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

TELEVISION

Drudge Agreement: Internet columnist Matt Drudge apologized for making “comments I regret” about Fox News Channel executives (he called them “overgrown fetuses”) and his claim that they censored him during a dispute with the network over the content of his 17-month-old show, “Drudge.” In exchange, the cable outlet agreed to let him end his weekly program, effective immediately. Fox said it would welcome him as a guest commentator in the future. The fight started when Fox refused to let Drudge air a photo of a fetus undergoing spina bifida surgery, because Drudge wanted to use it in a discussion about abortion. Fox showed the photo Wednesday in a report about the birth defect.

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Stamp of Approval: The “Sesame Street” stamp, one of 15 chosen by the public in nationwide balloting, was issued Thursday. Over a two-year period, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing sheets of commemorative stamps heralding some of the most significant people, places, events and trends for each decade of the 20th century. “Sesame Street,” represented by a portrait of Big Bird, won in the 1970s category.

THE ARTS

Over the Top: This week’s auctions in New York brought the highest prices for contemporary art since the art market peaked 10 years ago. On Wednesday night, Sotheby’s racked up $56.2 million in sales--at least $10 million over the initial estimate--with 13 works commanding more than $1 million apiece. An anonymous bidder bought Mark Rothko’s abstract painting “No. 15” for $11 million, the auction’s top price. Greek collector Dimitri Daskalopolos paid $1.7 million for Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” one of five artist-authorized replicas of the original urinal that was famously rejected from an exhibition in 1917, when Duchamp submitted it as a “ready-made” artwork. The previous night, Christie’s sold $13.9 million worth of contemporary art and set records for 18 artists. Jeff Koons’ “Pink Panther,” a porcelain sculpture of a semi-nude woman cuddling the cartoon character, brought the evening’s top price of $1.6 million, from an unidentified collector.

MOVIES

Countering Critics: Author John Irving says he’s pleased with the screen version of “The Cider House Rules,” a Dec. 10 Miramax Films release he adapted from his best-selling novel. The movie, directed by Lasse Hallstrom (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”), tells of a lad (Tobey Maguire) raised and mentored by a 1940s orphanage doctor (Michael Caine) who performs illegal abortions on unwed women. “The people who consider that controversial are extremists operating outside the law,” he said in response to a question about a potential anti-abortion backlash at the movie’s premiere in New York. “Abortion is the law of the land. It’s the Constitution. Get used to it. Get over it.”

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Fostering Independence: The Hollywood Film Festival is launching a nonprofit foundation to raise and distribute grants of between $5,000 and $200,000 to independent filmmakers. The money is intended to help them complete their movies and control runaway production. “We are shooting in Canada, shooting in Australia and shooting in God knows what other countries to save money,” said festival chairman Carlos de Abreu. “What we are trying to do is to get individuals as well as companies to support the existing pool of talent in Hollywood.” Grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 will be given for experimental and digital movie-making and between $5,000 and $200,000 for completion of films already in production. Up to half of a film’s budget will also be covered--provided the project costs under $5 million and is shot in California. For information: https://www.hff.org or (310) 288-1882.

QUICK TAKES

NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” attracted its biggest audience in eight months with the program’s week of telecasts from Burbank, averaging about 2.6 million viewers, a 13% increase over its average this season. . . . The Geffen Playhouse’s “It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues,” originally scheduled to close Dec. 19, has been extended through Jan. 2. . . . Hollywood’s Laugh Factory will offer free Thanksgiving dinners and onstage comedy for struggling comics, actors and others, 8001 Sunset Blvd., at 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. Reservations: (323) 656-1336. . . . “Bright Lights of L.A.,” Century Plaza Towers’ annual Christmas Tree Lighting celebration, takes place Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. Randy Travis, Dennis Franz and Lorna Luft are among those expected at the event, which benefits the Starlight Children’s Foundation.