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

STAGE

Beautiful Contributions: Playwright Arthur Miller was awarded the $200,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in New York Thursday night, honoring his 50 years as a moral beacon for American literature. “I guess what I’ve been trying to do for half a century is to part the curtain on what we deny,” the writer of “Death of a Salesman” said. “To me, that is what the theater is about--to discover what we are desperately trying to suppress.” The annual prize was established in 1994 with a bequest from the estate of actress Lillian Gish, who wished to recognize artists who have made an “outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world.” Miller, 83, said he is at work on a new play, and plans to distribute the prize money to New York arts groups.

TV & RADIO

‘Hope’ Floats: “Chicago Hope”--which broke new ground for prime-time TV Thursday by having a character say “S--- happens”--scored its highest rating this season, attracting about 11.9 million viewers. A CBS spokesman said the network received only about 50 calls complaining about the phrase, and many of those came in reaction to news reports prior to the actual broadcast. In the same hour, ABC’s new drama “Wasteland” sank to a dismal 4.5 million viewers, a 30% drop from its premiere. ABC said no decision has been made about the program’s future.

‘Women2Women’ Up&Down;: KCBS-TV’s new “Women2Women News,” which is targeted to a female audience, attracted so few viewers in its last half hour Tuesday that it failed to register a rating on the Nielsen Media Research scale. Station manager John Severino said that despite that poor showing, the show has been averaging considerably higher ratings this month. “We’ve said that this is a work-in-progress, and that it will take six to nine months before it will see growth,” said Severino, comparing the newscast to shows like “The View” and prime-time Emmy winner “The Practice,” which both started out with small audiences before gaining in popularity.

KLSX Changes: Beginning Oct. 25, KLSX-FM (97.1) will extend “The John & Jeff Show” by two hours. The pop culture talk show, hosted by John Boyle and Jeff Carroll, had been airing from 1 to 3 a.m., but will now start at 11 p.m. Tim Conway Jr. and Doug Steckler will also add another hour to the end of their shift, running from 8-11 p.m. Meanwhile, Ed Tyll, who currently has the 10 p.m.-1 a.m. slot, is leaving to do a syndicated midday talk show following Howard Stern at Detroit’s WKRK-FM, a sister station of KLSX. Tyll, who had been in the L.A. market for nearly two years--first at KABC-AM (790), then at KLSX--will do his last broadcast here on Friday.

Tube Notes: Fox plans to repeat “The X-Files” episode titled “Home” on Halloween night. Fox officials had once said the 1996 episode--about an incestuous family--would never again air on the network. . . . TV’s producer-writer of the moment, David E. Kelley, will chat with fans online at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25, prior to that evening’s season premiere of his Emmy-winning comedy, “Ally McBeal.” The chat will be on both https://www.FOX.com and https://chat.Yahoo.com. . . . Also going online will be the cast of NBC’s “3rd Rock From the Sun,” who will chat Monday at 7:30 p.m. at https://www.nbc.talkcity.com. The chat will be live from the series’ 100th episode party. . . . NBC has picked up full seasons of its freshman drama “West Wing” and the comedy “Stark Raving Mad.” . . . KCBS-TV will be the L.A. station for “Dr. Laura,” a forthcoming hourlong daily program hosted by talk radio personality Laura Schlessinger. The syndicated series is slated to debut next September. . . . Also set to begin airing on KCBS-TV next September is the syndicated courtroom program “Judge Judy,” which currently airs on KCAL-TV.

POP/ROCK

No New Year’s Moonwalking: Michael Jackson has canceled his millennium plans. The Gloved One had been slated to perform in Sydney, Australia on New Year’s Eve and then fly over the international dateline to perform a second New Year’s Eve show in Honolulu. But Jackson’s Web site announced without elaboration this week that both shows were canceled. The concert promoter said that Jackson has chosen to instead focus on finishing the recording of a new album.

Commander Bowie: David Bowie, 52, was given one of France’s highest honors Thursday when Culture Minister Catherine Trautmann named him a Commander of Arts and Letters for his lifetime achievements in music. In the United States, meanwhile, he’s set to receive the first Legend Award from the WB Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas on Oct. 28.

QUICK TAKES

If you’re already missing the closed Beverly Hills restaurant Chasen’s, don’t despair. You can make a final visit when the celebrity hot spot’s owners auction off the venue’s booths, menus, place settings, historic photos and other memorabilia Sunday at 10:30 a.m. . . . The Who will perform Oct. 29 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand to promote a new Internet company and raise money for charity. The seminal English rock band will headline “iBash ‘99,” a $10-million event staged by Pixelon Inc., which is launching an online “broadcast network” for television-quality images. Ticket information has not yet been announced. . . . Pierre Viot, head of the Cannes Film Festival for the past 15 years, is resigning his post and turning the job over to his longtime No. 2 man, Gilles Jacob. However, the two will work together to prepare next year’s event. . . . Lakers coach Phil Jackson has joined KLAC-AM’s (570) broadcast team, with “The Phil Jackson Show” to be a regular part of the station’s pregame programming. . . . Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan is trying out a new side career as a singer. The figure skater’s first pop single, “Shining Through,” was sent to radio stations Thursday. It’s included on a compilation CD called “Reflections Off the Ice--A Musical Tribute to Skating.”