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

TELEVISION

People’s Choices: “ER,” “NYPD Blue” and “The X-Files” will battle for best drama series in the 23rd annual People’s Choice Awards while “Seinfeld,” “Home Improvement” and “Friends” contend for best sitcom. “Cosby,” “Spin City” and “Suddenly Susan” vie for new comedy series, with “Millennium,” “Relativity” and “Profiler” up for best new drama. In the movie categories, box-office titans “Independence Day” and “Twister” are up for favorite movie drama, along with “A Time to Kill.” “The Birdcage,” “The First Wives Club” and “The Nutty Professor” are up for favorite comedy. Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger got the nods for favorite movie actor with Sandra Bullock, Helen Hunt and Demi Moore in the running for favorite actress. Nominees were chosen through a Gallup poll. The awards will air on CBS Jan. 12--moved up two months this year to precede other awards ceremonies.

Thursday Shuffles; Wednesday Results: NBC will revise its powerhouse Thursday lineup beginning Jan. 16, scheduling Tea Leoni’s “The Naked Truth”--which aired last season on ABC--in the coveted 9:30 p.m. time period after “Seinfeld.” The Brooke Shields sitcom, “Suddenly Susan,” will take a rest until late February, then return in the 8:30 p.m. slot following “Friends,” so “The Single Guy” will be looking for a new home. . . . Meanwhile, ABC’s revised Wednesday comedy lineup looked promising in its opening frame, with “The Drew Carey Show” and “Ellen” performing well from 9-10 p.m., attracting 19% and 18% of the available audience, respectively. “Townies” continues to struggle in the 8:30 p.m. slot, however, fueling speculation that the network will cancel the Molly Ringwald sitcom and replace it with “Coach.” The network had no comment at press time.

STAGE

Courthouse Blues: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theater world clout apparently doesn’t carry over to the courts. A federal judge in New York Wednesday ruled against Lloyd Webber, saying he had failed to establish that Ray Repp copied “Close Every Door” (from Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”) when writing the religious song “Till You.” The legal battle began in 1990 when Repp claimed Lloyd Webber had copied “Till You” when writing the main theme from “Phantom of the Opera.” Lloyd Webber then counter-sued, alleging that Repp had taken “Till You” from music in “Joseph.” With the counter suit resolved, Repp’s lawyers said they will proceed with their main claim for “tens of millions” of Lloyd Webber’s profits from “Phantom.” A Lloyd Webber spokesman called Wednesday’s ruling “surprising in view of the success and general worldwide awareness of ‘Joseph’ ” and said the composer may appeal.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Third U.S. Orchestra Goes on Strike: San Francisco Symphony musicians went on strike Thursday, just one day after Atlanta Symphony Orchestra musicians ended their 10-week strike by accepting a four-year contract. The musicians in San Francisco plan to picket at Davies Symphony Hall to protest what they consider unfair treatment, according to union spokesman Paul Shinoff who said they are “not anticipating a short strike.” Negotiations began in March, and symphony executive director Peter Pastreich said he was surprised by the strike and had “fully expected negotiations to continue.” In Atlanta, the musicians’ contract calls for a wage freeze the first year, a 2% raise each of the next two years and a 4% raise in the fourth year. Other benefits include a commitment by management to maintain the size of the orchestra at 95. Last month, the Philadelphia Orchestra agreed to return to work after a nine-week strike.

POP/ROCK

Billboard Winners: Alanis Morissette picked up yet another trophy for her 14-million-selling album “Jagged Little Pill” Wednesday night when she was named Artist of the Year at the 1996 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. Other winners of the awards, based on sales, included Los Del Rio, whose dance hit “Macarena” was named single of the year, and Mariah Carey who took honors as the Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year and a separate Hot 100 Singles Award for “One Sweet Day,” her duet with Boyz II Men.

QUICK TAKES

“Cashmere,” an evocative John Singer Sargent painting, showing seven poses of his niece wrapped in a cashmere shawl, was sold Thursday at Sotheby’s for $11.1 million, a record for an American painting. The work, painted in 1908 and sold by a British trust, had been expected to bring between $5 million and $7 million. The previous record for an American work at auction was $8.25 million for Fredric Church’s “Home by the Lake” in 1989. . . . Grammy-winning composer Michael Kamen has established the “Mr. Holland’s Opus” Foundation, a national nonprofit organization to provide musical instruments to schools that cannot afford them. Named after the recent Richard Dreyfuss movie, which featured Kamen’s music, the foundation also will repair existing school-owned instruments. Dreyfuss is a participant, and Kamen plans to give a series of concerts in the United States in 1997 to help finance the foundation. . . . A Martinez (“Santa Barbara,” “L.A. Law”) will become a regular on NBC’s Saturday night drama “Profiler.” Earlier this season, Martinez guest starred in two “Profiler” episodes as an explosives and terrorism expert with a romantic interest in Dr. Sam Waters (Ally Walker).