TELEVISION’Late’ Cast: Daniel Roebuck will play Jay...

TELEVISION

‘Late’ Cast: Daniel Roebuck will play Jay Leno and John Michael Higgins will be David Letterman in the HBO movie “The Late Shift.” The movie will be based on New York Times writer Bill Carter’s 1994 nonfiction book of the behind-the-scenes wars that led to Leno being named to replace Johnny Carson as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” followed by Letterman’s move to CBS. Actress Kathy Bates, who won the 1990 Academy Award for best actress in “Misery,” will play ousted “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” producer Helen Kushnick. Betty Thomas, who won an Emmy for the HBO series “Dream On,” is the director. Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters,” “Twins”) is the executive producer. Reitman indicates producing the movie based on such well-known public personalities will be a challenge. “The public knows these figures very well and we have to find people who can capture the essence of these characters so viewers can suspend their belief.” Roebuck, best known for his role as the bumbling young lawyer Clifford Lewis on the ABC-TV series “Matlock,” has appeared in “River’s Edge” and “The Fugitive.” Higgins, who had the title role in the play “Jeffrey,” a comedy about gay romance in the age of AIDS that ran Off Broadway and at Westwood Playhouse, also appeared in the movie “Crossing Delancey.”

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Big Audience for Confessional: The real Jay Leno racked up the third-highest overnight ratings in his “Tonight Show” tenure with actor Hugh Grant’s appearance Monday--doubling the audience of rival David Letterman. It was Grant’s first public appearance since being arrested with an alleged prostitute. National ratings won’t be available until next week, but Nielsen figures available Tuesday from 33 major cities showed NBC’s late-night show averaging a 10.2 rating, compared to a 5 for Letterman on CBS and a 5.1 for “Nightline” on ABC. The largest audience was in Los Angeles, where an estimated 780,000 homes tuned in, representing 42% of the audience watching TV at the time.

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In Concert: HBO will telecast “The Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” tape delayed on the West Coast Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m., the network announced Monday at its press tour presentation in Pasadena. The concert, expected to run about six hours, will feature Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, James Brown, Melissa Etheridge and the artist formerly known as Prince among others.

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Interest in Simpson Jumps: Ratings for KTLA-TV Channel 5’s live coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial increased sharply Monday as the defense began presenting its case. The three-hour morning session had an average audience of 415,000 homes, while the 4 1/2-hour afternoon session jumped to 489,000--the largest audience for KTLA since the trial began. By contrast, the KTLA coverage averaged 217,000 households during June.

THEATER

‘Angels’ Soar: The touring production of “Angels in America,” opening at the Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood next month, broke a first-day sales record Sunday, taking in $63,045 for non-subscription tickets. The previous record for first-day non-subscription ticket sales for a Center Theatre Group show at the Doolittle Theatre was $29,338 for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “Angels” is sold in two parts, so a record-breaker was expected, but even so, the total more than doubled the previous record.

LEGAL FILE

Acquittal: Kirk Douglas’ son Eric was acquitted Monday of disorderly conduct and obstruction charges over his eviction from a motel room. Douglas, 36, was charged in November when police told him to leave the room where he had been staying while performing at a Minneapolis comedy club. Motel employees said Douglas had been abusive, but his attorney said that no one told Douglas he had been evicted and that police overreacted.

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Ex-Husband Replies: Bo Brinkman, ex-husband of TV star Melissa Gilbert, will file in Los Angeles Superior Court within a week for primary legal custody of their 6-year-old son, Dakota, his lawyer Krystal Clemens said Tuesday. Currently, Gilbert and her ex-husband share custody. Meanwhile, Brinkman said, “I stand by my charges” published in the National Enquirer in which he accused Gilbert of “ignoring” their son. Gilbert, who recently played a lawyer on the NBC series “Sweet Justice,” is suing the supermarket tabloid and her ex-husband for defamation.

AWARDS

Diverse Diversity: Director Quentin Tarantino and actors Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Graham Greene and Whoopi Goldberg are honorees of the 1995 Diversity Awards from the Multicultural Motion Picture Awards Assn. Still to be named is the lifetime achievement winner. The third annual multicultural awards ceremony will be held in Beverly Hills Oct. 10 and, in association with Dick Clark Productions, will be taped for national TV syndication.