MOVIESLovell’s Journey: Twenty-five years and a blockbuster...

MOVIES

Lovell’s Journey: Twenty-five years and a blockbuster movie later, Apollo 13 Cmdr. Jim Lovell finally won a presidential medal for his heroism. “While you may have lost the moon . . . you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people,” President Clinton said Wednesday when awarding Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Lovell said he was indebted to his crew mates and the NASA team that enabled “Apollo 13 to come back to the Earth.” Tom Hanks plays Lovell in the hit “Apollo 13,” dramatizing the near-fatal 1970 flight.

PEOPLE WATCH

Nomomania: You knew it was coming--a song about Dodger rookie pitching sensation Hideo Nomo, to the tune of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O.” “The Ballad of Hideo Nomo,” written and produced by David Trotman, chronicles the exploits of the Japanese player from public skepticism that his signing was a publicity stunt through his world-convincing, All-Star dominance. Surprisingly, Trotman lives in San Francisco and is a staunch Giants fan, though he says that Nomo has “really been great for baseball.” Cassettes of the song are available only at the Magic Radio store in Little Tokyo, though Trotman will be distributing them to more stores soon.

RADIO

More Talk Radio: Beset by falling ratings, KLSX-FM (97.1) is expected to drop its rock classics format and switch to talk Tuesday, with a lineup that will include Kato Kaelin, a witness in the O.J. Simpson trial, and Susan Olsen, formerly of “The Brady Bunch.” KLSX already is home to Howard Stern’s morning talk show. The station refused comment Thursday.

TELEVISION

PBS in the Lead: The Public Broadcasting Service scored 30 nominations for the 16th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. ABC had 20 nominations, followed by CBS with 17 and NBC with 15. Cable TV’s TBS had seven nominations, the Discovery Channel had four, CNN and HBO each had three. A&E;, the Learning Channel and Fox Broadcasting Co. each had two, and syndicated programming had one. The nominations in 29 categories were made by peer panels from a record 1,300 entries submitted to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the 1994 calendar year. The awards will be presented Sept. 12 in New York.

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Cable Connection Showtime and USA Network have joined forces for an original family drama, “Homecoming,” starring Anne Bancroft. Currently filming in Toronto, “Homecoming” will premiere on Showtime in early 1996 and will make its basic cable premiere on USA in the spring of 1996. “Homecoming” marks the first movie alliance between the two channels.

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Fox’s Early Autumn: Fox Broadcasting begins its new season with the launch of its Thursday night lineup on Aug. 31. The kickoff includes the third-season premiere of “Living Single” at 8 p.m.; the debut of “The Crew,” a new comedy about four friends who work as flight attendants, at 8:30 p.m., and the second-season premiere of the drama “New York Undercover” at 9 p.m.

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Family Talks: “Cristina” will air the first in-depth TV interview with the family of slain tejano singer Selena, Monday at 4 p.m. on KMEX. Selena’s husband, parents, sister and brother will discuss how they are coping with the tragedy of her slaying. . . . Hugh Grant’s longtime main squeeze, actress and Estee Lauder model Elizabeth Hurley, talks with Barbara Walters on the Aug. 4 edition of ABC’s “20/20.” In the interview, Hurley’s first since his vice arrest last month, she discusses how she met Grant eight years ago, what their relationship is like now and how the scandal has affected her career.

STAGE

Malibu Mid-Sized: Moving up to the sparsely populated ranks of L.A.’s professional mid-sized theater companies, Malibu Summerstage--formerly a non-professional company--has signed an agreement with Actors’ Equity for the use of five Equity members in “Othello,” opening Aug. 4 in a 215-seat outdoor venue at the Malibu Civic Center. A new play, “Dixie,” will follow in September, and the season is slated to extend into October.

QUICK TAKES

ABC news correspondent Sam Donaldson, 61, will have surgery next week to remove a cancerous lymph node in his groin. “The best information he has at this point is that it’s localized, that it hasn’t spread,” network spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said. He could be back to work in a week. . . . Ken Page (“Ain’t Misbehavin’ ”), David Garrison (“Guys and Dolls”) and Kurt Deutsch (“Broadway Bound”) have been cast in the world premiere production of Randy Newman’s “Faust” opening Sept. 24 at the La Jolla Playhouse. . . . Comic Martin Lawrence, star of Fox’s “Martin” and the hit film “Bad Boys,” is close to signing a three-picture deal at Columbia Pictures for a reported $20 million.