Suddenly, Monday’s the ‘Place’ for New Shows

Fox’s “Melrose Place” has been a ratings draw at 8 p.m. Monday nights--especially with young women--since the Aaron Spelling soap moved there in 1994. With the show taking a spring break before it returns this summer (Fox hopes to steam up usually moribund ratings with original episodes), several new series are jumping into the pool. ABC takes the plunge tonight with “Push,” a drama about hard-bodied young athletes, while Fox counters with two sitcoms in “Melrose’s” place--”Damon,” which has been running Sundays, and “Getting Personal,” starring “Independence Day’s” Vivica A. Fox. (See “Push” and “Getting Personal” reviews on F11.) UPN, meanwhile, joins the party next week with “Love Boat: The Next Wave.” Both ABC and NBC have touted their programs as an alternative for the “Melrose” crowd, with NBC airing spots for its Brooke Shields comedy, “Suddenly Susan,” spoofing the serial. Programmers will also be watching to see how many people show up to greet “The Love Boat,” given that several series revivals--including “Fantasy Island” and “Love, American Style”--are being considered for next season. Adding to the Monday mix, CBS’ “Murphy Brown” returns tonight to begin counting down to its series finale.

A Rapper Hopes to Make Like an Iceberg Pearl Jam couldn’t do it. Neither could Madonna, Eric Clapton or Van Halen. But record industry insiders believe that New Orleans rapper Master P could be the one who finally sinks the “Titanic” soundtrack. Numerous retailers expect the soundtrack to his “I Got the Hook-Up!”--which will be released Tuesday and includes contributions by Ice Cube and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony--to sell more than 300,000 copies during its first week in stores. That would put it in strong position to end “Titanic’s” soon-to-be 13-week run atop the national album sales chart. “Titanic” has sold more than 400,000 copies each of the last 11 weeks--no other album in the SoundScan era had sold that many for more than five consecutive weeks--but retailers say its monster sales have finally started to tail off. Meanwhile, other than Puff Daddy, Master P and his No Limit Records are probably the hottest force in the pop-rap world these days. His last album, “Ghetto D,” debuted at No. 1 in September, selling about 260,000 copies during its first week in stores. And separate albums by his younger brothers, Silkk the Shocker and C-Murder, would have also topped the chart this year if not for the “Titanic” phenomenon. Both rap collections debuted at No. 3, behind “Titanic” and Celine Dion’s “Let’s Talk About Love.” And both Silkk and C-Murder contributed to “I Got the Hook-Up!” “We salute ‘Titanic’ on its incredible longevity,” says Gary Arnold, vice president of marketing for the Best Buy chain, “but it’s time for the ship to go down. And Master P will bring it down.”

Smells Like Independent Filmmaker Spirit Legal threats apparently having been withdrawn, the controversial documentary “Kurt and Courtney” opens Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5. Directed by Nick Broomfield (“Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam”), the documentary achieved notoriety when it was pulled from the Sundance Film Festival after lawyers for Courtney Love and EMI Music Publishing--which controls Kurt Cobain’s songs--threatened lawsuits. EMI’s protest was over Broomfield’s alleged unauthorized use of music by Cobain’s band, Nirvana. But Love’s protest was more personal--the film investigates allegations that she was involved with Cobain’s death, which was ruled a suicide. The film also goes a long way toward undercutting those charges. After being pulled from Sundance, the documentary was screened at the alternative fest known as Slamdunk. Then it opened in late February at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater, whose distribution arm is responsible for the wider exposure. In mid-March, Love’s publicist, Pat Kingsley, told The Times that Love did not want to comment on the film’s release. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to make it any bigger,” Kingsley said. “She hasn’t even seen it.” On Friday, Kingsley’s office reported that nothing has changed. And here’s a note for fans planning to see the film: No stage diving or crowd surfing allowed in the theater.

--Compiled by Times staff writers and contributors