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

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TV Ratings: Sela Ward’s “Once and Again” began its six-week run in “NYPD Blue’s” Tuesday precinct by becoming ABC’s most-watched drama premiere in four years, collaring an estimated 16.8 million viewers, compared to 13.5 million viewing CBS’ new drama “Judging Amy” in the same hour. NBC, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid performance with its Tuesday sitcom lineup except for new comedy “The Mike O’Malley Show” (10.4 million viewers), which lost a sizable number of those who tuned in to its lead-in, “Will & Grace.” Its second-season premiere topped ABC’s “Dharma & Greg.”

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Hall of Fame Nods: Aerosmith, Queen, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Ritchie Valens and James Taylor are among 15 names on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2000. Additional nominees are Black Sabbath, Solomon Burke, the O’Jays, the Moonglows, Lovin’ Spoonful, Lou Reed, Steely Dan, the Flamingos and Earth, Wind & Fire. Up to seven inductees--voted by artists, producers, critics and industry executives--will be named in November.

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Kudos: Filmmaker Steven Spielberg, playwright August Wilson, radio host Garrison Keillor and TV anchor Jim Lehrer are among eight recipients of the 1999 National Humanities Medal. They will be honored by President Clinton in a White House ceremony Sept. 29, along with the 10 1999 National Medal of Arts recipients reported in Wednesday’s Morning Report.

QUICK TAKES

Singer Diana Ross, 55, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport Wednesday after allegedly assaulting a female security officer who had attempted to search the singer. Police gave her a warning, but did not charge her with an offense. In a statement, her L.A. publicist said: “. . . Both the treatment [by police] and the incident were regrettable.” . . . Bowing to charges of racial insensitivity, NBC made a last-minute edit to Tuesday’s “Will & Grace” premiere, deleting a reference in which a Salvadoran maid was referred to as a “tamale.” “We just thought in today’s climate, it was the most appropriate thing to do,” a network spokeswoman said. . . . The nation’s new No. 1 album belongs to rapper Eve, who found fame with the group Ruff Ryders, and has now launched a solo album, “Eve, the First Lady of Ruff Ryders.” It sold 213,000 copies to unseat the Dixie Chicks’ “Fly,” which slid to No. 3 behind the Backstreet Boys’ “Millennium.” . . . NBC has officially canceled “Sunset Beach,” network television’s lowest-rated daytime drama, with the final episode to air Dec. 31. . . . Courteney Cox, who wed actor David Arquette in June, has officially become Courteney Cox Arquette. . . . The New York Times’ chief film critic, Janet Maslin, 50, is stepping down at the end of the year, the newspaper said Wednesday.