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

MOVIES

For Swank and Crowe: The Broadcast Film Critics Assn., a national group of TV, radio and online film critics, joined the critics’ consensus by picking “Boys Don’t Cry” star Hilary Swank as the year’s best actress and echoing the L.A. Film Critics and National Board of Review’s choice of Russell Crowe (“The Insider”) for best actor. Among the broadcast group’s other picks: Michael Clarke Duncan (“The Green Mile”), best supporting actor; Angelina Jolie (“Girl, Interrupted”), supporting actress; Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”), director; Alan Ball (“American Beauty”), original screenplay; and Frank Darabont (“The Green Mile”), adapted screenplay. The group will announce its best picture winner next month.

POP/ROCK

Celine on Top: Celine Dion’s “All the Way--A Decade of Song,” a collection that features her biggest hits and seven new songs, reclaims the top spot on the nation’s album charts this week, selling 537,000 copies. Meanwhile, teen pop’s 1999 dominance continues into the year’s final month with the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera taking the next three spots on the chart. The top debut of the week was rapper Juvenile’s “Tha G Code Live by It Die by It,” which landed at No. 10. The top single: “I Wanna Love You Forever” by Jessica Simpson.

LEGAL FILE

Settlement: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Globe have settled the actor’s $50-million lawsuit against the tabloid over a 1998 story claiming that the action hero was in the midst of a “heart crisis” and was a “ticking time bomb.” Schwarzenegger, who underwent heart surgery more than 16 months before the article, has maintained he is in excellent health. Schwarzenegger’s attorneys said the tabloid had agreed to run a correction and apology in the next issue and was donating an undisclosed amount to Schwarzenegger’s charity, the Inner City Games Foundation.

Pleading Innocent: Former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Jason Priestley has pleaded innocent to a felony drunken driving charge after a crash that destroyed his sports car and left a friend with a broken arm. The 30-year-old actor, free on $50,000 bond, was ordered to return to court Jan. 27 for a preliminary hearing. If convicted, he could face three years in prison. The Dec. 3 crash in the Hollywood Hills injured his friend, Chad Cook, when Priestley’s 1999 Porsche hit a power pole, trash cans and a parked car.

TELEVISION

Goodbyes: Cable’s E! Television is retiring one of its longest-running series, “The Gossip Show,” after six years. The final edition will air Christmas night at 9. The hourlong farewell show will feature a “gossip round-table” with columnists, including Army Archerd, Liz Smith, Marilyn Beck, Jeanne Wolf and Janet Charlton. . . . ABC has pulled the plug on its struggling comedies “It’s like, you know . . .” and “Oh Grow Up.” The move was expected, since both were bumped from the schedule to make room for the Jan. 11 return of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

QUICK TAKES

President Clinton is tonight’s guest on CNN’s “Larry King Live” at 6. . . . For the first time in 20 years, the Christmas Eve episode of the syndicated “Donny & Marie Show” features all the Osmonds singing and celebrating on KTTV-TV Channel 11 Friday at 1 p.m. . . . Bonnie Grice returns to public radio with a four-hour Christmas program beginning at 2 p.m. Friday on KCSN-FM (88.5). . . . Universal Amphitheatre’s “Radio City Christmas Spectacular,” featuring the Rockettes, is offering a free ticket for kids 17 and under with the purchase of each full-price adult ticket. In return, patrons must bring a nonperishable food item to the performance (through Tuesday) for the L.A. Regional Foodbank.