TV & RADIODissing Stern’s Miss America: Howard...

TV & RADIO

Dissing Stern’s Miss America: Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed “king of all media,” conquered another forum Tuesday when his drag rendition of Miss America topped Mr. Blackwell’s 36th annual “Worst Dressed Women” list. Blackwell said the shock jock in drag “looks like Godzilla impersonating Gypsy Rose Lee.” Second on Blackwell’s list was rocker Courtney Love, whom the acerbic, self-appointed arbiter of fashion described as “a frenetic baby doll, lost in a galaxy of grunge.”

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‘House’ Door Slammed: CBS has canceled “Bless This House,” its Wednesday night sitcom starring Andrew Clay and Cathy Moriarty. The series, which is tied for 72nd place in season-to-date prime-time ratings, gets its last airing on Jan. 17. “Louie,” a new series starring comedian Louie Anderson, will premiere in the Wednesday 8:30 p.m. time slot on Jan. 31. A repeat of “The Nanny” will air there on Jan. 24.

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Giving Testimony: Actor Jack Klugman, who lost a vocal cord to cancer, is making a TV pitch aimed at getting smokers to quit. The star of TV’s “The Odd Couple” and “Quincy, M.E.” survived his bout with cancer, but the surgery seven years ago nearly cost him his career. “The only really stupid thing I ever did in my life was to start smoking,” Klugman, 73, said in a hoarse voice. He gets upset when he sees people smoking in television and films. “It disgusts me, it makes me so angry; kids are watching,” he said.

POP/ROCK

R&B; Pioneers: Singers Betty Everett (“The Shoop Shoop Song [It’s in His Kiss]”), Eddie Floyd (“Knock on Wood”), Johnnie Taylor (“Who’s Making Love”) and Dorris Troy (“Just One Look”) are among 12 recipients announced Tuesday for the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s seventh annual Pioneer Awards, which will be presented Feb. 29 at the Hollywood Palladium. Bo Didley will also be honored at the event, receiving the 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award. Additional Pioneer Awards will go to Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Bobby Womack, the Cadillacs, the Chantels, the Flamingos, Dave Bartholomew, Jay McShann and the Isley Brothers.

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Hard Rock Opening: The Hard Rock Cafe opens its new Universal CityWalk venue on Friday. Among the festivities, singer-guitarist Sammy Hagar will lead 1,000 youths in a guitar jam session at 11 a.m., with the 1,000 Washburn guitars used for the event set to be donated to the L.A. Unified School District. In addition, Hagar will be joined at the opening by Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony for the first U.S. appearance of their side band, Los Tres Gusanos. All sales from the restaurant’s opening weekend will be donated to the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ Grammy in the Schools program.

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Helping Stop Environmental Blues: A Canadian show-biz contingent will converge on Sunset Boulevard’s House of Blues on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. benefit for the charitable environmental organization headed by Canadian TV journalist and award-winning scientist David Suzuki. Dan Aykroyd and David Foster will host the $250-per-person event, which will include performances by the Blues Brothers (Aykroyd with Jim Belushi and John Goodman), Sam Moore, Celine Dion, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka and members of the Second City comedy Troupe.

MOVIES

Sophomore Plans: The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival returns for its second year April 18-22 with an expanded format featuring screenings at both Raleigh Studios and the neighboring Paramount Studio Theater. Organizers report that programming this year has quadrupled, thanks to curators from the UCLA Archives, International Documentary Assn. and the American Cinematheque. Fifty-five independent films will be screened over the festival’s five days, and new programs this year include “In the Beginning: Early Shorts From Great Indie Directors,” “Actors Direct: Actors’ Directorial Debuts” and a daylong “New Media/New Technologies Forum.” Opening and closing festivities will be held at the Directors Guild of America.

QUICK TAKES

John Travolta’s comeback was further solidified when he was named this week as Male Star of the Year, an honor he will receive March 7 during the Las Vegas entertainment industry convention NATO/ShoWest ’96. Travolta, who won an Oscar nomination last year for “Pulp Fiction,” is also considered a contender this year for “Get Shorty.” . . . Jim Carrey’s latest box-office hit, “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” is making an early turn-around to video. Warner Home Video is releasing the comedy on March 12 in hopes of keeping up the film’s $110-million box-office momentum. . . . Director Peter Bogdanovich and Times arts editor emeritus Charles Champlin will introduce and discuss Bogdanovich’s 1971 film “The Last Picture Show,” during a 7 p.m. screening today at Barnsdall Park’s Gallery Theater in Hollywood. . . . Tammy Wynette, the first lady of country music, will receive the American Music Awards’ special Award of Merit during the ABC awards show on Jan. 29. Previous winners include Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. . . . The Chinese government on Monday awarded crooner Julio Iglesias a Gold Record Prize for selling more albums than any other foreign artist in China’s history.