” from 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, bumping “Roseanne” to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, starting March 29.

MOVIES

A Nobel Prize Subject: A collection of short stories by Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe, who won the Nobel Prize for literature last year, will be brought to the screen by veteran filmmaker Juzo Itami, whose hits include “Tampopo” and “A Taxing Woman.” Production on “Shizuka na Seikatsu” (A Quiet Life) will begin in May, with the film scheduled for Japanese release in September. Oe, 60, and Itami, 61, have known each other since childhood and attended the same school.

LEGAL FILE

Dispute Over Rap Lyrics: Luther Campbell’s rap music has landed him in court again, this time because the rapper allegedly secretly recorded his telephone sex conversations with a girlfriend and used the graphic comments on an album. Nelda Parinas, 30, who has since split with Campbell, wants a percentage of the record sales to compensate for the emotional damage and embarrassment she claims she suffered. The 4-year-old recording, “I’ve Got SumThin on My Mind,” sold more than 350,000 copies and grossed $4 million, according to Parinas’ lawyers. Campbell’s attorneys, however, say Parinas agreed to appear on the introduction to the record--a short bit where she describes what she plans to do to Campbell’s body--and have introduced as evidence a disclaimer she signed. In a 1990 court case that eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court, Campbell succeeded in fighting a Florida sheriff’s attempts to censor his sexually explicit album “As Nasty as They Wanna Be.”

KUDOS

Polk Winners: The PBS documentary “Jihad in America” and ABC News’ “Day One” are the two TV winners of the 1994 George Polk Awards. “Jihad” was recognized for documenting “the existence of a radical Islamic militant network in the U.S. dedicated to promoting its vision of jihad, or holy war,” while “Day One” was recognized for the series “Smokescreen,” which the Polk committee called “the first to reveal how the tobacco industry manipulates nicotine in cigarettes.” The awards, recognizing excellence in journalism, will be presented in New York on April 5.

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More TV winners: ABC News has been cited for best investigative reporting and the network’s Ted Koppel (“Nightline”) has been named most thought-provoking TV commentator by the American Journalism Review. But “ABC World News Tonight” lost out to PBS’ “MacNeil/Lehrer” as best national nightly newscast. Also among the journalism publication’s winners this year is CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which was named best TV newsmagazine.

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Producers Guild Awards: The Producers Guild of America Awards take place at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel tonight with winners including the producers of “Forrest Gump” (movie of the year), “ER” (TV series) and “World War II: When the Lions Roar” (best single program or miniseries). Other honorees include Howard W. Koch (“Airplane!,” “Ghost”), winner of a lifetime achievement award for movies; longtime ABC executive Leonard Goldenson, recipient of a television lifetime achievement award, and Michael Moore (“TV Nation”), who will receive the Nova Award for the year’s most promising TV producer.

QUICK TAKES

Actor Jeff Bridges will team with director Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Thelma & Louise”) in Hollywood Pictures’ adventure film “White Squall,” about the 1961 ordeal of a sea captain and group of teen-age boys whose ship sinks in a fierce Caribbean storm. Filming begins later this month in the Caribbean and Malta. . . . Final ballots for the March 27 Oscars were mailed Tuesday to the 4,924 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Undecided voters have only two weeks to make up their minds, as all ballots must be returned by March 21. . . . Actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith will be the emcee at tonight’s International Women’s Day Celebration at the Writers Guild Theatre. Participants in the 7 p.m. program include screenwriter Robin Swicord (“Little Women”) and actresses Miranda Richardson, Alfre Woodard and Tippi Hedren.