TELEVISIONLatino Training Program Dropped: CBS confirmed Monday...

TELEVISION

Latino Training Program Dropped: CBS confirmed Monday that it quietly discontinued a program to help develop Latino TV writers after being criticized by members of the Latino committee of the Writers Guild of America. Under the program, begun in 1993, CBS hired Latinos as trainees to work with the writing staffs on network shows. Critics charged in letters to The Times last March that the practice was discriminatory since the trainees were paid less than Writers Guild minimums. Several guild members subsequently wrote a letter saying they were appreciative of CBS’ efforts, but network executives didn’t accept the apology and abolished the program last month, although a spokeswoman said that they have not lost interest in boosting the number of Latino writers in Hollywood.

STAGE

‘Sunset’ Scores Again: Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard” and its star Glenn Close, previously seen in Century City, picked up the Outer Critics Circle awards as best musical and best actress in a musical in the first installment of the New York theater awards season. Matthew Broderick won the honor for best actor in a musical for “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” previously seen in La Jolla. Terrence McNally won the playwriting award for “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and that play’s Nathan Lane won the award for best actor. Cherry Jones was named best actress in a play for “The Heiress.” The Outer Critics Circle is a group of theater writers who work for media outside New York.

MUSIC/DANCE

ASCAP Honors Conti: Composer-conductor Bill Conti will receive the Golden Soundtrack Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers on Wednesday when ASCAP holds its 10th Annual Film & Television Music Awards at the Beverly Hilton. Conti won the Academy Award for best original score for “The Right Stuff” in 1983 and also received his third Emmy in 1992 for musical direction of the Academy Awards. His other Emmys were in 1990 for developing the creative concept and for composing the original score for the New York City Marathon. Conti’s works include scores from the “Rocky” trilogy and TV’s “Dynasty,” “Falcon Crest” and “Cagney & Lacey.”

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On Your Toes, Dancers: Los Angeles Ballet, a new company under the direction of John Clifford, will hold auditions Sunday in Santa Monica and May 13 in Costa Mesa. The group is planning a $2-million production of George Balanchine’s choreography of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” that will be performed at the Universal Amphitheatre and elsewhere. Registration for auditions begins at 2 p.m., both at the Westside Academy of Dance, 1711 Stewart St., Santa Monica, and six days later at the Jimmie DeFore Dance Center, 151 Kalmus St., Costa Mesa.

MOVIES

Prague Launches Festival: Prague will hold its first international film festival June 9-17. Among events planned are the Czech premiere of the Oscar-winning best foreign film, “Burnt by the Sun,” with Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov in attendance, as well as the first Czech screenings of American films “Kiss of Death,” “Nell” and “Don Juan de Marco.” The festival, headed by producer-director Antonin Moskalyk, will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Among honors at the festival, Arthur Hiller, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will be given a lifetime achievement award.

QUICK TAKES

Ralph Emery, a popular country music disc jockey and TV host for 38 years, is coming out of retirement at 62. “The Ralph Emery Show” premieres July 10 on the Nashville Network. Emery was host of “Nashville Now,” the first show to air on TNN, from 1983 to 1993, when it was replaced by “Music City Tonight.” . . . Actor William Baldwin and model-actress Cindy Crawford have been tapped to host the first “Blockbuster Entertainment Awards,” set to air on CBS June 6. The show’s backers say 1.5 million votes were cast by customers at Blockbuster video and music stores, giving it the largest-ever voting sample of any entertainment awards competition. . . . The Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park changes its name today to the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. “With the support and encouragement of Mr. Autry, the staff and the national advisory council, the board of directors has voted to modify the museum’s name to more clearly communicate its focus,” said Joanne Hale, museum chief executive officer. . . . KLOS-FM (95.5) radio team Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps raised more than $25,000 in donations last week for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing through the “Mark and Brian” morning show. . . . Christine Lahti won the 1994 International Sony Award, which honors radio drama, for best actress in the L.A. Theatre Works/BBC World Service/KCRW radio co-production of “Three Hotels” by Jon Robin Baitz. Lahti played the role of Barbara Hoyle, which she also recreated off-Broadway and at the Mark Taper Forum.