New Faces . . . Same Old Ratings?

“ER”--prime time’s top-rated show last season--begins its sixth year this week amid the usual vast expectations and unanswered questions. Concerns surfaced in the spring that ratings were softening due to the departure of George Clooney, and several newcomers join the cast this year--including “Homicide’s” Michael Michele--in an effort to pump new life into the medical drama. Paying a whopping $13 million for each new episode of “ER,” NBC can ill afford a significant drop in its ratings, especially with last week’s season premieres of its two other Thursday anchors, “Friends” and “Frasier,” down substantially compared to a year ago. While still dominating the night, NBC posted its lowest-rated Thursday during premiere week since 1993--the year before “ER” went on the air--as a record percentage of “Friends’ ” young-adult audience bailed out on the Christina Applegate sitcom “Jesse.” As it is, the new 9:30 p.m. sitcom “Stark Raving Mad” may have a tenuous hold on its coveted time slot after chasing away more than a quarter of “Frasier’s” audience. Having “ER” back at 10 p.m., of course, might inspire some viewers to give the series another chance, or at least leave the set on while they look for something better to do during that half-hour.

Will He or Won’t He Make a Run?

Is this the week that Warren Beatty finally answers the question: Are you or are you not a candidate for president of the United States? For weeks, Washington and Hollywood have been buzzing with speculation about whether the Oscar-winning actor and director will take the plunge into presidential politics. On Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beatty will take the podium to accept the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the Southern California chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal advocacy group founded in 1947. Insiders say they would not be surprised if Beatty took the opportunity to jump into the Democratic presidential race against Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley. “I don’t know whether he will declare that he will run for president,” said one source close to the event, “but he is a smart man and he knows who’ll be in the audience--I mean, everybody in terms of political reporters.” C-SPAN plans to cover the speech live and many major news organizations will be in attendance. Sources say ABC News is thinking of sending former Clinton White House aide George Stephanopolous to cover Beatty’s speech. Among the celebrities scheduled to attend the dinner are Dustin Hoffman, Penny Marshall, Garry Shandling and Roseanne. Should Beatty enter the race, it would electrify what up to now has been viewed as a rather lackluster campaign. Political junkies in Hollywood are split over whether Beatty should run. “I think he is going to run,” said one Hollywood producer. “I think Kennedy Democrats will rally around him. They see him and think of Camelot.” But another source had doubts. “I think people know how complex he is, how long he takes to do things, how ponderous he is,” she said. “Most people think he will probably use this opportunity as a forum [for his progressive ideas] and then get out. When the rubber hits the road and he has to enter a primary, he won’t do it.”

A New World for Nails, Cornell

What a difference five years makes. On Wednesday, new albums from Nine Inch Nails and former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell arrive on the nation’s pop charts, where they will join a field crowded with teen pop acts, rap-rockers and female country singers. That’s a far different musical landscape from 1994, when the Nails’ “Downward Spiral” and Soundgarden’s “Superunknown” were hits both commercially and critically. Rock has slipped in popularity in the years since, so can Cornell’s “Euphoria Morning” and the NIN’s double-disc “Fragile” still strike a chord? Yes, say retailers, who report that in their first week in the stores both releases are being greeted by fans with a pent-up hunger. “They’re doing incredibly well,” says Bob Feterl, regional manager of Tower Records. “We had a tremendous week, a stronger week than we’ve had for a long time, and they’re a big part of it.” How will that translate to the national charts? Some observers say the Nails should debut near the very top of the charts and Cornell among the week’s best debuts, but Feterl says the Nails may see a slide because of its two-disc format. “I think [the Nails] will initially do very well but I don’t know how long it’s going to hang on there with the double CD price.”

--Compiled by Times staff writers