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

TELEVISION

Grammy Viewing: The 41st annual Grammy Awards gave CBS the lion’s share of the TV audience Wednesday night, averaging approximately 25 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That put the telecast on a par with last year’s awards show, which was the most watched since 1993. Even against the Grammy competition, Juanita Broaddrick’s story of an alleged sexual assault in 1978 by then-Arkansas Atty. Gen. Bill Clinton provided a slight boost to NBC’s “Dateline” Wednesday, pushing the audience for the 8 p.m. newsmagazine to about 14 million, up from its average of 11 million.

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Futuristic Crossover: Showtime will premiere its first World Wide Web series, “WhirlGirl,” on the cable channel tonight at 7:50, the same time the five-minute episode debuts online at https://www.showtimeonline.com. The futuristic animated sci-fi series chronicles the adventures of a twentysomething heroine; new episodes will be posted on the Web every Friday.

MOVIES

An Unusual Inheritance: Family members of a star-struck Kentucky woman have gone to court to contest a hand-scrawled will in which Audrey Jean Knauer, 55, left actor Charles Bronson her entire $300,000 estate. Knauer, who had never met the actor, scribbled her wishes on a list of emergency phone numbers before she died in 1997, asking that nothing--including “blood, body parts, financial assets”--go to her mother and that anything Bronson didn’t want should revert to the Louisville, Ky., public library. However, Knauer’s sister Nancy Koeper claims Knauer was mentally unfit and the money should go to the family. Koeper’s lawyer says that a handwritten 1977 will--which he called “much more authentic” and “witnessed”--left everything to relatives. Bronson, meanwhile, has already received about half of the money; his spokeswoman has said he’ll give it to charity.

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Angels Abound: DreamWorks’ animated feature “The Prince of Egypt” won the Gold Angel Award for the year’s top film Thursday at the 22nd annual International Angel Awards honoring the “depiction of positive moral and/or social values.” Other honorees included “Mulan” (best children’s movie), “Life Is Beautiful” (foreign film), Imax’s “Everest” (adventure film), CBS’ “The Promised Land” (TV drama) and CBS’ “Becker” (TV comedy).

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Taking Offense: An Asian American group has condemned Matthew McConaughey for using a racial slur on Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show Tuesday. After O’Donnell remarked on McConaughey’s new short haircut, the actor, who is filming the World War II movie “U-571” in Italy, replied: “I’m over in Rome fighting Germans and Japs from World War II.” There was no audible reaction from the studio audience, and O’Donnell continued the conversation without pause. McConaughey’s publicist said the actor meant no offense, but Masaru Kent Kawai, president of the watchdog group Media Action Network for Asian Americans, called the term for the Japanese soldiers a “slur” that has “historically been used to dehumanize an entire race of people.”

POP/ROCK

Spears Still No. 1: Britney Spears, the Offspring and Lauryn Hill have the nation’s three top-selling albums for the third week, according to SoundScan. Teen pop singer Spears’ debut album “. . . Baby One More Time” has logged three consecutive weeks at No. 1, this time with a total of 198,000 units sold. Meanwhile, hip-hop diva Hill and the Orange County-based Offspring have swapped the second and third spots each week during the same span. This week, No. 2 goes to Grammy queen Hill, who sold 123,000 copies of “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” to edge the Offspring by about 8,000 units. The No. 1 single for the fourth week is Monica’s “Angel of Mine.”

QUICK TAKES

“Art,” Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning play with Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina, has been extended to April 11 at the James A. Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood. . . . NBC will air an hourlong prime-time special “Saturday Night Live Presents the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal,” a compilation of skits and parodies from the late-night series, Saturday at 8 p.m. . . . Tina Turner has joined the previously announced Whitney Houston on the lineup for “VH1 Divas Live ‘99,” airing April 13. . . . Due to incorrect information supplied to The Times, Tuesday’s Morning Report had the wrong date for the Friar’s Club of California’s roast of Jerry Springer. The event takes place April 29 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.