TELEVISIONNew ABC Offerings: ABC will add three...

TELEVISION

New ABC Offerings: ABC will add three new series to its prime-time schedule in February. Hoping to expand on its success with “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” the network will air the new “World’s Funniest Videos” Thursdays at 8 p.m., followed at 8:30 by “Before They Were Stars,” a half-hour series co-executive produced by Tony Danza and based on the network’s specials of the same name. Both shows premiere Feb. 1 and fill the space vacated earlier this season by the canceled Mark Harmon drama “Charlie Grace.” Premiering Feb. 5 in the 8-9 p.m. hour is “Second Noah,” a drama starring Daniel Hugh Kelly and Betsy Brantley as the parents of eight adopted children from different ethnic backgrounds. “The ABC Monday Night Movie” goes on hiatus starting Feb. 5; hourlong specials will air Mondays at 9 p.m. through February.

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WB to Revise Sundays: The WB Network will shuffle its Sunday night schedule as of Jan. 7. The evening will still lead off with “Pinky & the Brain” at 7 p.m., and “Sister, Sister” will stay put at 8 p.m. But in new time slots will be “Simon” at 7:30 and “Kirk” at 8:30. Airing from 9 to 10 p.m. will be the new Aaron Spelling series “Savannah,” which chronicles the lives of three “contemporary Southern belles.” “First Time Out” and “Cleghorne!” will go on hiatus, but will remain in production and return at a future date.

POP/ROCK

Files to Be Disclosed: A Los Angeles federal judge has ordered the FBI to turn over some of its files disclosing its reason for monitoring former Beatle John Lennon in 1971-72. The order, a response to a 1983 ACLU lawsuit filed on behalf of UC Irvine history professor Jonathan Wiener, who alleges that the FBI probe of Lennon was politically motivated, orders the FBI to answer the plaintiff’s query of “whether the FBI used unlawful activities in connection with the Lennon investigation.” Wiener and the ACLU have claimed that files obtained earlier show that the investigation, conducted under the Nixon administration by then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, was an effort to neutralize Lennon’s attempt to persuade his fans to oppose Nixon’s reelection and Vietnam policies.

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Sinatra America’s Favorite: Ol’ Blue Eyes received yet another birthday tribute this week, when he was named top o’ the heap, A-No. 1 in a poll of America’s favorite singers. Last year, Frank Sinatra finished 10th in the Harris Poll, but undoubtedly benefited this year from attention paid to his 80th birthday, which he celebrated on Tuesday. Elsewhere on the list, compiled from a November survey of 1,007 adults, Whitney Houston fell from the top spot to fifth. The Statler Brothers, who failed to make last year’s Top 10, came in second, and Reba McEntire was third.

MOVIES

Palm Springs Lineup: About 140 films from more than 25 countries have been lined up for the Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, taking place Jan. 5-21. Fourteen world premieres are scheduled, including Michael Becker’s “Cityscrapes,” starring Ione Skye, Donovan Leitch, Balthazar Getty and Daphne Zuniga; an animated “Wind in the Willows” narrated by Vanessa Redgrave; “Cadillac Ranch,” starring Christopher Lloyd and Suzy Amis; and “Intimacies,” a feature documentary on the life of Los Angeles-based actor Michael Kearns, who gained distinction as the first Hollywood actor to openly declare his HIV-positive status. Another 26 U.S. premieres are scheduled, as are screenings of 10 foreign Oscar submissions, including movies from Germany, France, Iran, Argentina, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Among other events, the festival will honor actress Susan Sarandon on Jan. 6 with its annual Charles A. Crain Desert Palm Achievement Award. Additional honors will go to filmmaker Leslie Caron, director Stanley Donen, composer Marvin Hamlisch and choreographer Michael Kidd.

MUSIC

New Ticket to the Kennedy Center: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts joins the Internet today, and will host its first interactive event, a “CyberSingAlong” of Handel’s “Messiah,” on Dec. 23 at 4:30 p.m. Via the Kennedy Center’s Home Page, participants in the “CyberSingAlong” can see and hear the live performance of “Messiah” in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, and can add their voices to a global cyberspace choir. The address is https://kennedy-center.org.

QUICK TAKES

“The X-Files” star Gillian Anderson provides the voice for an animated version of her character when she guest stars Dec. 30 on ABC’s Saturday morning computer-generated animation series “Reboot,” on an episode titled “Trust No One.” On “Reboot,” Anderson’s FBI agent Dana Scully becomes CGI Agent Data Nully, who investigates a mysterious energy force disrupting the city of Mainframe. . . . “Days of Our Lives” star Deidre Hall has sued her former accountant, Robert J. Houston, for allegedly embezzling nearly $1.4 million from her.