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

PEOPLE

Carson Returns Home: Johnny Carson has returned to his bluff-top compound, three weeks after emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery. The 73-year-old former “Tonight Show” host left St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on Friday. “He’s doing great,” Carson Productions spokesman Jeff Sotzing said Monday.

TELEVISION

New Day at NBC: NBC will drop the long-running soap opera “Another World” in June and “NBC News at Sunrise” in September as part of a significant overhaul of its daytime schedule. “Another World,” which has run on the network since 1964, will be replaced by “Passions,” a new soap that premieres in July. NBC has extended its order on another low-rated serial, “Sunset Beach,” through 1999. (“Days of Our Lives” has been renewed through 2004.) As part of the changes, NBC will add a half-hour business news program at 4:30 a.m., “Early Today,” and expand its top-rated “Today” franchise with “Later Today,” a one-hour program hosted by Jodi Applegate, which will replace “Leeza” at 9 a.m. starting in September.

Another Apology: For the second time in four months, “60 Minutes” apologized on the air over a report on drug smuggling, acknowledging that a memo cited by the CBS newsmagazine had turned out to be bogus. The apology was part of a settlement reached with a customs official who had sued CBS. “60 Minutes” issued the apology Sunday night over an April 20, 1997, report about drugs flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego. Correspondent Lesley Stahl, who made the apology, emphasized that CBS stuck by the underlying theme of the report. In December, “60 Minutes” founder Don Hewitt apologized for airing a June 1997 story based on a British documentary about smugglers swallowing heroin in latex gloves to get past authorities. An investigative panel later found that the documentary producers had faked locations and paid actors to portray drug couriers.

AWARDS

Local Kudos: KCBS-TV won 16 awards Saturday night at the Associated Press Television-Radio Assn. of California-Nevada Awards, including best hourlong news broadcast for “CBS 2 News at 6 p.m.” Among the other honors: Ann Martin and Michael Tuck were named best anchor team; Steve Hartman was reporter of the year, and “Grade ‘A’ Bribery” by Joel Grover, Adam Symson and Sylvia Teague won for best investigative reporting. In radio, KFWB-AM (980) earned an award for best spot news, and KFI-AM (640) was honored for best newscast under 15 minutes in a large market.

THEATER

Dee-Lightful: Ruby Dee’s autobiographical solo, “My One Good Nerve: A Visit With Ruby Dee,” will play the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills May 23-July 4. Staged by Charles Nelson Reilly, the award-winning Dee’s performance will mark her L.A. stage debut.

QUICK TAKES

A&E; Home Video has acquired the cult TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” for home video and DVD release in North American markets this fall. The British export first aired in the United Kingdom on Oct. 5, 1969. . . . “The People’s Court” gets a new judge in September, with New York Judge Gerry Sheindlin, the husband of another TV jurist, Judy Sheindlin (“Judge Judy”), set to take over for former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who is recusing himself after two years as judge on the program.