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

TELEVISION

‘Diva’ Power: VH1’s second annual “Divas Live” broadcast Tuesday night drew a whopping 9.5 million viewers, making it the highest-rated program in the music cable network’s history. The program--featuring Cher, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and Brandy--boosted viewership by 48% from last year’s “Divas” broadcast, which featured Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan. The VH1 broadcast even bested the 8.6 million total viewers who tuned in to see “Titanic” last weekend on HBO, although that premium service is seen in considerably fewer homes than VH1.

PERFORMING ARTS

Brechting Out: The Berliner Ensemble, the theater company started by Bertolt Brecht, will perform his “Arturo Ui” at UCLA’s Freud Theatre July on 7 and 9-11, following shows at UC Berkeley July 1 and 2. The brief California tour will mark the U.S. premiere of the 50-year-old group. The Goethe Institut is presenting the UCLA dates, in association with Center Theatre Group.

Robbins’ Library: Jerome Robbins, the late choreographer and director whose works included such acclaimed Broadway shows as “Fiddler on the Roof,” has left his personal archives to the New York Public Library. The Robbins collection includes books, photographs, videos and artwork, as well as manuscripts, scrapbooks, notes and scripts that offer a glimpse into the artist’s creative mind.

POP/ROCK

Wynette Autopsy Results Pending: The body of country music legend Tammy Wynette was exhumed and autopsied Wednesday to try to answer lingering questions about what caused her death a year ago at age 55. Widower George Richey, Wynette’s fifth husband and one of the subjects of a $50-million wrongful death lawsuit brought by her daughters, said he requested the exhumation and autopsy because of the allegations made against him in the lawsuit. The daughters’ suit claims that Wynette’s physician, Dr. Wallis Marsh of Pittsburgh, overprescribed medication and did not monitor her condition closely enough. It also claims that Richey did not seek medical care for Wynette just before her death even after being urged to do so by Marsh. Marsh, who listed the cause of Wynette’s death as a blood clot to the lungs, and Richey have both issued statements denying any wrongdoing. The autopsy results are expected in four to six weeks.

Web Music: New projects from Alanis Morissette and Public Enemy will continue the music industry’s uncertain march into the Internet age. Morissette will post performances from her summer concert tour on a controversial Web site (https://www.MP3.com) for free download, a source in the singer’s camp confirmed on Thursday. Public Enemy, meanwhile, will turn to online merchant Atomic Pop (https:wwwatomicpop.com) to sell “There’s a Poison Goin’ On,” its first new studio album since 1994, for $10 a copy, beginning in early May. A month later, Atomic Pop will act in the more traditional role of a label, distributing the album to retail stores.

QUICK TAKES

The longest-running sitcom on TV has an even longer lease on life, with Fox having extended “The Simpsons” for an 11th season. . . . The first “X-Files” episode written and directed by series star David Duchovny airs next Sunday at 9 p.m. on Fox. . . . Members of the Mexican super group Mana will be at Wherehouse Records in Westwood on Saturday at 7 p.m. to tape a live remote broadcast for radio station KLSX-FM (97.1). The band is in town to mix its upcoming “MTV Unplugged” album, due in stores (with a companion MTV broadcast) in June. Mana also plans a co-headlining tour with Carlos Santana this summer, including expected dates at Anaheim’s Arrowhead Pond in August. . . . Two Rembrandt sketches and a third drawn by one of his students were found in a secondhand book bought for $1 at an Amsterdam flea market. The buyer has not been identified, but a Netherlands art expert has authenticated the drawings and estimated their total value at $50,000.