Will He Be a Man in Black or the Red?

Though it may be a stretch for Will Smith to refer to himself as a “soon-to-be Oscar nominee” on his new album, the rapper-actor is one of Hollywood’s hottest leading men after starring in two consecutive blockbusters, “Independence Day” and “Men in Black.” But is the artist formerly known as the Fresh Prince, who had platinum success and won a Grammy with former partner D.J. Jazzy Jeff, still a hot property in rap? We’ll get the answer starting Tuesday when “Big Willie Style,” his first solo album, arrives in stores. It has been four years since Smith released his last album with D.J. Jazzy Jeff, and at first glance it would seem that the timing for his return couldn’t be better. “Men in Black,” which grossed nearly $250 million at the box office last summer, is being released Tuesday on video. And Smith’s theme song for the film, a huge radio hit last summer and the centerpiece to the chart-topping soundtrack, is also featured on Smith’s album. But “Big Willie Style” might be overlooked by rap fans rushing to the stores this week to buy 2Pac’s “R U Still Down? (Remember Me)” and the compilation “In Tha Beginning . . . There Was Rap,” which are also due Tuesday and are eagerly anticipated. “It doesn’t seem like there’s a big demand for the Will Smith album,” says Violet Brown, urban music buyer for the Wherehouse chain, “but everything else has kind of been overshadowed by those other two releases.”

For Your Consideration, Sight Unseen

The Thanksgiving Day turkeys still haven’t been carved, but Hollywood studios are already taking out advertisements hyping their 1997 films for Academy Award nominations. The studios have begun running “For Your Consideration” advertisements to draw the attention of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who vote on the Oscars. Even though the ballots to determine the nominees won’t be mailed by the academy until Jan. 9, in the past few weeks, ads have been cropping up in Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. DreamWorks SKG, for instance, has an ad touting director Steven Spielberg and actors Djimon Hounsou and Matthew McConaughey for their work on “Amistad,” which won’t debut until Dec. 10. DreamWorks also took out ads for last summer’s George Clooney-Nicole Kidman action film “The Peacemaker.” TriStar Pictures, meanwhile, ran an ad for the Johnny Depp-Al Pacino Mafia drama “Donnie Brasco.” “It’s just a kind of reminder ad,” said Michael Battaglia, Academy Awards consultant to Sony, who noted that the film was released in February. At Fox Searchlight Films, ads recently appeared for “The Full Monty,” “The Ice Storm” and the yet-to-be-released “Oscar and Lucinda.” David Dinerstein, senior vice president of marketing at Fox Searchlight, said his studio’s ads are intended to make sure academy members don’t overlook these smaller films when the crunch of movies arrives in the last few weeks of the year. “ ‘The Full Monty’ came out in the summer, which is typically not considered the academy season,” Dinerstein said. “ ‘The Ice Storm’ opened in New York on Sept. 30. I think most people, if you ask them, think of the last six weeks of the year as historically the season when people put out serious films.” He noted that “Oscar and Lucinda,” a love story from director Gillian Armstrong starring Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett, will not come out until Dec. 31, qualifying for Academy Award consideration “by the skin of its teeth.”

CBS Looks to the Heavens for Ratings Help

“Touched by an Angel” lands on Wednesday this week, but don’t check local listings, because you won’t find that information in most TV guides with long publication lead times. In a last-minute maneuver, CBS blew out its usual Wednesday 8-10 p.m. lineup of “The Nanny,” “Murphy Brown” and “Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel”--instead scheduling repeats of “Candid Camera” and a “Touched by an Angel” episode guest-starring Bill Cosby (who joins stars Roma Downey and Della Reese). The move is an effort to boost its fortunes on the final night of the monthlong ratings sweeps. Stations use sweeps periods in November, February, May and July to negotiate local advertising rates. NBC has won 10 consecutive prime-time surveys since early 1995, but this time around, CBS remains within striking distance in terms of overall viewership, and ending NBC’s streak would provide the Eye network much-coveted bragging rights. (NBC’s own shuffling included adding a second “Friends” in place of the new sitcom “Union Square” last Thursday.) NBC remains the clear leader, however, in terms of reaching the younger audiences most advertisers are seeking, with CBS currently running fourth--behind upstart Fox and ABC--by that measure.

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers and Contributors