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

STAGE

A ‘Sisterella’ Dozen: Pasadena Playhouse’s hit musical “Sisterella” received 12 nominations for this year’s NAACP theater awards, more than any other show. Runners-up were “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Seven Guitars,” with 10 each. In the “local” categories for smaller theaters, four productions shared the lead, with eight nominations each: “Anny Mae and Asbury,” “Dinah Was,” “I Am a Man” and “The Chest.” Winners will be announced Nov. 11 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where Diahann Carroll will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

TV/RADIO/VIDEO

Roasting Readied: Kelsey Grammer will get his roasting after all. The New York Friars Club has rescheduled its feting of Grammer for Nov. 15 at the New York Hilton Hotel. David Hyde Pierce will serve as roastmaster, while the slew of scheduled celebrity participants include Grammer’s “Frasier” co-stars Peri Gilpin and Jane Leeves, and “Cheers” cohorts Bebe Neuwirth and Kirstie Alley. The roast was originally slated for Sept. 27, but was postponed after Grammer checked into the Betty Ford Clinic following an auto accident. Roast chairman Bob Saks said Tuesday that Grammer’s substance abuse problems make him “more special to the Friars,” and predicted that “this particular roast, more than any of the past, will be more of a love-in than a roast. . . . We support his seeking help and his subsequent return to what he does best--making people laugh.”

Video Copying Hits Industry: The video industry is losing an estimated $370 million annually to “back-to-back” consumer copying, according to a study released by the Macrovision Corp., known for its videocassette copy protection technology. The study also indicates that U.S. homes contain more than 300 million unauthorized videocassettes. The reason? An increasing number of homes--39%--now have two or more VCRs, the tools for unauthorized copying. With that number expected to grow to 50% of households by the year 2000, the study estimates consumer copying could cost the industry $1.5 billion annually.

‘Little Crackhead’ Pulled: A sketch about a crack-addicted baby that had been featured on KKBT-FM (92.3) has been dropped after the Brotherhood Crusade protested and met with management. The sketch had been airing during the station’s morning show, “John London and the House Party.” General Manager Craig Wilbraham said Tuesday, “In light of the sensitivity of the community as a result of the CIA’s alleged connection [to crack in South-Central L.A.], we think it is insensitive to run this.”

MOVIES

‘Godzilla’ for ‘ID4’ Team: How do you follow blowing up the White House? By taking on Godzilla. Director Roland Emmerich, whose “Independence Day” was the summer’s biggest box-office hit, will film a “Godzilla” revival early next year, for release in summer, 1998. Teaming with Emmerich on the TriStar Pictures release will be his “ID4” collaborator, Dean Devlin, who told the Hollywood Reporter that the duo hope to make the special-effects-laden movie for “a shade under $90 million,” topping their “ID4” budget of just over $70 million.

Magic Aids Oscar Bid: Gramercy Pictures will exhibit “When We Were Kings,” the Muhammad Ali documentary that won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance, for 1996 Academy Award consideration, with a one-week qualifying run, Friday through Oct. 31, at the Magic Johnson Theatres in Baldwin Hills. Johnson offered his theaters for the run, calling the picture “a riveting story about one of the most popular athletes of all times.” The documentary, which details the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight bout between Ali and George Foreman, is scheduled to begin its regular theatrical run in February.

LEGAL FILE

Journalist Held Liable: A freelance journalist who failed to back up his claims that Michael Jackson was captured on video molesting a teen-age boy must pay damages to the pop star, an L.A. judge ruled Tuesday. A jury will now determine how much Victor Gutierrez must pay Jackson, who sued Gutierrez and others over a 1995 “Hard Copy” report. Gutierrez’s attorney said outside of court, however, that the writer simply “chooses to protect his sources instead of himself,” and will “stand and fall on the truth” of his claims. In 1994, Jackson settled a sexual molestation lawsuit brought by a then-13-year-old boy, but investigations by both L.A. and Santa Barbara counties never led to any criminal charges.

QUICK TAKES

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Tuesday urged the Fox network to move its bawdy comedy, “Married . . . With Children,” from its proposed 7 p.m. Sunday slot, contending that the early evening hours should be reserved for family programs. “Married” had been airing at 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays but is slated to move to the Sunday slot on Nov. 10. . . . Alabama’s plan to use Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” for its tourism campaign has already been forgotten. State officials decided that rights to the Alabama native’s song were too expensive, so the state will instead use the words “Alabama. Unforgettable,” minus any reference to the singer, and with an original tune. . . . ABC has given a six-episode commitment to “Missing Links,” a half-hour golf comedy based on sports writer Rick Reilly’s novel. Former “Late Show With David Letterman” producer Robert Morton will executive produce.