TELEVISIONPaying for Rabin Slaying Tape: ABC, CBS...

TELEVISION

Paying for Rabin Slaying Tape: ABC, CBS and NBC all paid what they said was a “nominal fee” to air an amateur video of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on their nightly newscasts Tuesday night. The footage was bought by an Israeli TV network and an Israeli newspaper for what one source said was “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and network sources said the owners of the film had been seeking a “sizable sum” for exclusive use of the video on one American TV network. “We paid a relatively modest fee for nonexclusive use of the footage,” ABC News executive Bob Murphy said in an interview. “We felt there was real news value on the tape.”

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‘Frasier’ Casting: Mercedes Ruehl, the film actress who joined NBC’s “Frasier” this season as the good doctor’s station manager and sometime love interest, is leaving the show to star in her own sitcom for the network. Her final “Frasier” episode will air in January, but the door has been left open for her character to return periodically. No details on her forthcoming NBC series are set. . . . In other “Frasier” news, Kelsey Grammer’s “Cheers” co-star Shelley Long will guest on the series during the February ratings sweeps, reprising her role as intellectual Diane Chambers, a former love interest of Grammer’s psychiatrist Frasier Crane. In the upcoming episode, she arrives in Seattle for the production of a play she wrote. But her producer pulls out, so she turns to Frasier for help, sending him into an emotional crisis. Long’s “Frasier” appearance follows similar guest shots by former “Cheers” stars Ted Danson and Bebe Neuwirth.

MOVIES

Reeve Preparing for Work: Paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve has been getting acting and directing offers from several sources and said he plans to “learn to operate in a new mode.” Among the pending offers, Reeve told columnist Army Archerd in Wednesday’s Variety, is voice-over work for Warner Bros.’ “The Quest,” and a directing project for producers Jim Ivory and Ismail Merchant (“The Remains of the Day”). Also, a directing assignment on “Tell Me True” for David Kirkpatrick and Keith Sample, which Reeve was to have begun in October, is still his when he’s ready. Reeve, who returned to his Bedford, N.Y., home last week after several months of rehabilitation since breaking his neck in a May horseback riding accident, also said he will start reading scripts after the first of the year. “The only limits you have are those you put on yourself,” Reeve said. He noted that his health insurance runs out in a year and a half, so he is organizing with the American Paralysis Assn. a March 22 benefit at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to raise funds for research and for his own care. Meanwhile, Reeve was cited Wednesday by the National League of Junior Cotillions as No. 1 on its list of the 10 Best Mannered People of 1995. The etiquette group recognized him for his composure in coping with his tragic situation.

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Bruckheimer/Simpson Split: The successful producing team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (“Flashdance,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Top Gun,” “Crimson Tide”) announced Wednesday that they will form separate production companies next year in an effort to “produce as many films a year as we individually choose to.” However, the producers stressed that they remain “close friends” and will complete together their current film slate, which includes “The Rock,” “Rogue Warrior” and “Dangerous Minds II” for Hollywood Pictures, “Bad Boys II” for Columbia Pictures and the TV movie “Soldier of Fortune” for Rysher Entertainment.

POP/ROCK

Carey Tops Album, Singles Charts: It’s shaping up as a prosperous holiday season for Mariah Carey. Her “Daydream” was the nation’s top-selling album last week, selling 486,000 copies to move past the Beatles’ “Anthology 1” to the top of the chart, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday. Her “One Sweet Day” remained atop the singles chart for the fifth consecutive week, selling 169,000 copies, and her year-old “Merry Christmas” album remained No. 3 on the Christmas album chart, selling 152,000 copies. The Beatles’ album sold 434,000 copies, falling to No. 2 after three weeks at No. 1. The No. 3 seller for the second week in a row was Kenny G’s year-old “Miracles: The Holiday Album,” which sold 328,000 copies but is not eligible for the top album chart because holiday albums qualify only in their first year of release. The Beatles’ song “Free as a Bird” debuted at No. 5 on the singles chart.

ART

Artist Turns to Vandalism: A Brazilian artist has admitted to vandalizing a million-dollar painting by Spanish modern artist Joan Miro out of desperation over failing to sell his own paintings, Brazil’s O Globo newspaper reported Wednesday. “Women in the Street,” a highlight of a traveling Miro exhibition, was discovered vandalized Sunday at the close of the show at the Banco do Brasil Culture Center in Rio de Janeiro. The painting includes two black handprints; the vandal slapped a third handprint on the work with black plastic glue. Jandr Reis, 27, reportedly confessed to Cultural Center officials and police, saying he was not in his “right state of mind” because of his own lack of artistic success. He faces a possible charge of vandalism and a jail term if convicted. Restorers were able to remove the glue early Tuesday, returning the painting to its original state.