And the Artist of the Decade Is . . .

Can it be anyone but Garth? The Academy of Country Music will name its artist of the decade on Wednesday at its annual awards show, and it would be staggering if Garth Brooks doesn’t take the honor. Sure, Shania Twain, Reba McEntire and George Strait had standout years, but the ‘90s were owned by Brooks. The Oklahoma native merely became the best-selling solo album artist in U.S. pop music history, won the ACM’s entertainer of the year award five times and, on his most recent concert tour, sold more than 5 million tickets. Yet ACM producer Dick Clark knows suspense is good for viewership. “No one will know which artist will receive the honor until show time,” he said on the eve of the CBS telecast. Brooks will be on hand regardless as a live performer, joining Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks and 10 others--so many acts that show organizers opted for a “no host” format to save time. The awards show at the Universal Amphitheatre airs locally at 8 p.m. Watch also this week for Brooks to announce more details about his upcoming 14-song album, “The Greatest Hits of Chris Gaines,” a collection of pop-rock tunes with a title referring to his character in the movie “The Lamb.” Brooks portrays a rock star targeted for assassination in the thriller, due out next year.

In Sweeps Gamble, KTLA Goes to Class

If it’s May, it must be sweeps--one of the crucial months in which local television stations put on their most provocative news stories to attract large audiences and set higher advertiser rates. Traditionally, the broadcast outlets have tried to draw viewers by focusing on stories geared toward the sexual, the sensational or the investigative. But KTLA-TV is entering the sweeps by going back to school--a move that officials there admit is risky. Reporter Lynette Romero has produced a 20-part series on the public school system and how parents can best navigate it to get the best possible education for their children. “Public Schools: Working the System,” which starts today and will air daily during the “KTLA Morning News” at 7 a.m. and on “News at 10” at 10 p.m., will detail little known education programs, special schools and teachers. The series is designed to reveal that public schools can be just as effective for youngsters as private schools in terms of preparing for college. Station executives said they realize that undertaking such a series, which has no sex appeal or sensationalistic aspects, represents a gamble, but they say that turning toward the “high road” is a risk worth taking. “With the direction that local news has gone in, we feel that this is the right thing to do right now,” said executive producer Marcia Brandwynne, who collaborated on the concept with news director Jeff Wald. The series also marks a return to major local news for Brandwynne, a former KCBS news anchor who was most recently hosting her own show on the Home & Garden Network. Brandwynne had also been head of Carol Burnett’s production company. “Doing this is what matters,” Brandwynne said of the school project.

Doin’ the Summer Opening Shuffle

Call it the Hollywood shuffle. Everywhere you look these days, studios are moving their films around like pieces on a chess board in anticipation of the crowded summer movie season. This Friday, for instance, Universal plans to open its big action-adventure-horror yarn “The Mummy.” Fox Searchlight also had been expected to roll out one of its big summer movies, “William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline), in limited release on the same weekend. But officials decided to push back the film to May 14, reasoning that with everyone attending “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace,” which debuts May 19, there will be room for an adult alternative. “We felt like it would be a wise place to be because we are the only wide release on that weekend,” said a Fox Searchlight spokeswoman. Meanwhile, Sony has pushed back the release of “Arlington Road” to July 9 from May 14, amid speculation that the studio may want to distance its subject matter from the tragic school shootings in Littleton, Colo. Although the film, which stars Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins, has nothing to do with students killing students, sources say it does deal with domestic terrorism and includes a scene where a child’s hand is bloodied after an explosive goes off. Other summer movies being shuffled around include the White House comedy “Dick,” which will now be released Aug. 4 instead of July 9; Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam,” which moved to July 30 from June 25; and Brad Pitt’s “Fight Club,” which will now debut Aug. 6 instead of July 30. Sources say that 20th Century Fox decided to push “Fight Club” back a week because July 30 is shaping up as a crowded weekend with the expected arrivals of “Deep Blue Sea,” “Muppets From Space,” “Runaway Bride,” “Summer of Sam” and “Outside Providence.” “We felt if we could be the last big movie of the summer, it would be a smart thing,” said a studio source. “And it also gives us one more week away from ‘Eyes Wide Shut,’ ” Stanley Kubrick’s last film, which opens July 16 and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers