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

TELEVISION

‘Magic’ Takes Defensive Stance: Earvin “Magic” Johnson is taking aim at black celebrities, blaming them for the failure of his talk show, “The Magic Hour,” which was canceled in early August after less than two months on the air. Johnson, in an interview with Rabercom’s Entertainment Urban Report, an online entertainment magazine, said that A-list African American celebrities declined to appear on his show. “Black stars think that if they’re not on ‘Leno’ or ‘Letterman’ that they’re not making it,” he said. “That’s the problem. Their managers and agents keep them off of the black shows . . . and there it is, there’s your major problem right there.” Johnson also said that radio personality Howard Stern, one of the show’s harshest critics, was booked as a guest despite Johnson’s misgivings. “The Magic Hour” received poor ratings and criticism after its June 8 debut, and was canceled eight weeks later. Many critics noted that Johnson lacked any television or comedic background. The interview will be posted today online at Rabercom’s EURweb (https://www.eurweb.com), where Web visitors can read the story and hear the interview.

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Stern Words: The Parents Television Council, a conservative group lobbying to reinstate the “family viewing hour,” has launched a campaign against companies whose advertising runs during Howard Stern’s new late-night TV program, which premiered Saturday on many CBS stations. Calling the show “one of the raunchiest, [most] tasteless and lewd shows” ever broadcast, the group said it will single out a different sponsor every week, beginning with the International House of Pancakes. CBS’ Eyemark Entertainment, which distributes the program, said advertising in the show is sold out through the first five episodes. (A spokesman for IHOP said the company purchased ads on CBS’ late-night schedule, but not specifically for the Stern show.) Separately, a Canadian company that acquired broadcast rights to “The Howard Stern Radio Show” in Toronto decided not to televise the program, with the company’s vice president of TV programming, Jay Switzer, telling the Washington Post there was material in the show “we felt we could not defend and we felt uncomfortable with.” The company has also decided to drop Stern’s syndicated radio show, from which the TV show is derived. A spokeswoman for Eyemark said, “We’re sorry that Citytv doesn’t agree with the more than 80 stations in the U.S. that carried the show and have seen record-breaking viewership.”

STAGE

Unknown Will Portray Princess Diana: An unknown 23-year-old has been chosen over many experienced stage actresses for the role of Princess Diana in an off-off-Broadway musical about her life and her death a year ago. Kendra Munger, who had her long brown hair cut short and dyed blond for the part, described herself as sensitive and a little shy, just like the woman she will portray in the show “Queen of Hearts,” which opens Oct. 1 at the Grove Street Playhouse for a five-week run. The title comes from Diana’s own appeal to be known as the “Queen of Hearts” when she was exploring her public role after her divorce from Prince Charles, heir to the British throne. The show is being billed as the first full-fledged musical about Diana, and hundreds of actresses, many experienced, reportedly auditioned for the part. Writer and director Stephen Stahl said he chose Munger, who hails from Connecticut, because of her “fabulous” voice and “great” acting ability. Also portrayed in the musical are Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry--Charles and Diana’s sons--Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, and the “other woman” in Prince Charles’ life, Camilla Parker Bowles.

AWARDS

Screenwriters Honored: The Organization of Black Screenwriters’ inaugural Griot Awards, honoring those whose “distinct voice in storytelling and groundbreaking work over the past decade has paved the way for the next generation of African American writers,” will be presented Sept. 20 at the Olympic Collection Center in West L.A. Film recipients are Charles Burnett (“To Sleep With Anger”), Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”) and Euzhan Palcy (“A Dry White Season”); and television honorees are Yvette Lee Bowser (“Living Single”), Ralph Farquhar (“South Central”), Michael Moye (“Married . . . With Children”) and Vida Spears & Sara Finney (“Moesha”). Richard Wesley (“Mandela & DeKlerk,” “Uptown Saturday Night,” “Native Son”) will receive the group’s lifetime achievement award.

ART

Final Desserts: Artworks commissioned for Rebecca’s restaurant in Venice will go up for auction this fall, when the 13-year-old eatery designed by architect Frank O. Gehry is scheduled to close. The sale, a collaborative venture of dealer Robert Berman’s Santa Monica Auctions and Los Angeles Modern Auctions, will be held Oct. 25 at noon, at the I.M. Chait Gallery in Beverly Hills. Works going on the block include whimsical sculptures of an alligator, an octopus and several fish by Gehry, window paintings of tarantulas by Ed Moses, doors by Tony Berlant and a painting on velvet by Peter Alexander.

QUICK TAKES

KTLA-TV Channel 5 will televise a never-before-seen “director’s cut” of the 1994 pilot episode of “Friends” on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. Included will be more than 15 minutes of scenes not shown in the original pilot, plus behind-the-scenes footage. . . . VH1’s “Where Are They Now?,” which has previously been seen in occasional specials focusing on the casts of “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever” and ‘70s and ‘80s teen idols, will become a regular weekly series in October. . . . HBO’s “The Pentagon Wars” has won an Emmy for costuming. The special juried award will be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys in Pasadena on Saturday.