COVER STORY : AT THE CENTER OF THE DOLE FIRESTORM

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) got plenty of attention when he scolded Hollywood about sex and violence in movies, TV and pop music. But, as The Times reports today (see Page A1), Dole’s comments aren’t changing the face of show business. Yet. The creative and business powerbrokers will tell you they’ve always been thoughful about what they produce. Here, then, are some snapshots of life on the front lines:

LESLIE MOONVES

President, CBS Entertainment

Leslie Moonves is definitely upbeat about TV. As the past president of Warner Bros. Television, he landed 20 series on the networks this fall, including eight new ones and the returning “ER,” “Friends” and “Murphy Brown.”

His success earned him his new position as president of CBS Entertainment, and he concedes that sex and violence on TV should be carefully monitored.

Did he reject or alter any projects at Warner Bros. because of sex or violence?

“Many times--in episodes, pilots and concepts,” he says. “There was an episode of ‘Lois & Clark’ that was going to involve gang warfare. We vetoed that idea and used nonviolent means to solve the problem.”

While some have rapped sexual content in shows like “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “NYPD Blue,” Moonves believes that TV “is certainly getting better.”

“If you look at the top 30 shows,” he says, “you’d be hard-pressed to find anything considered violent or that has problems with sex, nudity, whatever. There are a lot of assumptions by people not familiar with the shows.”

The notion that the industry “has no morality or care” about what it’s putting on the screen “is blatantly unfair,” he says. “Yes, there are some people in our business doing that, but not the majority.

“I have three children,” says Moonves, 45, “and your point of view changes when you watch TV with children.”