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

TV & MOVIES

Emmy, Phlemmy: Just days before the TV industry gathers to honor its best Sunday at the annual Emmy Awards, the American Lung Assn. has bestowed its own “Phlemmy” awards on some of the Emmy nominees: CBS’ “Cybill,” ABC’s “NYPD Blue” and NBC’s “Seinfeld,” saying that the three shows glamorize tobacco use. The group also gave “dishonorable mentions” to “Seinfeld” and two other NBC shows, “Suddenly Susan,” starring Brooke Shields, and “Friends,” for episodes in which female characters puff on stogies. The Lung Assn. also recognized portrayals of tobacco “in its true light,” awarding “Pink Lung” status to ABC’s “Spin City,” and CBS’ “Touched by an Angel” and “Chicago Hope.” “Touched” also was named winner of the group’s President’s Award for an episode called “Smokescreen,” in which a tobacco company attorney pulls out of a secondhand smoke case after his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer. “We’re not telling the industry not to mention smoking,” association President Donald Clark said. “We’re just saying don’t glamorize it.” Both Phlemmy and Pink Lung winners were chosen by more than 100 teen reviewers, who examined 48 TV episodes during May sweeps.

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Elfman the Filmmaker: Former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, who has done several motion picture scores including “Men in Black,” “Batman” and “Dick Tracy,” has signed a deal with the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group to direct, write and produce movies. The deal will cover both family-oriented Disney films as well as more adult fare for Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. In addition to his filmmaking debut, Elfman will also compose scores for upcoming Disney releases including “Flubber.”

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Sorbo Recuperating: “Hercules” star Kevin Sorbo, 38, was released Wednesday from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he’d been hospitalized since Sept. 5 with an aneurysm in his left shoulder. The muscle-bound Sorbo--whose also stars in the movie “Kull the Conqueror”--probably overexerted himself at work. His typical day on the “Hercules” set is 12 to 16 hours, and includes such physical stunts as running, jumping, fighting and falling.

POP/ROCK

Zep Alert: The BBC has opened its music vaults again for a two-CD set of live broadcast performances from Led Zeppelin, the seminal British hard-rock quartet. “Led Zeppelin: BBC Sessions,” culled from various broadcasts between 1969 and 1971, includes classics from the band’s early albums, plus “The Girl I Love” and a version of Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else”--two songs that were never released by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group in any form. The collection, due in stores on Nov. 11, follows 1994’s “Live at the BBC” set of the Beatles. Led Zeppelin disbanded after the Sept. 25, 1980, death of drummer John Bonham, though singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page re-teamed in 1994 for an “UnLedded” album, MTV special and concert tour.

THE ARTS

California Heritage: Three Californians will be among 11 master musicians and artisans from eight states to be honored at the White House Sept. 23 as recipients of National Heritage Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Hua Wenyi, a Chinese Kunqu opera singer from Arcadia; Berkeley rhythm & blues pianist Charles Brown; and North Indian sarod player Ali Akbar Khan from Anselmo will meet with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and NEA Chair Jane Alexander to receive their kudos for preserving “generations-old art forms.”

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s Sci-Fi Channel will pay tribute to the late actor Burgess Meredith on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Programming will include four episodes of “The Twilight Zone” in which Meredith starred, preceded by one episode from Rod Serling’s follow-up series “Night Gallery.” . . . Oprah Winfrey has said she will announce Monday--during her talk show’s 12th season premiere--whether she will continue the program beyond this season. Industry insiders have speculated that she might step down to allow Roseanne’s planned talk show--which comes from Winfrey’s distributor King World--to take over her time slot. . . . Speaking of King World, Barbra Streisand has expanded her television wings by signing a deal with the company to produce issue-oriented movies-of-the-week. Her Barwood Films already has deals with Showtime, CBS and NBC. . . . Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan have signed on as charter members of the new Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which hopes to host its own Grammy Awards show within 18 months. . . . Former world champion pair figure skaters Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner will star in “Nutcracker on Ice” at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 28-30. Tickets are $25-$40. . . . Ned Beatty, Malcolm Gets (“Caroline in the City”) and Rex Smith have joined Andrea Marcovicci in the cast of “Finian’s Rainbow,” playing Sept. 24-28 at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. . . . Rod Lurie, one of the talk-show hosts let go recently when KTZN-AM (710) switched formats to Disney’s children’s programming, has resurfaced on sister station KABC-AM (790), where his movie call-in show now airs Saturdays from 4 to 7 p.m. . . . The correct date for VH1’s “Storytellers,” featuring Elton John from New Orleans’ House of Blues, is Sept. 19.