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

TELEVISION

Ratings Love ‘Raymond’: CBS’ returning Ray Romano series, “Everybody Loves Raymond”--never a ratings leader before--jumped out of the new season gate on Monday as the night’s highest-rated series, even beating Fox’s media darling, “Ally McBeal,” in competition at 9 p.m. CBS also had good news with the debut of “King of Queens,” which won its 8:30 p.m. slot (excluding “Monday Night Football”), and with the new 10 p.m. drama “L.A. Doctors,” which beat “Dateline NBC.” However, CBS’ “Brian Benben Show” at 9:30 was beaten by both “Ally McBeal” and NBC’s new series “Will & Grace.” The night’s worst ratings draw was the WB’s new 9 p.m. drama, “Hyperion Bay.”

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Historic Parallels?: The History Channel will rebroadcast 25 hours from the 1974 House Judiciary Committee hearings that considered impeachment charges against President Richard M. Nixon, with the CBS News footage being shown Monday through Oct. 2 on the cable channel. Some of those who took part in the hearings are also very central in the current Clinton controversy: Hillary Rodham served as counsel to the Democratic committee members, and then-Rep. Trent Lott, now Senate majority leader, was among the committee members. It will be the first time that the hearings--which will run daily from 7 a.m. to noon with repeats from noon to 5 p.m.--have been seen in a comprehensive block since their initial live airing nearly a quarter century ago.

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See Sally Fight With Producers: In what she says is an attempt to prove that the guests on her show are for real, Sally Jessy Raphael will take the cameras backstage this season, with most shows containing behind-the-scenes footage illustrating how the show is prepared. In one example, Raphael argues with a producer over whether a planned show on domestic abuse is compelling enough to air. “Nobody differentiates between one show and another; it’s all of us in the same trash can,” said Raphael, blaming Jerry Springer’s slugfests for making her try the “show within a show” concept. “I know people will say [the backstage elements are like HBO’s] ‘Larry Sanders Show,’ ” Raphael said. “But . . . they had scripts. I am going to fly without a net.”

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Unfortunate Scheduling: On Monday, the day of Florence Griffith Joyner’s death, TV’s new version of “Hollywood Squares” began airing a week of shows in which the Olympic track star appears as a celebrity guest. The shows--which continue through Friday (at 7:30 p.m. on KCBS-TV Channel 2)--were taped several weeks ago and were distributed prior to Griffith Joyner’s death. King World said late Monday that it will make a “generous donation” in the athlete’s memory to the charity she established, the Flo Jo Youth Foundation. A graphic aired at the beginning of Monday’s show read: “This show was videotaped before the untimely death of Florence Griffith Joyner.”

STAGE & OPERA

Willkommen: The touring version of Broadway’s “Cabaret” will premiere at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills, Feb. 23-March 28. In order to approximate the cabaret atmosphere of the London and Broadway stagings, the Wilshire’s orchestra seats will be removed and replaced with raked tables and chairs, reducing the capacity to around 1,500 from the current 1,910. In addition, drinks will be served in the theater. Casting hasn’t been announced. “Cabaret” will be the second entry in the 1999 Broadway/L.A. season, which also will include “Annie” at the Shubert Theatre (Jan. 5-17), Cirque Ingenieux at the Wilshire (April 22-May 2) and “Evita” at the Wilshire (May 11-30).

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No ‘Peony’ for Paris: The 19-hour Chinese opera “The Peony Pavilion,” which was to have been the centerpiece of this summer’s Lincoln Center Festival in New York before Chinese authorities effectively stopped the company and its sets from traveling for the event, has run into similar roadblocks with its scheduled production in Paris in November and December. The Paris Autumn Festival said this week that despite efforts from “French authorities at the very highest level,” Chinese officials have barred the Kunju Opera of Shanghai’s 53 company members from traveling to France for the production. Cultural officials in Shanghai have deemed the production “ideologically unsuitable and pornographic.”

POP/ROCK

Hall of Fame Nominees: Although next year’s inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won’t be announced until November, the list of 15 nominees includes Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Ritchie Valens. Others on the ballot include the groups Steely Dan, Black Sabbath, the Flamingos, the Moonglows and the Staples Singers, and individual performers Darlene Love, Gene Pitney, Dusty Springfield, Solomon Burke, Curtis Mayfield and Del Shannon. The inductees--up to seven--are voted on by hundreds of music industry professionals.

QUICK TAKES

Radio station KCRW-FM’s (89.9) “Which Way, L.A.?” will expand to 90 minutes today to allow listeners to air their views on the Clinton controversy. The program--airing from 1 to 2:30 p.m.--will use two separate phone lines for callers, with those supporting Clinton asked to call (310) 452-6700 and those opposing him to call (310) 452-6705. Also on KCRW’s schedule today is the 7-8 p.m. airing of the third in a series of gubernatorial debates between Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. . . . Scott Seomin, a former media relations director for TV’s “Entertainment Tonight,” has been named entertainment media director for GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The position gained a high profile during the tenure of Chastity Bono, who became an outspoken spokeswoman on the developing role of gay characters on television and film.