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

TV & RADIO

Lungren Joins Catholic Network: Former California Attorney General and recent gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren embarked Monday on a new career as a talk-show host. The Republican--who ran for governor on a platform of strong moral character--has taken over the weekday, noon to 3 p.m. slot for the Catholic Family Radio Network, airing locally on KPLS-AM (830). Lungren hosts the call-in show live from the city of Orange.

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Paley Fest Taps ‘Felicity,’ ‘Raymond’: The American premiere of “This Is Sinatra!,” a 1962 British TV special taped live at London’s Royal Festival Hall, will kick off the Museum of Television & Radio’s 16th annual William S. Paley Television Festival on March 2. Other festival programs will feature the stars and creators of current TV series “Felicity” (March 3), “Everybody Loves Raymond” (March 5), “Sports Night” (March 6), “Moesha” (March 10), “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” (March 12) and “NewsRadio” (March 15), as well as oldies such as “The Twilight Zone” (March 4), “The Ben Stiller Show” (March 8), “thirtysomething” (March 11), “L.A. Law” (March 13) and “The Jeffersons” (March 16). In addition, the March 9 program will be a salute to producer-director-actor Carl Reiner, with participants including Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Nanette Fabray and Dick Van Dyke. All programs take place at the Directors Guild of America; tickets for non-museum members are $15, and go on sale Feb. 5.

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Portraying the Jefferson-Hemmings Affair: CBS is developing a four-hour miniseries for next season about Thomas Jefferson’s controversial relationship with his mistress and slave Sally Hemmings. To be produced by Craig Anderson (“The Piano Lesson”), the project is based on the 1974 Fawn Brodie book, “Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History.” DNA evidence recently proved a link between Jefferson and Hemmings’ descendants.

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Real Men, Exposed: KROQ-FM (106.7) personalities Jimmy Kimmel (“Win Ben Stein’s Money”) and Adam Carolla (“Love-line”) will star in “The Man Show”--billed as “an unapologetic look at things men like, do and think”--scheduled to debut June 16 on cable’s Comedy Central. The network plans to pair the show with the hit series “South Park.”

DANCE

All-Star ‘Corsaire’: PBS will tape three performances of “Le Corsaire” during American Ballet Theatre’s upcoming Orange County Performing Arts Center stand for a future “Dance in America” TV broadcast, meaning that audiences at those performances will see an all-star cast with major dancers even in small roles. The performances slated for taping--Feb. 3 and 5, and the 2 p.m. matinee on Feb. 7--will feature Julie Kent as slave girl Medora, Ethan Stiefel as pirate Conrad and Paloma Herrera as Medora’s friend Gulnare. Other cast members include Joaquin De Luz as Birbanto, Angel Corella as the slave and star dancer Vladimir Malakhov as Lankendem, a character seen in only one scene.

QUICK TAKES

Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards drew the largest audience in the telecast’s four years on NBC, averaging roughly 25 million viewers in preliminary estimates by Nielsen Media Research. The program posted its highest rating in Los Angeles, with nearly a quarter of all homes in the area tuned in, an 8% increase compared to a year ago. . . . Double Golden Globe winner “Saving Private Ryan” collected another laurel on Monday when it was named best picture of 1998 by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. . . . Showtime will premiere two new hourlong series in the summer: “The Hardwood,” tracking three players in “the high stakes game of pro basketball,” and “Beggars and Choosers,” a comedy-drama about the behind-the-scenes world of television executives, co-created by the late Brandon Tartikoff. . . . Singer Alanis Morissette gives a live Internet chat today at 6 p.m. To submit questions, go to https://www.sonicnet.com/alanis . . . “Riverdance--The Show” topped Performance magazine’s list of the top grossing variety-family shows of 1998, with the Michael Flatley follow-up, “Lord of the Dance,” ranking second.