Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TELEVISION

‘Larry Sanders’ Returns: Garry Shandling will resume production early next month on his critically praised HBO series “The Larry Sanders Show,” and a new season of the comedy show is scheduled to begin airing on the cable network by October. The series had been on hiatus since last year so Shandling could work on movie projects, and the start of a fifth season wasn’t scheduled until early 1997. One reason the production schedule sped up was the positive reaction HBO received from its marathon Larrython earlier this month, HBO said.

Franken vs. Huffington: Comedian Al Franken and author Arianna Huffington have signed on as correspondents for Comedy Central’s irreverent campaign coverage, “InDecision ’96.” Representing opposing views, Franken, a liberal Democrat, and Huffington, a conservative Republican, will join anchor Bill Maher and correspondent-comedian Chris Rock to cover the Republican and Democratic national political conventions.

L.A. Firefighters Protest: The 2,400-member Los Angeles County Fire Fighters union has asked the Fox network to quit using the department’s name in its new series “L.A. Firefighters.” According to union President Dallas Jones, the union objects to the show’s depiction of the day-to-day lives of firefighters--including scenes of a female firefighter kissing a married firefighter, a barroom fight and a fire chief drinking alcohol at 11 a.m. “We’re not so uptight that we don’t expect a lot of creative license and character development,” Jones said. “But to me, there’s almost no technical appropriateness to the show. They’re doing things that are wrong, that are dangerous. And people learn from TV.” The Fox network, and Gordon Greisman, the series’ executive producer, both declined to comment Thursday on the firefighters’ planned boycott.

Ratings Recommendation: Children Now, the L.A.- and San Francisco-based children’s advocacy group, will release a report today calling for TV ratings that go beyond age recommendations to include specific content categories such as violence, sex and adult language. The industry group that is developing a TV ratings system is planning age-based categories similar to the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s movie ratings. “The vast majority of children’s experts we interviewed for our report said having age-based categories alone won’t give parents enough information about why a show got a particular rating,” said Victoria Rideout, director of the Children and the Media program at Children Now. The report also recommends rating children’s cartoons.

RADIO

New KLAC-AM Hosts: Longtime radio personality Gary Owens will return to the L.A. airwaves on July 1 when he takes the 3-6 p.m. slot on KLAC-AM (570), as the midpoint of a new weekday lineup from the Music of Your Life Radio Network, a new national syndicator whose programming will be heard on more than 50 stations nationwide. KLAC’s musical programming will remain focused on adult pop standards, but the new syndicator’s Los Angeles-based programming will feature “stars playing the stars.” Although Don Imus continues to air from 6-10 a.m., the new lineup will include Wink Martindale from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Chuck Southcott from 1-3 p.m., Owens from 3-6 p.m., Pete Smith from 6-8 p.m., Johnny Magnus from 8 p.m.-1 a.m. and Scott O’Neil from 1-5 a.m. Featured musical artists will include Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow, Nat King Cole and Harry Connick Jr.

POP/ROCK

Tackling Substance Abuse: Organizers of Thursday’s closed-door music industry meeting on substance abuse at the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ Santa Monica headquarters are hoping to stem speculation that they will seek to impose strict rules to punish drug users in the manner of major sports leagues. A statement released Tuesday through the Recording Academy’s MusiCares health and human services program stated that the organization “is not a proponent of drug testing, censorship or imposed royalty restrictions.” Officials will not comment on what proposals will be made Thursday, other than to say that they hope to build on the dialogue that occurred at a similar November meeting, at which a national hotline was established to help music professionals suffering from chemical dependency obtain treatment and counseling.

QUICK TAKES

Becky Lee Meza, a 10-year-old native of Harlingen, Texas, who had previously appeared on a Selena float in a Corpus Christi tribute to the slain tejano singing star, has been cast to play the young Selena in Warner Bros.’ upcoming movie, “Selena.” Meza, a non-actress who was chosen from among thousands of young girls for the part, will star alongside Jennifer Lopez (“Money Train”), who, as previously reported, will play the older Selena. . . . Kelsey Grammer’s ex-girlfriend Cerlette Lamme has sued the “Frasier” star for defamation and invasion of privacy, contending in her L.A. Superior Court complaint that he made disparaging comments about her in his 1995 autobiography, “So Far,” and on TV’s “Oprah.” Grammer’s attorney said that he and Grammer had not yet seen the lawsuit so they couldn’t comment on it.