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

POP/ROCK

Stairway to Second: In the latest industry tally of album sales, ‘70s rock band Led Zeppelin has pushed aside Garth Brooks to claim the No. 2 spot in the all-time list of top-selling artists, the Recording Industry Assn. of America said Monday. In an updated accounting, the RIAA has determined that Zeppelin--led by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page--has sold a whopping 63.8 million copies of its eight albums and three boxed sets, placing it as the runner-up to the Beatles, whose sales are nearing 100 million. Brooks, who has sold a cumulative 62 million albums according to the RIAA, will almost certainly recapture the No. 2 spot in the coming months: His week-old album, “Sevens,” is expected to top the 700,000 mark in first-week sales when SoundScan figures are reported Wednesday (see story, F1). The latest Zeppelin new archival release, meanwhile, “BBC Sessions,” sold more than 101,000 copies in its first week in stores two weeks ago, according to SoundScan.

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Would Ratings Work?: The head of the organization representing the nation’s leading concert promoters said Monday that proposed mandatory ratings systems for music performances--akin to movie ratings--would be “unworkable” and “unenforceable.” “I’m not opposed to anything that would help people decide to go to concerts if it’s something that reassures parents and it’s workable,” says Cynthia Wallace, director of the North American Concert Promoters Assn. “I just can’t imagine how it would be enforced. . . . Suppose [controversial singer] Marilyn Manson says, ‘Yeah, I’ll do a PG show,’ and it turns out to be R, what are the sanctions?” Ideas for various concert rating systems are being raised by several state legislators around the nation. Under fire from parents groups and legislators in the late ‘80s, the music industry voluntarily adopted a program affixing warning stickers to recordings with explicit lyrics, though no laws were enacted restricting sales of such material.

TELEVISION

Pee-wee’s Brother?: NBC has committed to a prime-time variety series for next season hosted by Paul Reubens, best known for playing Pee-wee Herman. Reubens--who most recently appeared as a recurring character on “Murphy Brown”--will create a new character for the show, which will mix fictional elements with a variety program format. The producers will tape a one-hour prototype; the resulting series could be either an hour or a half-hour in length.

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Another ‘Bus’ Stop: The Fox network has picked up PBS’ educational series “The Magic School Bus” and will begin airing it in reruns next fall. PBS, which has aired the series since 1994, will continue to air new episodes through September. The program, an animated science adventure series from Scholastic Productions, stars Lily Tomlin and is based on the award-winning book series by Joanna Cole.

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For Disney Buffs: Cable’s Disney Channel will premiere a new overnight programming block on Friday called “Vault Disney.” The nightly 11 p.m.-6 a.m. schedule--aimed at Disney fans of all ages--will feature programs from Disney’s archives, including films, specials, series and animation, many of which have not been shown in years. Friday’s slate, for instance, will begin with the first episode of “The Disneyland Story,” originally broadcast in 1954, followed by episodes from the series “Zorro” and “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

MOVIES

Pope’s Blessing: Speaking Monday at a Vatican conference on film, Pope John Paul II praised the art of movie-making as a bearer of “sublime” messages and called the cinema “a particularly suitable means of recounting the inexpressible mystery which surrounds the world and man.” Avoiding past Vatican condemnations of sex and violence in movies, John Paul--a former actor himself--spoke in glowing terms of film’s capacity to help spread values that “enrich the human spirit. . . . This new form of art can add much of value to the inexorable . . . search that man carries out, widening consciousness both of the world that surrounds him and of his interior universe.”

QUICK TAKES

ABC’s “Good Morning America” has named celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse--a staple on cable’s TV Food Network--as its food correspondent. Lagasse’s segments--offering tips on food, shopping, cooking and entertaining--will be featured every Thursday, starting this week. . . . Singer Whitney Houston was a last-minute no-show at Saturday’s the Rev. Sun Myung Moon-sponsored mass wedding ceremony in Washington. Houston, who had a deal guaranteeing her a reported $1 million for the show, called in sick about an hour before her performance. Her spokeswoman said she’d come down with the flu. . . . Nickelodeon has signed a co-production deal with DreamWorks Television Animation to develop several animated action-adventure series for the cable network. According to the agreement, DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg will executive-produce the new series. . . . The latest James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, will get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Brosnan’s star, the walk’s 2,099th, will be in front of the Galaxy Theatre Complex and Hollywood Entertainment Museum at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. . . . ABC will show the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Christmas night from 8 to 11.