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

TELEVISION

Amanpour Signed: In a highly unusual arrangement, CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour has signed a multiyear contract to do as many as five pieces a year for CBS’ “60 Minutes” while continuing at CNN. “This allows me to maintain my strong commitment to CNN and international stories while contributing to the most successful newsmagazine in television,” the 38-year-old Amanpour said. ABC and NBC also had been wooing Amanpour; CBS News President Andrew Heyward, who called the deal a benefit to viewers, said he knew of no other joint offer to Amanpour. The loss of Amanpour would have been a blow to CNN at a time when it faces new competition from NBC’s news-oriented cable channel, MSNBC, which bows in July. CNN President Tom Johnson said: “The more I looked at this as an option, the more I became convinced that it’s good for Christiane, CNN and CBS.” Amanpour will be identified as a CNN correspondent on “60 Minutes.” She said she will continue to report from international hot spots for CNN while doing foreign-news pieces for “60 Minutes.”

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‘MST3K’ Lives!: Doomed to cancellation by Comedy Central, its home for seven seasons, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” was rescued Monday by the Sci-Fi Channel. The oddball outer-space trio of Mike Nelson and his mechanical pals, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, will appear in 13 original episodes beginning in 1997, the Sci-Fi Channel announced. Each episode will feature a full-length science-fiction film with accompanying comments by the silhouetted trio from their marooned spaceship, the Satellite of Love. (Don’t laugh: The series won a Peabody Award.)

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‘Gothic’ Farewell: Fans of the canceled drama “American Gothic” will be treated to a concentrated dose of the series, as CBS uses up the six remaining original episodes over an eight-day period beginning July 3. Two hours will air back-to-back from 9-11 that night and the following Wednesday, with additional episodes scheduled at 9 p.m. on July 4 and 11. CBS recently employed a similar strategy with original hours of “CPW” and “Picket Fences,” which had aired on Wednesday as well.

MOVIES

Actor Arrested: Oscar-nominated actor Robert Downey Jr. was free on $10,000 bail Monday after he was arrested on suspicion of possessing narcotics and a concealed gun. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Angie Prewett said officers stopped Downey Sunday in Malibu for driving 70 mph in a 50-mph zone on Pacific Coast Highway and searched his pickup because he appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance. They allegedly found black tar heroin, crack and powder cocaine, and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum revolver, she said. Downey, 31, was booked for investigation of possession of a concealed weapon, possession of a controlled substance and driving while under the influence, Prewett said. He was ordered to appear in Malibu Municipal Court on July 26. Downey, whose most recent screen appearance was earlier this year in “Richard III,” received an Academy Award nomination in 1993 for “Chaplin.” A spokesman for the actor declined to comment.

MUSEUMS

New Fowler Director: Doran H. Ross, deputy director of UCLA’s Fowler Museum of Cultural History since 1981, and curator of its African collection, has been promoted to director of the museum, effective July 1. He will succeed Christopher B. Donnan, who will return to full-time teaching and research at UCLA after 21 years as the Fowler’s director. As deputy director, Ross has conceived and developed numerous exhibitions, including “Elephant: The Animal and Its Ivory in African Culture” (1992), “Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Head” (1995) and “Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou” (currently on view).

POP/ROCK

Editor Quits: Rolling Stone music editor Keith Moerer, hired last year as part of an overhaul of the magazine’s music coverage, has resigned. The move comes in the wake of the recent firing of senior editor Jim DeRogatis after he commented publicly that a negative review he wrote of Hootie & the Blowfish’s new album was pulled by the magazine’s founding editor and publisher, Jann Wenner, in favor of a more positive critique. A Rolling Stone spokeswoman said that no replacements for Moerer or DeRogatis have been named.

QUICK TAKES

NBC News President Andrew Lack, who has been instrumental in developing the MSNBC cable channel that launches July 15, was handed a vote of confidence in the form of a new contract that runs until 2002, the network announced Monday. . . . Eddie Murphy will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. His new film, “The Nutty Professor,” opens Friday. . . . Harrison Ford will be honored for his lifetime achievements tonight as the 22nd annual Saturn Awards are handed out at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City by the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films. . . . New Age self-help author Jean Houston, who is depicted in a new book as a confidant of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, turns up for an exclusive interview with Stone Phillips on “Dateline NBC” on NBC at 10 tonight. Houston’s relationship with Mrs. Clinton, described in “The Choice” by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, set off a flurry of reaction in Washington.