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

TELEVISION

Dave, Craig and Bryant: CBS, which already has “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn,” has opted to go to the other end of the time spectrum by renaming its weekday morning show “The Early Show.” The 7 to 9 a.m. program--a replacement for “CBS This Morning”--will debut in its new format with host Bryant Gumbel on Nov. 1.

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Group Exits Protest: A group of actors who had helped organize a local coalition of community groups for a protest of the near-absence of minorities in the major broadcast networks’ new fall shows has pulled out of a press conference later this month detailing a plan of action against the networks. Actress Anne-Marie Johnson of We Won’t Be Ignored said that she and the group were still supportive of the protest by the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP, the Brotherhood Crusade and other organizations, but disagreed with a planned call for a viewer and advertiser boycott. The news conference by the remaining groups is expected sometime in the next few weeks. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are being targeted by the coalition for casting few minorities in the new comedies and dramas set to premiere this fall. The local NAACP’s actions for now are independent of a protest being planned by the national organization.

PERFORMING ARTS

Conductor’s Diatribe: Sir Simon Rattle, firing a parting shot at his native land before taking up his $1.5 million-a-year chief conductor post at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, told a London magazine that Britain falls woefully short of the United States and Europe in orchestra funding. In an interview with the Radio Times, Rattle charged that every orchestra in Britain is “technically bankrupt but somehow muddles through,” adding: “The important is always edged out by the desperate, which may be the way to run a war but it’s a bloody awful way to run an arts organization.” Among his specific complaints, Rattle, 44, called Britain’s Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which he ran for 18 years, the victim of “ludicrous cheese-paring,” noting that it once had to sell off a grand piano. “No one asks to be featherbedded but not one player in the New York Philharmonic is paid as little as the highest paid leader of an orchestra in England,” he said, noting that underfunding and the poor quality of British concert venues were two of the reasons he took the Berlin post.

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Banner Year: The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts’ just-concluded 1998-99 season was the venue’s best ever in terms of ticket sales. With 112 performances, 123,194 tickets were sold, 74% of the 167,126 available. The more than $5 million in sales revenue was up 10% from the previous season; sold-out shows included Bill Cosby, Vince Gill, Wynton Marsalis and the Russian National Ballet. Meanwhile, preseason ticket sales for 1999-2000 are already nearing the $3 million mark, the center said Tuesday.

QUICK TAKES

Whitney Houston will sing the national anthem at tonight’s inaugural WNBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. The game airs on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. . . . NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” has notched a 52-week winning streak, according to Nielsen numbers just out for the week of June 28. It’s Leno’s first full-year winning streak against CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” and ABC’s “Nightline”/”Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher” combo. . . . Also in late-night, Briana Scurry, goalkeeper for the World Cup-winning U.S. women’s soccer team, guests on Thursday’s “Tonight Show,” while the entire team is booked for next Tuesday’s “Late Show”. . . . B.B. King, Terence Trent D’Arby, K-Ci & JoJo and members of Blink-182 and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones are among those set to star as legendary rockers in “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” a CBS miniseries about the birth of rock music scheduled to air in November. . . . Actress Rosie Perez wed filmmaker and playwright Seth Zvi Rosenfeld (“A Brother’s Kiss”) in Brooklyn over the weekend. The two were united in a private ceremony Friday at the Ethical Cultural Society, followed by a legal ceremony on Saturday. Perez stars in Rosenfeld’s second feature, “King of the Jungle,” which recently completed production. . . . Elvis Costello, Al Green, the Roots, Megadeath and Bruce Hornsby have been added to Woodstock 99, taking place July 23-25 in upstate New York. . . . Adult alternative radio station KACD/KBCD-FM (103.1) will celebrate its one-year anniversary a month early with a Sept. 14 Greek Theatre concert featuring Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Bruce Hornsby and David Lindley with Wally Ingram. Tickets go on sale Sunday.