TELEVISIONOn the Bright Side: Kathy Najimy and...

TELEVISION

On the Bright Side: Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney have given 500 tickets to an upcoming taping of their HBO special, “Kathy & Mo: The Dark Side,” to the locally based AIDS service organizations LA Shanti and Project Angel Food. The groups will distribute the tickets to AIDS patients and the volunteers who work with them for Friday’s taping, one of three performances next weekend by the duo at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. The comedy special, scheduled to air July 8, is a continuation of the duo’s Off Broadway show “Parallel Lives,” in which Najimy and Gaffney will appear in issue-oriented sketches.

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Cable Deal: Production is scheduled on the first film of a long-term joint agreement between HBO Productions and the BBC’s Drama Department. The movies, featuring talent from both sides of the Atlantic, will range in topics from contemporary drama to exploration of historical events. First up, with filming set for June in England, is “Black Tuesday,” the story of a black U.S. soldier falsely accused of raping an Englishwoman during World War II. Courtney Vance stars; Harry Belafonte is executive producer.

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Surprise Appearance: British author Salman Rushdie (“The Satanic Verses”), under an Islamic sentence of death, made a walk-on appearance on Friday’s CBS broadcast of “The Late Show With David Letterman.” Rushdie, introduced by Letterman as “a man who doesn’t get out very often,” handed over the Top 10 List (“Top 10 Bobby Pet Peeves”) and joked to Letterman, “If you need me, I’ll be at the London Plaza Hotel.”

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That’s a Fact, Jack: “Bringing Up Jack,” an ABC sitcom originally scheduled to air in March, will premiere May 27 at 8:30 p.m. Jack Gallagher stars as a Philadelphia sports-talk personality trying to cope with parenthood. Harley Jane Kozak (“Parenthood”) plays his expectant wife with two children from a previous marriage.

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The Times They Are a-Changin’: ABC will shift its “Family Movie” from 8 to 9 p.m. starting next Saturday with the telecast of “Johnny’s Girl.” The network’s “Roseanne” temporarily will move from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays as of May 31. The CBS cop series “Due South” returns in a new Friday slot at 9 p.m. on June 2.

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Their ‘Life’: MTV will repeat the original 19 episodes of “My So-Called Life,” the drama canceled by ABC, over a two-year period beginning this fall. Reruns of the hourlong series are airing weeknights at 7 through June 2. . . . “The Real World,” whose fourth MTV season will be set in London, begins a run of 22 shows June 28.

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Order in the Court: A new daily cable series on the law is in the works at CNN. A pilot has been made for “Side Bar,” though the format has not been settled on. “It’s one of several concepts for programs we are looking at,” a CNN spokeswoman said Friday.

THEATER

New Faces: Calista Flockhart and Billy Crudup have won the Clarence Derwent Awards, the New York theater’s top prize for most promising new performers. Flockhart played Laura in the recent Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” Crudup portrays a passionate young tutor in Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia.” The awards were first given in 1945 by Derwent, former president of the actors union, “to discover talent and give a helping hand to the struggling actor and actress, of which I was one.” Past recipients include George C. Scott, Gene Hackman, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Dianne Wiest.

KUDOS

In Good Company: Sumner M. Redstone, chairman of Viacom Inc., will receive the Allan K. Jonas life achievement award for his service to the American Cancer Society. The honor will be presented Tuesday at the society’s 14th annual gala tribute dinner in Beverly Hills. . . . Actress Jane Seymour and six female physicians will be honored with the Anti-Defamation League’s 1995 Outstanding Achievement and Community Service Awards, Wednesday in Century City.

QUICK TAKES

A memorial tribute to Reza Abdoh, the controversial stage director who died May 11, will be held at the Mark Taper Forum, Thursday at 11 a.m. Information: (213) 243-0207. . . . Zapped Taps/Alfred Desio, a unit of L.A. Choreographers & Dancers, will perform today at 6 p.m. at the Electronic Cafe in Santa Monica. Desio created the tap sounds for Gregory Hines’ 1989 film “Tap.” A $5 admission fee will be charged. . . . Tryouts for the seventh season of “American Gladiators” will be held today at 9 a.m. at CBS Studio Center, 4024 Radford Ave. in Studio City. Participants must be at least 18 years old. . . . “Human Nature,” Madonna’s new video, will air at 1, 3 and 9 p.m. Monday on MTV. . . . Sylvester Stallone will receive the Icon Award as history’s top-grossing action-adventure star at the “Blockbuster Entertainment Awards” June 3 on CBS. . . . A director’s cut of Lawrence Kasdan’s “Wyatt Earp” with 20 additional minutes of footage will be released June 13 by Warner Home Video.