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

TELEVISION

Calling All Animators: MTV Networks announced plans Tuesday to spend more than $420 million on animated series and films over the next five years for both MTV and its sister channel Nickelodeon, potentially making the cable networks one of the country’s largest producers of original television animation. Plans call for the production of more than 850 half-hour animated episodes, which would be accompanied by major expansions of both Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons Animation complex in Los Angeles and MTV’s New York animation studio. In addition to the TV animation, both networks are currently working on big-screen movies based on their existing animated properties: MTV’s “Beavis & Butt-head Do America” and Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats.”

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‘Toy’ Mini-Stories: ABC will capitalize on its Disney ties by interspersing “ ‘Toy Story’ Treats”--animated 10-second and 30-second comedy spots based on the studio’s hit movie--throughout the network’s Saturday morning kids’ lineup. The spots, which begin airing Saturday, feature the movie’s computer-animated characters in various activities. Although some of the movie’s voice cast will return, including John Ratzenberger as Ham the piggy bank and Wallace Shawn as Rex the nervous dinosaur, stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen will be replaced by as-yet unannounced actors orating as Woody and Buzz Lightyear. A total of 13 minutes of “ ‘Toy Story’ Treats” will be produced, with two minutes of the spots scheduled to be shown throughout the lineup each week. Academy Award winner John Lasseter, who directed the film, is also directing “Treats.” According to a Disney spokesman, a weekly “Toy Story” series is unlikely.

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Seeing Less of ‘Larry’: Comedian Janeane Garofalo, whose movie career took off this summer with her starring role in “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” will cut back her appearances this season on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” for which she is nominated for best supporting actress in a comedy at Sunday’s Emmy Awards. “She absolutely will be in the series and is eager to do as [many episodes] as she can,” said a “Sanders” spokeswoman. “But she just can’t do as much now because of her movie commitments.” It is still unknown how many of this season’s 13 episodes will actually feature Garofalo, who was in all of last year’s shows as Garry Shandling’s talent booker. She has already missed the first three, but is scheduled to appear in episode No. 4, which tapes next week. As for her movie career, Garofalo is currently working on Miramax’s “Copland,” with Sylvester Stallone and Harvey Keitel. She also appears in the season opener of “Seinfeld,” airing Sept. 19.

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‘People NBC’?: “Dateline NBC” is joining forces with People magazine to produce television segments based on stories being developed by the magazine. The stories will be broadcast on the NBC show’s Sunday edition under a special “Dateline/People” banner. The print version of the story will be published in the People issue that goes on sale the next day. The first “Dateline/People” segment--about the rehabilitation of a 20-year drug addict and his wife, who persevered after their Habitat for Humanity-built home burned down--will be seen this Sunday.

ART

Photography Benefit: Works by top fashion photographers including Bruce Weber, Steven Meisel, Albert Watson and Debra Turbeville are on view through Sunday at Beverly Hills’ Barney’s New York store as part of a fund-raising effort for the California State Summer School for the Arts, Teach for America and the Permanent Charities of the Entertainment Industries. Silent bids on the photographs, originally featured in Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue, will be accepted throughout the viewing period.

QUICK TAKES

While several returning network series will repeat their season finales next week to prepare for the new season’s start the following week, CBS’ “The Nanny” has chosen otherwise, “out of respect to the victims and families involved in the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800.” The season-ending cliffhanger, originally broadcast in May, included a scene of an airplane in jeopardy. The network has also revised this season’s Sept. 18 premiere episode. . . . 20th Century Fox has reportedly set Nov. 22 as the video release date for its big summer hit, “Independence Day,” which has taken in more than $282 million in theaters thus far. Fox’s video division, however, refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying only that a formal announcement is scheduled for next week. . . . Actor Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) picked up another honor over the weekend when he became the youngest person ever to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Montreal World Film Festival. At 33, Oscar winner Cage has already appeared in 25 films. . . . Jerry Lewis’ 1996 Muscular Dystrophy Assn. Labor Day weekend telethon set a new pledge record, raising $49.1 million to surpass last year’s record of $47.8 million.