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

ENTERTAINMENT

Remembering Lloyd Bridges: Cable’s AMC will pay tribute to the late Lloyd Bridges on Friday with a three-film salute kicking off at 8:15 a.m. with 1951’s “White Tower.” Programming will continue at 10 a.m. with a half-hour “Reflections on the Silver Screen” interview that Bridges taped in 1996, followed by the movies “Kid From Left Field” (1953) and “Calamity Jane and Sam Bass” (1949). Cable’s TV Land will also remember Bridges by airing two episodes of the 1962-63 CBS series “The Lloyd Bridges Show” on Sunday at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, “Jane Austen’s Mafia,” one of the last movies filmed by Bridges before his death Tuesday at age 85, is scheduled to be released to theaters on Aug. 12, Touchstone Pictures said Wednesday. In a spoof on previous Mafia movies, Bridges plays an aging don.

Lopez’s Career Move: Actress Jennifer Lopez, who portrayed slain tejano singer Selena on film, is launching her own bid to become a pop star. Lopez, who began her career as a dancing “Fly Girl” on TV’s “In Living Color,” has signed a six-figure recording deal with Sony’s Work Group label. The deal was announced by Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola (Mariah Carey’s ex), who squired Lopez to the recent Grammys.

THE ARTS

Can Sarandon Sing?: San Francisco Opera has commissioned composer Jake Heggie and playwright Terrence McNally to create an opera based on Sister Helen Prejean’s book “Dead Man Walking,” which became the basis for the 1995 film that won Susan Sarandon an Oscar. Patrick Summers will conduct the opera’s world premiere in 2001, with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as the inmate’s mother.

QUICK TAKES

Disney’s 14th animated classic, “Lady and the Tramp,” will return to home video for a limited time on Sept. 15. The movie, which has been digitally remastered and restored, was released on video only once before, in 1986. A Spanish version will also be available. . . . A California judge has denied Mattel Inc.’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Danish group Aqua’s song “Barbie Girl,” in which the doll is described as a “blond bimbo” party girl whose “life is plastic.” Mattel has sued MCA Records over the song, claiming it infringes upon Mattel’s Barbie trademark. The judge, who called the song a “parody,” noted that Mattel “has failed to show that it is likely to succeed” with its claims. . . . Casey Kasem will return to the radio countdown biz with the new nationally syndicated show “American Top 40 With Casey Kasem,” premiering March 29 on KBIG-FM (104.3) in the Sunday 8-11 a.m. time slot.