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

TELEVISION

Writing Nominees: Three episodes of NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” were nominated Wednesday in the episodic drama category for the Writers Guild of America’s 51st annual television writing awards. Joining “Homicide” were single episodes of NBC’s “ER” and “Law & Order,” ABC’s “The Practice” and the canceled priest series “Nothing Sacred,” HBO’s “From the Earth to the Moon” and Showtime’s “Rescuers: Stories of Courage.” Episodic comedy nominees were NBC’s “Frasier,” ABC’s “Dharma & Greg,” and two series no longer on the air, CBS’ “Murphy Brown” and ABC’s “Ellen.” The hourlong final episode of “Ellen” was also nominated, but in the comedy/variety specials category. Other nominees were NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live,” the only shows cited for comedy/variety/talk series. Winners will be announced Feb. 20.

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Michael Jordan’s Life Story: Cable’s Fox Family Channel will air “Michael Jordan: An American Hero,” a two-hour movie tracing the superstar athlete’s life, on April 18. Michael Jace (“Boogie Nights,” “Forrest Gump”) will play Jordan; other cast members include Debbie Allen as his mother and Robin Givens as his wife.

POP/ROCK

Queen of the Hill: Hip-hop diva Lauryn Hill rode the prestige power of last week’s 10 Grammy nominations to jump to No. 2 on the nation’s album sales chart, up from No. 10 the week before, according to SoundScan. Overall sales remained mired in the usual post-holiday shopping lull, but Hill’s nominations (including best album and best new artist) helped her ride out the lean week with only a minor decline while sales of others plummeted. Still, her 111,000 copies sold last week couldn’t unseat hard-core rapper DMX’s “Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood,” which sold 135,000 units to remain No. 1 for the third straight week.

QUICK TAKES

The Recording Industry Assn. of America has certified the Eagles’ “Their Greatest Hits 1971-75” album as 25 times platinum, tying it with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as the top-selling music album of all time. . . . Radio station KCRW-FM (89.9) will begin carrying NPR’s live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton today at 10 a.m., through the trial’s continuation. . . . Crooner Julio Iglesias will meet with students at Los Angeles’ Fremont High School today to kick off the monthlong Grammy Fest of activities leading up to the Feb. 24 Grammy Awards. . . . Due to scheduling changes, Bryan Adams has replaced Green Day as the opening act for the Rolling Stones’ Feb. 9 and 11 shows at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.