From Hand to Transplanted Hand

Monica Lewinsky . . . impeachment . . . the JonBenet Ramsey murder, again . . . now it’s hand transplants capturing the fancy of television producers, just in time for the February ratings sweeps. The Feb. 9 edition of “Dateline NBC” featured an exclusive look at the first U.S. hand transplant recipient. A recent “Chicago Hope” followed a woman who went to court to get her dead mother’s hand. Not to be outdone, last week’s “ER” had a bloody hand reattachment scene. Latest up is a special Monday edition of “48 Hours,” which scrubs in for “L.A. Doctors” at 10 tonight on CBS. Reporter Susan Spencer follows the saga of Clint Hallam, an Australian who in September became the world’s first hand transplant recipient. The headlines also brought attention to his prison past and allegations that he is a con man. Hallam’s story was told by “Dateline NBC” in a shorter piece Dec. 8. But in early January, Hallam disappeared, including from his extremely worried doctors. “48 Hours” recounts its cat-and-mouse game with him, which ended with an interview over the weekend. “Dateline” didn’t have a Hallam interview because, NBC said, he demanded money. CBS says it didn’t pay Hallam for its extensive access to him, although, as the program discloses, it did buy round-trip tickets for his family to come to France, where he was recovering from the highly experimental transplant procedure, which requires extensive long-term medical monitoring.

An Alternative Audience for R.E.M.

R.E.M. will reach out Thursday to young listeners--really young listeners. The alt rockers from Athens, Ga., appear on “Sesame Street” (10 a.m., KCET-TV) with a gaggle of Muppets to sing “Happy Furry Monsters,” a sendup of the band’s “Shiny Happy People.” The appearance honors the 30th anniversary of the staple show of the preschool set, but it also signals a newfound willingness by R.E.M. to “try new things and have some fun,” says its manager, Bertis Downs. It’s also a way to hype the band in the face of meager radio airplay for their latest album, “Up,” which has sold just 500,000 copies in 15 weeks despite strong reviews. The trio (drummer and founding member Bill Berry retired after a brain aneurysm) raised eyebrows among longtime fans by appearing recently on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” and last week the three visited the Palace in Hollywood to tape a cameo for a “Party of Five” episode: They perform “At My Most Beautiful” while one of the show’s characters discovers a new romance at a concert. “We like the show,” lead singer Michael Stipe said at the taping. “And I’m excited about being the background for Claudia’s big kiss.” The episode airs in April, and R.E.M. kicks off its North American tour at the Greek Theatre on Aug. 9 and 10.

The World Comes to Santa Monica

It is Santa Monica’s version of the Cannes Film Festival--without the festival. Like some exotic casbah, the Loew’s Hotel is transformed each February into the American Film Market, an exotic showcase for independent films as 7,000 buyers, sellers, agents, producers and even actors converge in hopes of striking show business gold. The hotel lobby is a veritable United Nations of buyers in search of films to license for their respective theaters, television networks and home video outlets. This year, 71 countries from Slovenia to Sri Lanka are represented, along with the larger countries of Europe, Latin America and the Far East. The AFM is hoping that unlike last year, the financial problems roiling countries around the world will begin to subside, providing more incentive to buy films. The market generates between $350 million and $400 million in revenues each year. Between Thursday and March 5, the hotel’s suites will be transformed into colorful exhibits, their walls plastered with every kind of movie poster from sexploitation and martial arts films to quality, bigger-budget movies with top-name stars. The lobby and bar, meanwhile, are usually crammed with people looking to score a big film deal, whether they are international businessmen skilled in the fine art of movie distribution or wheeler-dealers wearing Rolex watches and gold pinky rings who are making their first foray into the world of show business. This year, AFM not only has plans to screen 357 movies, but also, for the first time, to offer the public screening badges for $95 ($45 for students and film industry employees) that will permit them to see up to 70 films. Among the movies to be screened are “Three Seasons,” directed by Tony Bui and starring Harvey Keitel; “Sugar Town,” directed by Allison Anders and Kurt Voss, and starring Ally Sheedy, Rosanna Arquette and Beverly D’Angelo; and “An Ideal Husband,” directed by Oliver Parker, and starring Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore.

--Compiled by Times staff writers