ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

Just Dance, Baby: Austin Powers hasn’t shagged Madonna, but the character’s creator, Mike Myers, snagged her for the soundtrack for the upcoming “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” Madonna has recorded a new song, “Beautiful Stranger,” for the film and will release the soundtrack album on her Maverick Records label. Other featured tracks will include a solo effort from Mel B (a.k.a. Scary Spice) titled “Word Up,” Green Day’s “Espionage,” an R.E.M. version of the Tommy James hit “Draggin’ the Line.” Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello will team on the former’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and the film’s Dr. Evil (Myers as well) does “Just the Two of Us.” The album is due June 1, with the film opening June 11.

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Wynette’s Doctor: ‘Extraordinary Care’: Responding for the first time to a recent lawsuit accusing him of negligence in country singer Tammy Wynette’s death a year ago, attorneys for Dr. Wallis Marsh of Pittsburgh said Thursday that the case has “no basis in fact.” In a statement, Marsh’s attorneys said: “When the facts become known . . . it will be more than clear that Dr. Marsh, and the physicians from [Nashville’s] University Medical Center who worked with him to develop Ms. Wynette’s treatment plan, provided extraordinary medical care to a person who suffered extraordinary medical problems.” The country star was found dead at home by her fifth husband, George Richey, who is also named in $50-million wrongful-death suit filed Monday by three of Wynette’s daughters. On the singer’s death certificate, Marsh listed the cause of death as a blood clot in the lungs.

TELEVISION

Foxiest Plot Manipulations Revealed: CBS takes a page from Fox’s “Masked Magician” specials when that series’ host, Val Valentino, guests on the April 19 edition of “Diagnosis Murder.” In the two-hour episode, the Masked Magician is murdered on live television, prompting the discovery that “there are those in the TV business who are dying--literally--for big ratings.” . . . In another apparent play on Fox’s high-rated reality programs, Pax TV has scheduled two biblical specials with sensationalistic titles: “The Bible’s Greatest Secrets Revealed” (May 2) and “The Bible’s Greatest Miracles: The Proof!” (May 16).

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‘Extra’ Incentive?: A Norwegian daredevil arrested last week for parachuting off New York’s World Trade Center has filed a $2.25-million fraud suit against the syndicated show “Extra,” claiming that one of the show’s editors had agreed to pay him an undisclosed sum for a videotape of the March 26 jump. Thor Axel Kappfjell, who pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to seven days’ community service, also alleges that the editor, Barry Levine, arranged for police to arrest Kappfjell so an “Extra” crew could film the arrest. According to the suit, Levine previously agreed to pay Kappfjell $7,500 to air videotapes of two 1998 parachute jumps: off the observation deck of the Empire State Building and from the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building. An “Extra” spokesman responded: “We strongly deny the allegations in the lawsuit. We were asked to become a party to [a payment] we felt was ethically and legally inappropriate, and we refused.”

QUICK TAKES

Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon for the Smashing Pumpkins’ April 24 show at the Roxy. Sales will be by phone only through Ticketmaster, with a two-ticket limit. Meanwhile, the first four songs from the Pumpkins’ show in Detroit on Saturday will be cyber-cast live over the Web at 7 p.m. (at https://www.gmvnetwork.com). . . . Paul Begala, a former assistant and counselor to President Clinton, today joins MSNBC as co-host of the weeknight series “Equal Time,” on which he will spar with Oliver North. Begala will also provide political analysis for other MSNBC programs, including “The News With Brian Williams.” . . . CBS’ “The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn” averaged 1.5 million viewers in its first week, slightly higher than previous host Tom Snyder’s results this season. However, Kilborn didn’t significantly affect his main competition, NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” which drew 2.4 million viewers. . . . Singers Nancy Wilson, Diane Schuur, Robert Goulet and Don Cunningham were among those taking part Wednesday at the Las Vegas funeral for jazz great Joe Williams, who died March 29 at the age of 80. The more than 500 mourners were also read a statement from President Clinton, who called Williams “a national treasure.” . . . Jessica Alba, featured in the new Drew Barrymore movie “Never Been Kissed,” has been cast in the title role of “Dark Angel,” an upcoming Fox drama being written by James Cameron and Charles Egle. The futuristic series is to premiere in 2000. . . . “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” will end its seven-year syndicated run with a two-hour series finale airing June 5 on KCOP-TV. . . . Actress Jodie Foster was treated at a Malaysian hospital Wednesday for a minor ankle injury she suffered during a break from filming on “Anna and the King.” The injury was not expected to hamper production of the $60-million remake.