The Material Girl, er, Mom, Is Back

Listen carefully and you can hear the banging of the drums--a new Madonna album is coming. That will be evident to anybody tuning in today to MTV, which will premiere the video for the singer’s new single, “Frozen,” about 4 p.m. and broadcast it five more times over the next eight hours. The single itself won’t be released officially to radio until Thursday, but some stations have already been playing it for several days. The album, “Ray of Light,” is Madonna’s first collection of all-new material since 1994’s “Bedtime Stories” and is due in stores March 3 on Warner Bros./Maverick Records. Tracy Austin, music director at KIIS-FM (102.7), says anticipation among Madonna fans is building daily. “We started getting requests for the single about a month before we even got it,” says Austin. “She’s always doing something new and inventive, and people are curious to know what it’s going to be.” Adds MTV News anchor Kurt Loder, who interviewed Madonna for a March 1 broadcast of “Ultrasound,” a new weekly MTV music series: “The record industry is always trying to create an event around a record by throwing money into it. But this isn’t about money. The excitement is building because this album is unlike anything else out there. . . . It’s really great material.”

Beware of the Oscar-Graft Police And the Oscar for outstanding achievement by a Hollywood studio for an Academy Award campaign goes to. . . . Now that the nominations are out, studios with films vying for the Academy Awards are switching their Oscar campaigns into Phase 2 this week. Whether it’s mailing out video cassettes, screening schedules, screenplays or music CDs, the studios hope that their nominees won’t be overlooked when members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cast their final ballots. But because of past campaigns that rankled many academy members, the studios are under strict guidelines on what they can send out. The guidelines were developed by the academy after it became apparent that the packaging was getting as much attention as the films. One mailing included a beautiful black lacquered box containing tapes that was dubbed “The Coffin.” Academy members also were upset when they received registered letters saying there was a package waiting for them at the post office, only to find out that it was a studio promotion. In 1996, Daily Variety reported that to hype its best picture nominee “Il Postino (The Postman),” Miramax sent members a copy of the screenplay, a paperback copy of the novel, a photocopied booklet of poems by Pablo Neruda and a soundtrack CD featuring readings of the poems by celebrities not featured in the movie. Today, the academy guidelines state that letters extolling the merits of a film or containing critics’ quotes are prohibited; screening schedules must be in letter format only and contain no additional copy, such as messages from the filmmakers; video mailers must be simple in design and make no reference to a specific film; and screenplays and CDs may be sent only if they are eligible. If a studio violates any of these rules, they can be docked two tickets to the Academy Awards show. “We’re relying on their sense of fair play and a gentleman’s agreement,” said Ric Robertson, the academy’s executive administrator. “But in the end of the day, deducting a couple of tickets helps.”

Can They Possibly Top Nancy and Tonya? What has been long touted as the main event of the 1998 Winter Olympics finally arrives this week when the highly anticipated showdown between teen U.S. figure skaters Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski kicks off in Nagano, Japan. CBS is clearly hoping that the women’s short program on Wednesday and the free skate on Friday will bring a much-needed boost to the Olympics, which so far have drawn largely disappointing ratings. The two nights of women’s skating competition are traditionally the highest-rated of the Winter Games. The bitter 1994 clash between skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding are the seventh and ninth most-watched programs in TV history, CBS executives said. This year’s duel has already been heavily previewed during the first week of Olympic competition, with the network covering Kwan’s and Lipinski’s practice sessions. CBS will also focus extensively on the two skaters leading up to Wednesday’s competition, including a look at a year in the life of Kwan, before the short program. But despite the hype, it remains to be seen whether audiences will be as interested in Kwan-Lipinski as they were--and still are--in Harding-Kerrigan. A recent special on Fox reuniting Harding and Kerrigan in a tense and uncomfortable interview drew 14.3 million viewers. The continuing fascination surrounding Kerrigan and Harding--who was banned from skating after being convicted for her involvement in a pre-Games attack on Kerrigan--has not been lost on CBS: The network is planning a feature on the two skaters on Tuesday.

Compiled by Times staff writers and contributors