MOVIESOscar Watch: A total of 255 movies...

MOVIES

Oscar Watch: A total of 255 movies have qualified for Oscar consideration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. The list of eligible feature films--which does not include foreign language, documentary or short film candidates--is the largest since 1988, when there were 270 contenders. Last year, 248 films qualified for Academy Award consideration. Nominations will be announced Feb. 13; the Oscars will be handed out March 25 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

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Who’s the Real Richard?: The New Jersey-based Richard III Foundation, which also has branches in Japan, Australia, Canada and England, is protesting United Artists’ current film about the British ruler, starring Sir Ian McKellen. In a two-page open letter titled “Stop Vilifying Richard III,” the group accuses the movie of furthering “misconceptions” about a “much-maligned king as a deformed murderer.” Begging that “the serious reader of history should be interested in the facts,” the group extols Richard as a “strongly loyal” brother who expanded the rights of the common man and was “the greater among equals rather than a dictator.” The group, which encourages education about the real Richard III and his times, mostly objects to Shakespeare’s play, on which the movie is based, calling acceptance of “his dramas as true history . . . comparable to theater-goers believing that ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ is the true history of England in 932 AD.” The group also faults McKellen’s setting of the critically praised movie in a fascist society akin to Nazi Germany, saying: “While we smile at [McKellen’s] Richard’s clever villainy, [viewers are caused to] disregard the true memory of the millions of lives lost from fascist regimes.”

STAGE

‘Bermuda’ on the Go: “Bermuda Avenue Triangle,” the Renee Taylor-Joseph Bologna hit at the Tiffany Theatre, is moving to the 382-seat Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills next month. The comedy--which stars Beatrice Arthur and Taylor as retirement home roommates being romanced by Bologna--will remain at the 99-seat Tiffany through Jan. 28, then move to the larger theater for a Feb. 4-March 31 run.

POP/ROCK

PJ Harvey Tops Another Critics’ Poll: PJ Harvey led a contingent of British acts that captured four of the top eight best album positions in Rolling Stone magazine’s first survey of pop critics. Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love” placed No. 1, commanding the same spot as in an earlier vote of The Times’ pop critics. Harvey’s album was cited by 48 of the 106 critics polled by Rolling Stone, easily topping the self-titled debut album by the American band Foo Fighters, which was named on 30 ballots. Other British acts in the Top 10: Tricky, whose “Maxinquaye” finished third; Elastica, whose self-titled debut finished fourth; and Oasis, whose “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” tied for seventh with Bjork’s “Post.” Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” were declared the top three singles.

TELEVISION

Coming Up Roses: KTLA-TV Channel 5 set a new ratings high with its New Year’s Day Rose Parade broadcast. The station’s commercial-free coverage at 8 a.m. garnered 1.26 million viewing homes--a whopping 55% of the available viewing audience. Meanwhile, the concurrent live parade coverage on KTLA’s competitors--KABC Channel 7, KCBS Channel 2, KNBC Channel 4 and KMEX Channel 34--drew a combined 558,600 viewing homes. KTLA repeated its Rose Parade broadcast four times on Monday, drawing an additional 1.46 million viewing homes.

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Doin’ the Talk-Show Shuffle: Two more freshman talk shows were axed this week due to low ratings: Twentieth Television’s “Gabrielle,” starring “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Gabrielle Carteris, and Tribune Entertainment’s “Charles Perez.” Original episodes of Carteris’ series will continue through February, with repeats scheduled until March 29. Perez’s last show will air Jan. 26. In December, Buena Vista Television canceled two of its first-year talkers, “The Stephanie Miller Show” and “Danny!,” starring former “Partridge Family” child star Danny Bonaduce. . . . Meanwhile, Twentieth Television announced Wednesday that its sophomore talker, “The Gordon Elliot Show,” would move from Fox stations to CBS stations in the fall.

QUICK TAKES

Elizabeth Berkley has reportedly secured her first post-”Showgirls” acting job, a secondary role in Paramount Pictures’ “The First Wives Club,” which stars Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler. . . . Tom Arnold has been cast as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale in Universal Pictures’ movie version of “McHale’s Navy.” . . . Radio station KGRB-AM (900) is back on the air, broadcasting in Spanish. The West Covina-based station, which had broadcast big-band music, was leased last week to El Dorado broadcasting. . . . Jeffrey Bowens, the husband of former Pointer Sisters singer Bonnie Pointer, pleaded innocent Tuesday to assaulting his wife and breaking her older sister June Pointer’s nose at a Christmas Eve party. A trial is set for Jan. 23 in L.A. Municipal Court in Hollywood.