TELEVISION - Dec. 9, 1995

Leno Joins Troops: “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, who scored his first sweeps period ratings victory over rival David Letterman in November, takes a cue from Bob Hope. Leno, joined by bandleader Kevin Eubanks, will host a Christmas show at Italy’s Aviano Air Base next Saturday in hopes of lending some holiday cheer to the Bosnian peacekeeping efforts. Aviano, a primary Air Force base for U.S. troops in the peacekeeping mission, has more than 4,000 troops on permanent assignment; several thousand more are there temporarily. Dec. 15’s “Tonight Show” will be fed live via satellite to Aviano, where soldiers are scheduled to take part in a comedy sketch with Leno. Leno has entertained U.S. troops before: He was in the Middle East during 1991’s Gulf War.

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UPN Takes NBC Discard: The United Paramount Network has picked up the former NBC series “Minor Adjustments” and will pair it with “Moesha,” a new comedy starring teen singing star Brandy Norwood, on Tuesday nights starting Jan. 23. “Moesha,” created by Ralph Farquhar (“South Central”), will air at 8 p.m.; “Minor Adjustments,” starring Rondell Sheridan, will air at 8:30. The programs replace the hourlong series “Deadly Games.”

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Van Susteren’s Legal File: CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren, who says O.J. Simpson has promised her his first post-trial interview, is facing a legal challenge of her own. Van Susteren, co-anchor of the cable channel’s “Burden of Proof” program and her husband, John Coale, had been subjected to disciplinary proceedings by the West Virginia State Bar, which accused them of soliciting business from families of residents injured or killed in accidents between 1990 and 1993. Van Susteren and Cole contend in a federal lawsuit that the bar has no authority to punish lawyers who aren’t licensed in the state. Cole has denied wrongdoing and said that his wife had nothing to do with the matter. A hearing is set for Jan. 4.

POP/ROCK

Love Alleges Security Mishap: Police are investigating claims by Hole singer Courtney Love that she was roughed up by security guards Wednesday while hanging out backstage at a Green Day concert at the University of New Orleans’ Lakefront Arena. Love said that the incident began when three arena guards ordered her to move away as she sat on an equipment box signing autographs. She says the guards grabbed her by the neck and pushed her toward the seats, twisting her arm behind her back, pulling her hair and banging her head against a steel pole while ignoring her attempts to show them her VIP backstage pass. When they finally released her in the audience area, “one of them said, ‘Oh, you’re Courtney Love. I’m sorry, it’s all been a big mistake,’ ” she said. “As if, just because I’m me, I shouldn’t have been treated that way, but if I wasn’t me, then I should.” An arena official declined to comment, saying he had not received a report on the incident.

MUSIC

Philharmonic Forms Student Orchestra: The Los Angeles Philharmonic is looking for talented high school musicians to join its new High School Honor Orchestra, which will perform alongside Philharmonic musicians at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion next spring. Up to 100 students will be selected to perform at the May 11 concert, to be led by Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Grant Gershon. Applicants must be in grades 9 though 12 and be members in good standing of either a public high school orchestra or a community youth orchestra based in L.A. County. Students must be nominated by their school music teacher or by a youth orchestra director; the application deadline is Jan. 12. The 1996 Los Angeles Philharmonic High School Honor Orchestra, the first such group organized by the Philharmonic, is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

QUICK TAKES

Richard Jeni will record a live comedy CD at Pasadena’s Ice House on Sunday during performances at 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. . . . Director Martha Coolidge (“Rambling Rose,” “Lost in Yonkers”) will teach a master class for aspiring filmmakers today and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the American Film Institute. The course fee is $250 for both days. . . . Minor injuries to dancers Jeremy Jacobs and Curtis Hurt have caused a one-day postponement of the Diavolo Dance Theatre engagement at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, which now begins next Friday. Jacobs and Hurt collided head-to-head in mid-air during a rehearsal last Monday. . . . Nancy Dussault, not the previously announced Barbara Rush, will take the female role in the premiere of Bernard Slade’s “Same Time, Another Year,” the sequel to “Same Time, Next Year,” slated for Jan. 14-Feb. 18 at the Pasadena Playhouse. Rush withdrew because of a family illness, a spokesman said. . . . Actor Adrian Zmed (“T.J. Hooker”) has been cast as Danny in Tommy Tune’s upcoming production of “Grease” at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Jan. 23-28.

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Quotable: “I don’t have any further interest in politics. I like being involved locally in my community, but the state of politics right now is so loaded with negativity that I don’t want to get into that plane. I would never have been able to pass the Bill Clinton-Gary Hart test, the scrutiny [politicians] are put through nowadays--no one short of Mother Teresa could pass.”

--Actor and former Carmel Mayor Clint Eastwood, during an Internet chat on Mr. Showbiz.