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

PEOPLE

‘Critical and Stable’: Actor Martin Lawrence is showing some signs of improvement, though he remains on a ventilator after emerging from a coma early Wednesday brought on by a jog Sunday in 100-degree weather. Lawrence, 34, who had earlier been listed in “very critical and not stable condition,” has been “upgraded to critical and stable condition” at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, spokeswoman Kris Carraway-Bowman said Friday. Lawrence, former star of the sitcom “Martin,” who had been jogging in heavy clothes trying to lose weight for an upcoming role, slipped into the coma Sunday, when he was hospitalized with a body temperature of 107 degrees. “He is alert. He is following commands. His eyes were focusing, and tracking, and neurologically we are encouraged,” Carraway-Bowman said. “He’s also responding to commands such as if we ask him to squeeze our hand, he’ll squeeze our hand.” Lawrence is able to hold a pencil, she added, and make marks on a piece of paper, but he cannot speak because doctors are keeping him on the ventilator as a precaution. The actor has starred in such movies as “Life,” “Bad Boys” and “You So Crazy.”

TELEVISION

Anchor Moves: Jack Ford, NBC’s chief legal correspondent and co-anchor of the weekend “Today” show, is headed to ABC. The network is expected to announce Monday that it has hired Ford as co-anchor of one night of the newsmagazine “20/20” and substitute anchor for “Good Morning America.” . . . Fox News Channel is adding Neil Cavuto, vice president, anchor and managing editor of business news, to the network’s daytime lineup of “Fox News Now.” Cavuto will anchor an hour of the network’s daytime news broadcast, beginning at 1 p.m., preceding his regular duties as host of the financial news program “The Cavuto Business Report” at 2. He starts in September but the specific date has not been disclosed.

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‘Restless’ Gets Roots: CBS has secured a long-term extension to keep broadcasting daytime’s top-rated soap opera, “The Young and the Restless.” In doing so, the network granted the program’s producer, Columbia TriStar Television, the right to repeat episodes later the same day on a proposed all-soap channel, SoapCity, in exchange for a financial stake in the new network. ABC intends to use a similar strategy with its daytime serials on a cable channel that it is planning. “Restless” has been daytime’s most-watched show for 11 years, averaging nearly 8 million viewers daily.

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Ellington Plays On: Pasadena Playhouse’s production of the Duke Ellington musical “Play On!” gets the spotlight Sunday night from New York’s public television station WNET, which is taping the show for its “Great Performances” series. The national broadcast of the show--conceived and directed by playhouse artistic director Sheldon Epps, with book by Cheryl L. West and the songs of Ellington--will air on PBS next spring. The show recently concluded its record-setting run here and goes to Tucson Sept. 10.

POP/ROCK

Crow, Clapton and Company: Sheryl Crow and Eric Clapton will perform a free concert in Central Park Sept. 14 that will be broadcast live on TV, radio and the Internet. The concert will take place in the park’s East Meadow, where the Dalai Lama spoke earlier this month. Concert sponsor American Express will distribute about 25,000 tickets in New York in the week preceding the concert, Parks Department spokesman Robert Lawson said. The concert is billed as “Sheryl Crow and friends, including Eric Clapton.” Lawson did not know who the additional “friends” would be.

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Houston’s No-Show: Officials in Concord, Calif., have asked Whitney Houston to reimburse the city for $100,000 spent preparing for a concert she canceled 15 minutes before show time. Houston said that she was ill when she bowed out of the Aug. 1 concert at the Concord Pavilion; 5,000 fans were already in their seats when the announcement was made, and thousands more were turned away from the parking lot. The pavilion’s booking agent, San Francisco-based Bill Graham Presents, said Houston’s representatives had promised to look into the matter.

QUICK TAKES

Actor Robert Downey Jr. has arrived at Corcoran State Prison to begin serving his three-year sentence for violating probation for a drug conviction, and will be housed with other inmates in a dormitory setting. . . . With the addition of actress Rita Wilson (“Runaway Bride,” “Sleepless in Seattle”), casting for Neil Simon’s “The Dinner Party,” opening Dec. 2 at the Mark Taper Forum, has been completed. The cast also includes Edward Hermann, John Ritter and Henry Winkler. . . . Actress Sharon Stone will participates in an online arts auction in Florida, beginning at 4:30 p.m. today, for the 10th annual Arts for ACT ‘99, a nonprofit agency serving victims of domestic violence. It’s at https://www.amazon.livebid.com. . . . The premiere of UPN’s wrestling show “WWF Smackdown!” drew an estimated 6.2 million viewers Thursday--more than doubling the network’s average audience that night and ranking first in the demographics of teens and men 18 to 34. ABC’s quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,” meanwhile, continues to build, with nearly 17 million viewers Thursday, its biggest audience yet. . . . Stephanie Edwards will take over the weekday 9 a.m-noon slot at KIEV-AM (870) beginning Sept. 7, replacing an infomercial lineup. She continues her 7-8 p.m. Sunday gig on sister station KKLA-FM (99.5). . . . More than 30 flamenco artists will perform at Pasadena City College Sunday at 4 p.m. in a tribute to fellow dancer Maria Isabel, a 17-year-old student at the college who was slain in February. Information: (323) 663-1525.