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

POP/ROCK

Still No Doubt: No Doubt, a band from Orange County, continued its reign as “Tragic Kingdom” held the No. 1 position on the nation’s pop chart for the second straight week. The album sold about 329,000 copies last week, according to SoundScan. The runner-up was Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You,” with 291,000 copies, followed by Whitney Houston’s “The Preacher’s Wife” soundtrack with 233,000 copies. Bush’s “Razorblade Suitcase” and the “Space Jam” soundtrack round out the Top 5. The best-selling single was R. Kelly’s inspirational “I Believe I Can Fly” from the “Space Jam” soundtrack.

TELEVISION

Springfield Songs: Fox’s animated staple “The Simpsons” will be getting a new record album in March. But instead of pop tunes “inspired by” or played in the background of a show, as has been the case with other series’ “soundtracks,” “Songs in the Key of Springfield: Original Music From the Television Series” will be just that: songs that actually have been part of the show. Bart, Homer, Marge and Lisa Simpson all will be showcased in song, as will supporting characters including Krusty the Clown and convenience store worker Apu. Among the 51 selections: “The Itchy & Scratchy Theme,” “Flaming Moe’s,” “Bagged Me a Homer,” “Send in the Clowns” and “Oh, Streetcar!”

*

Showtime Slate: Cable’s Showtime Networks has announced seven new movie projects in production or development for the coming months. Among them: “Alone,” directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, about a widower’s realization of his children’s foibles, with a cast including Hume Cronyn, James Earl Jones, Shelly Duvall, Frederic Forrest and Ed Begley Jr.; “Twelve Angry Men” starring Cronyn, Tony Danza, Ossie Davis, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Edward James Olmos and others in a story of one jury member holding out for a “not guilty” verdict; “Evidence of Blood,” a small-town murder mystery starring David Strathairn and Mary McDonnell; and a new version of “Sweeney Todd” with Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley. Others: “Elvis Meets Nixon,” about the real-life meeting between the king of rock ‘n’ roll and the president of the United States; “Blind Faith,” about a relationship between two African American brothers in the 1950s; and a remake of the 1960 Oscar winner “Elmer Gantry.”

*

‘Baywatch’ Babe No Longer: Pamela Anderson Lee is leaving “Baywatch” to pursue other projects, including her previously announced biography “Pandemonium.” Anderson Lee has worn “Baywatch’s” red swimsuit for five years as C.J. Parker but said that the birth of her son, Brandon, last June “opened my mind to explore many new personal and professional opportunities.” The actress, who starred in last May’s box-office dud “Barb Wire,” said she has “no expectations about becoming a big ‘movie star’ ” but wants to do “high-quality projects” in “all areas of the entertainment business.” Lee, who filed for divorce last month from rocker Tommy Lee, was ordered last week by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to pay 15% of her “Baywatch” earnings to a former manager who claimed he got her the job.

KUDOS

‘Tis the Season . . . : For award-giving, that is. Here are just some being handed out in coming weeks. On Jan. 23, Steven Spielberg will be feted by the American Jewish Committee and guest speaker Oprah Winfrey when he receives the group’s Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel (previous recipients include Bob Hope, Ted Turner and Clint Eastwood). Singer Phil Collins will join Quincy Jones, Bonnie Raitt, Gloria Estefan, David Crosby and other previous recipients when he is honored as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ MusiCares person of the year Feb. 24 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Kim Novak, who returned to prominence recently with the re-release of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “Vertigo,” will receive the Golden Bear for lifetime achievement during a retrospective of 13 of her films, part of the 1997 Berlin International Film Festival Feb. 13 to 24. And radio, TV, theater and film writer Larry Gelbart (“Tootsie,” “Oh God,” “MASH” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”) will be honored for a lifetime career of excellence when he receives the Writers Guild of America’s “Tribute to the Writer” Jan. 28 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. Tickets to that event, to be moderated by comedian Bill Maher and featuring actors and collaborators from Gelbart’s career, are $15.

QUICK TAKES

Stevie Wonder will perform at the House of Blues on Saturday in a benefit from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for “House Full of Toys,” an annual Christmas toy drive launched in 1989 by Wonder and radio station KJLH-FM (102.3). Tickets are $20, or $10 with a new unwrapped toy. . . . Performance magazine has revised its year-end concert gross score sheet, saying that country singer Reba McEntire actually placed seventh with a take of nearly $21.6 million from 59 shows. McEntire had been left off the initial tally because of late box-office reporting by her management, the magazine said. She bumps Sting, who was in 10th place with $19.1 million. . . . CBS News correspondents Cynthia Bowers, Bernard Goldberg, Vicki Mabrey, Peter Van Sant and Alison Stewart will be joined by newcomers Derek McGinty, Jennifer Laird, David Turecamo and Steve Hartman (from L.A.’s KCBS-TV Channel 2) when the network’s Wednesday night series “Coast to Coast” debuts Jan. 15 at 9 p.m. . . . Actor Sasha Mitchell, 29, formerly of “Step by Step,” was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail for violating his probation on a wife-beating conviction by moving out of state.