TELEVISIONStaying at 8: ABC Entertainment President Ted...

TELEVISION

Staying at 8: ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert says he has changed his mind and will keep “Roseanne” at the earlier hour of 8 p.m. Wednesdays through the May sweeps because it is doing well there in the ratings. Amid protests from the show’s star at being switched from 9 p.m., Harbert said previously that the “Roseanne” move was just a six-week tryout. Now, says Harbert, it will be at least a nine-week run as he decides on his schedule for fall. The remainder of his revised Wednesday lineup, which he previously said would return to the regular slots during the important ratings period, will also stay in their new time periods during the sweeps, says Harbert. “Roseanne” will be followed by “Ellen,” “Grace Under Fire” and “Coach”--plus regular 10 p.m. entry “PrimeTime Live.” Harbert says he informed Roseanne of the latest move last week and that “she’s more concerned about next season. She wants to remain at 9 o’clock. That’s true.” Harbert also plans to rerun several episodes of the various Wednesday comedies following “Home Improvement” on Tuesdays during the sweeps.

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Support for PBS: Comedian Jerry Lewis is the latest celebrity to back the beleaguered Public Broadcasting Service. On Monday, Lewis spoke at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, where he began his remarks with a strong endorsement for PBS and its children’s programming, calling it a “magical, important” communication tool. “I have a 3-year-old daughter . . . who knows her ABCs in French, Hebrew and English,” he said. “She got that from public broadcasting.” Lewis followed the address by taping a 40-second TV spot about the value of public TV that will be distributed to member stations later this week.

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Twist in Winfrey Case: A Nashville grand jury is investigating bribery allegations against a lawyer for the woman who accused Oprah Winfrey’s father of sexual assault. The talk-show host’s lawyer testified Monday that attorney Frank Thompson-McLeod said he would drop Pamela Kennedy’s $3-million lawsuit against Vernon Winfrey for a payment of $750,000. Kennedy had claimed the elder Winfrey forced her to touch his genitals in exchange for a scholarship funded by Oprah Winfrey. A charge of indecent exposure against Vernon Winfrey, who maintained Kennedy was after his daughter’s money, was dropped on March 29.

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Coming in Syndication: Actor Robert Urich (“Lonesome Dove,” “Spencer: For Hire,” “Vega$”) will switch from network fare to syndication with “The Lazarus Man,” an hourlong Western drama series about a “mysterious stranger” who suffers from amnesia after being freed from a grave in which he was buried alive. The program, from Castle Rock Entertainment and Turner Program Services, is planned to premiere in January.

POP/ROCK

Lollapalooza, the Game: Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell is taking his annual music fest into the CD-ROM realm. Farrell, vocalist with the group Porno for Pyros, plans to release “Teeth,” an interactive CD-ROM incorporating both music and visual aspects of Lollapalooza ‘95, following this summer’s tour. Farrell describes the project as “a cross between a cyber-kinetic Lollapalooza souvenir and a CD-ROM interactive adventure game, such as Myst.” Included will be live concert footage, digital audio, graphics, film clips, “surprise” guest appearances and animated set pieces, divided into 12 “rounds,” with four separate “adventures” comprising each round. Players will complete each round using riddles, Taoist proverbs and other clues. Among those featured will be musician Iggy Pop “creating havoc du jour in the kitchen” and Cambridge physicist and space/time guru Stephen Hawking explaining such phenomena as the chaos theory and black holes.

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Mitchell’s Century Award: Singer Joni Mitchell has been named Billboard magazine’s 1995 Century Award winner. The award is the pop music trade magazine’s highest honor for creative achievement and will be presented to Mitchell on Dec. 6 at the Billboard Music Awards, which air that night on Fox TV.

STAGE

Musicals at the Alex: A new series of musicals has been booked into the Alex Theatre in Glendale. “South Pacific” with Jack Jones (Sept. 19-24), “My Fair Lady” with David Birney and Jodi Benson (Dec. 12-17), the Neil Simon/Marvin Hamlisch/David Zippel “The Goodbye Girl” with Gary Sandy and Debbie Shapiro-Gravitte (Feb. 20-25) and “Evita” (May 7-12, 1996) will be presented by Theater League, which already produces professional musicals in the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza’s Probst Theatre, where the same productions of “The Goodbye Girl” and “Evita” will play just prior to their Glendale runs. Those who still hold tickets to the Theatre Corp. of America’s aborted series of musicals last year at the Alex have been offered one-for-one exchanges or $20-per-ticket discounts on subscriptions to the new series.

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From ‘Gilligan’ to ‘Trojan Women’: A lagoon on the back lot of CBS Studio Center in Studio City will be the site of Michael Arabian’s staging of Euripides’ “The Trojan Women,” featuring Mariette Hartley, Angela Paton and Adam Lazarre-White. The pond is the former home of “Gilligan’s Island.” Theatre InSite’s production will begin previews May 31 for a June 10-July 2 run.