DANCERoyal Royal: Anthony Dowell, director of the...

DANCE

Royal Royal: Anthony Dowell, director of the Royal Ballet of London, has been awarded a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. He became “a Knight Bachelor for his services to ballet” in a list published on Saturday. Dowell, a former lead dancer and assistant director of the company, is noted for his work with choreographers Kenneth McMillan and Antony Tudor. The Royal Ballet’s production of Dowell’s “Swan Lake” will have six performances at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion July 6-9, the company’s first Los Angeles visit in 17 years.

TELEVISION

Look, Ma, No Commercials: In its first original preschool programming venture, Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network has partnered with Children’s Television Workshop to develop “BIG BAG,” a weekly commercial-free preschool program, it was announced Tuesday. The agreement calls for 13 one-hour episodes produced by Children’s Television Workshop to air on Cartoon Network beginning in May. The show is CTW’s first preschool programming project since “Sesame Street.” Jim Henson Productions will create a new Muppet character for the show.

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Day of Compassion: Dozens of TV talk shows, soap operas and other programs will be spotlighting AIDS as a topic today as part of the third annual Day of Compassion. The event is sponsored by Hollywood Supports, an entertainment industry group working to counter fears of and discrimination against homosexuals and people with AIDS. Among the participating programs today are “Another World,” “The Young and the Restless,” “Loving” and talk shows hosted by Oprah Winfrey, Jenny Jones, Gordon Elliott, Montel Williams and Sally Jessy Raphael. In addition, many TV channels will be running public-service announcements throughout the day about AIDS-related subjects.

LEGAL FILE

Power Suit: Former FBI agent Herbert Simmons has sued Saban Entertainment, claiming that Simmons, not Saban, created the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, heroes of the under-10 set, more than 20 years ago and honed the concept 10 years later. Simmons said that he created on paper a group of crime-fighting characters called the Star Patrol in 1983. A judgment in favor of Simmons could be worth more that $1 billion. Saban has countersued, asserting that Simmons’ claims are without merit and that his Star Patrol bears no similarity to Saban’s colorful and hugely profitable band of crime-fighters-in-tights. A Saban spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that the company had received a copy of the suit, but said that as a matter of policy it does not comment on matters of litigation.

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Classic Suit: An American Movie Classics spokesman confirmed Tuesday that the cable channel is suing Turner Entertainment and its new cable network, Turner Classic Movies, for $250 million for breach of contract concerning the Turner-owned RKO film library. AMC charges that Turner “knowingly, intentionally and repeatedly” violated AMC’s contract by illegally running RKO movies on TCM last year.

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Network Suit: Martin Israel, host of a local Los Angeles cable-TV show called “America Talks” since 1984, has reached a $7,000 settlement in a copyright infringement suit against NBC over the name of its year-old cable-TV network America’s Talking. While Israel hailed the award as a victory, an America’s Talking spokesman said Tuesday that on Monday the court issued a tentative ruling to throw out Israel’s lawsuit, but said it would give him time to file papers. In order to avoid further costs, the spokesman said, NBC agreed to pay $7,000 to dispose of Israel’s claim of $15 million.

QUICK TAKES

“Bridges of Madison County” author Robert James Waller’s book “Border Music” has been sold to Von Zerneck-Sertner Films for a reported $1 million-plus. The film-for-TV will be produced in alliance with Hallmark Entertainment and LGS Entertainment. . . . Bryant Gumbel will interview former Los Angeles police detective Ron Shipp, a key witness in the O.J. Simpson trial, tonight on NBC’s “Dateline.” This will be Shipp’s first TV interview since he testified in March. . . . A huge 16th-Century fresco of the Last Judgment by Giorgio Vasari that covers the interior of the dome of Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, built by Brunelleschi, was unveiled Tuesday after six years of restoration work. . . . Police are investigating actor and boxer Mickey Rourke in connection with a fight that left a man injured outside a gym in Hollywood.