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

TELEVISION

And the Nominees Are: Although it fared poorly in last week’s prime-time Emmy nominations, trailing behind NBC, CBS and cable’s HBO, ABC came out on top in the 17th annual News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations announced Monday, capturing 29 nods--the most of any network. ABC was followed by PBS with 27 nominations, NBC with 20 and CBS with 19. Among its nominations, ABC swept the coveted Outstanding Interview/Interviewer category, with nods going to “PrimeTime Live’s” Diane Sawyer and Renee Poussaint and “Day One” correspondents John McKenzie and Michel McQueen and Robert Krulwich. But it was “Dateline NBC” that garnered the most nominations of any program--13, including a sweep of the breaking news story segments category. ABC’s “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings” also took three of the four nominations in the breaking news category for a regularly scheduled newscast, with the final nod going to “CBS Evening News With Dan Rather.” The awards, honoring broadcasts in the 1995 calendar year, will be presented Sept. 11 in New York.

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More on News Emmys: Nearly absent from Monday’s list of news Emmy nominees was cable’s all-news network CNN, which drew only one nomination, for its breaking news coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing. In fact, CNN’s showing trailed several other cable outlets not known for their news coverage, including the Discovery Channel (nine nominations), TBS (seven), A&E; (four), AMC (three), Cinemax (three), HBO (two) and the Learning Channel (two). Despite winning several major awards for its news coverage, including four Peabodys, three DuPonts, two Polks and four Overseas Press Club awards, CNN has consistently lagged behind its broadcast competitors at the Emmys--last year, for instance, it received three nominations (with no wins)--and in 1994, the network’s best showing, it drew nine nominations (with three wins). CNN spokesman Steve Haworth said the network has always had “an uphill struggle” with the academy and said his outlet--which only became eligible for national news Emmy consideration about 10 years ago--gets overlooked because the Emmys tend to honor documentaries and newsmagazine-type programming as opposed to live and breaking news. The TV academy would not comment on CNN’s near-exclusion except to note that the Emmy judges “are of the highest quality and experts in their fields, and we stand by the decisions they make.”

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The Cos’ Plans: Bill Cosby, who has a two-year, 44-episode commitment from CBS on his upcoming comedy series “Cosby,” said he pushed for that expanded order but won’t hold the network to it if the show doesn’t work. “If it’s low in the ratings, then I don’t want to cost CBS any more money,” Cosby told TV critics in Pasadena Monday. The comic admitted he’s a bit daunted by the notion that the show must “save the network,” joking that if it fails, CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves “looks like a fool. So yes, there is a lot of pressure.” CBS is still tinkering with the pilot for “Cosby,” which will air Mondays at 8 p.m. Doug E. Doug, who starred in the short-lived ABC comedy “Where I Live,” has just been added to the cast.

PEOPLE

Downey Saga Continues: Actor Robert Downey Jr.--whose recent alleged drug-related escapades have made him into the grist of tabloid tales--pleaded innocent in Malibu Municipal Court Monday to charges of violating his bail conditions by leaving a drug rehabilitation center, and was ordered to return to the court on Thursday for a status conference. Bail for Downey--who received an Oscar nomination for “Chaplin” and also starred in last year’s costume drama “Restoration”--was set at $100,000 and he remained in custody at press time Monday. “Mr. Downey’s obviously having a bad month,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Ellen Aragon said outside the courthouse.

ART

Squabble at Bergamot: Tom Patchett, limited partner of Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station art gallery and office complex, has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court to oust Wayne Blank as the art center’s general partner, alleging financial misconduct and fraud, Patchett confirmed Monday. The suit seeks to dissolve the partnership that was formed in 1994 between TV writer-producer Patchett (“ALF”) and Blank, each of whom also have their own galleries at Bergamot (Track 16 and Shoshana Wayne galleries, respectively). The complex, which opened two years ago, contains 21 galleries, nine architecture and design firms and a cafe and framing shop. The partnership leases the parcel from the city of Santa Monica for $35,000 a month and then leases out gallery and office space to tenants. Blank had been in negotiations for the Santa Monica Museum of Art to relocate to Bergamot Station and museum executive director Tom Rhoads confirmed Monday that the deal is still “moving ahead” despite the lawsuit. Blank could not be reached for comment.

STAGE

So Long, Friend: Approximately 600 mourners remembered C. Bernard “Jack” Jackson, the Inner City Cultural Center’s executive director who died last week, at the Japan American Theatre Monday morning. Among the speakers were actors Robert Hooks, Glynn Turman, Ted Lange, Mako and John Randolph, and producer-directors Gordon Davidson and George C. Wolfe. NEA Chairwoman Jane Alexander sent a tribute from Washington, and several artists performed songs written by Jackson. Actress Beah Richards challenged the crowd to continue Jackson’s work by supporting Inner City, saying, “Brave warrior, we will carry on.”