TELEVISIONGetting a Life?: MTV said that repeat...

TELEVISION

Getting a Life?: MTV said that repeat episodes of the teen drama “My So-Called Life,” which have aired weekdays at 7 p.m. on the cable network for three weeks, attracted an average of more than 2 million viewers per night last week, about three times as many as had been watching the shows airing previously in that time slot. But that’s only a fraction of the number of viewers who watched the struggling series, starring Claire Danes, on ABC, and the network’s officials are noncommittal about its future as they prepare to announce their fall schedule May 16. “Our position hasn’t changed,” said Mark Johnson, an ABC spokesman. “It’s a contender, and everybody likes the show. We hope the MTV airing of the show, if it comes back to the network, will help build its audience. But there has been no discussion at this point about the MTV experience as it relates to our decision.” Would MTV pick up the series if ABC drops it? “Regrettably, no,” said Doug Herzog, executive vice president of programming and production at MTV. “It would be too expensive for us to do original episodes, and it probably would be too expensive for us to just license outright.”

MOVIES

Sweet Dreams: “While You Were Sleeping,” the romantic comedy from Hollywood Pictures, performed like a dream at the box office during the weekend, its second in release. The film was No. 1 again, but this time it had a $10.2-million gross--up from its $9.3-million total last weekend. Box-office numbers typically drop after opening weekend. New Line’s “Friday,” starring Ice Cube, opened in second place with $6.8 million on just 865 screens. In third was Columbia’s “Bad Boys” with $4.4 million followed by MGM/UA’s “Rob Roy” in fourth with $3.3 million. Universal’s “Village of the Damned,” John Carpenter’s remake of the 1960 classic, had a lackluster opening, taking in $3 million for fifth place.

AWARDS

Double Laurels: Roseanne, who is known for her outspokenness, was honored for it with the Freedom of Speech Award at the 13th Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Awards Dinner on Sunday in Los Angeles. Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal interest group, recognized Roseanne for dealing with important issues on her TV show and for being a compassionate liberal. The actress received her honor from filmmaker Oliver Stone, the event’s honorary chair. . . . Actor and Harvard grad Jack Lemmon was back on campus Friday to receive the first Harvard Arts Medal, an honor given to a Harvard or Radcliffe graduate or faculty member who has made a contribution to the arts.

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Who’s Edgar?: “Pulp Fiction” didn’t win the Oscar for best picture, but the movie has won the Edgar for best picture. The annual Edgar awards, sponsored by the the Mystery Writers of America, were given out in New York last week. For best TV show, the group chose the British television series “Crackers.”

POP/ROCK

Ticket Jam: Tickets sold out quickly for the second and third stops on Pearl Jam’s alternative summer tour, bolstering the credibility of a new touch-tone telephone distribution system employed by the Seattle superstars to circumvent Ticketmaster, according to a Pearl Jam spokesperson. Fans in Utah on Saturday took seven minutes to snap up 12,000 tickets to a June 17 show at Wolfe Mountain Amphitheatre in Salt Lake City. An additional 18,000 tickets sold out in 12 minutes on Sunday for two concerts scheduled June 19 and June 20 at Denver’s Redrocks Amphitheatre. Consumers were able to order two tickets each by dialing an 800 number announced in local radio and print ads.

OKLAHOMA WATCH

Aid and Remembrance: The New York-based League of American Theatres and Producers will collect contributions from Broadway theater audiences all this week for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing. . . . Figure skater Tonya Harding has recorded a pop song, “When We Shared in Each Other’s Lives,” dedicated to people affected by the Oklahoma City tragedy. Harding’s recording session will be shown on today’s “Hard Copy.”

STAGE

Title Change: The new Stephen Sondheim/George Furth play scheduled to open at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre on Sept. 16 has a new title: “The Doctor Is Out: A Comedy Thriller.” The originally announced name, “Getting Away With Murder,” and a subsequent working title, “Guilt by Association,” were found to duplicate titles of a movie and a book, respectively.

QUICK TAKES

David Bowie and Phil Collins will design clothes to raise funds for children in Bosnia. War Child, a British charity, said the pop stars, along with Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Peter Gabriel, have agreed to create fashions that will be auctioned at a London sale in June. . . . The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present “An Evening Inside ‘ER,’ ” featuring a panel discussion with the creative staff behind the hit NBC show as well as some of its stars, on May 11 at the Academy Plaza Theatre in North Hollywood. Tickets are $15. . . . Singer Olivia Newton-John, 46, and her actor husband, Matt Lattanzi, 35, have separated after 11 years of marriage.