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

TELEVISION

Animators Target PBS: Holding signs with messages like “PBS: Prickly Backstabbing Station” and “Will Draw for Food,” about 150 animators and their supporters protested outside KCET’s Hollywood studios Thursday against what they say is a lack of local animation jobs. They accuse studios--including the federally funded PBS, of which KCET is a member--of sending jobs to Canada. Canadian animators can do the same work at a lower cost since they receive large subsidies from their own government, said Steve R. Hulett of Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, who called the situation a case of “runaway production.” PBS maintains that less than 4% of its programming in the past three years has involved Canadian producers. Of the 18 children’s series it airs, three are co-produced by Canadian companies, but no federal money goes into those projects, PBS said.

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Fox Not Long for ‘City’: Vivica A. Fox, who stars in the struggling CBS inner-city hospital drama “City of Angels,” will not be with the series if it’s renewed for a second season. Series creator Steven Bochco said in a statement Thursday that Fox’s character, hospital administrator Lillian Price, would be written out of the drama. Bochco said: “To the extent there was any perception that Vivica wasn’t the right actress for the role, it had far more to do with the fact that I never properly adjusted the role to accommodate Vivica’s unique characteristics, rather than any inability on her part.” He added that he would be “honored” to work with Fox again.

MOVIES

It Happens to Men Too: “Shaft” star Richard Roundtree, 57, reveals in the upcoming People magazine that he was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and underwent six months of chemotherapy and the removal of much of his left breast. “I had never heard of a man getting breast cancer,” says Roundtree, who notes that he kept his illness a secret for fear that he would not get acting jobs. He tells People that he’s now been cancer-free for six years and is speaking out to help the estimated 1,400 men who are diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. each year.

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Bad Timing: A California appeals court has dismissed Francis Ford Coppola’s lawsuit against the late Carl Sagan and Warner Bros. for a share of profits from the book and movie “Contact,” ruling that the suit was filed too late. The 1996 lawsuit had claimed that Coppola came up with the idea in 1975 for a TV program, “First Contact,” about extraterrestrials, and made a deal with Sagan to develop a script. The series never materialized. In 1985, Sagan published the book “Contact,” which was followed a decade later by the Warner movie. In its ruling, the appeals court said that it wasn’t until Coppola was looking for leverage in another dispute with Warner that he thought to sue over “Contact.”

THEATER

‘Lion King’ Sales: Tickets for the L.A. engagement of Disney’s “The Lion King,” opening Oct. 19 at the Pantages Theatre, will go on sale May 3 through Ticketmaster, the Pantages box office and online at https://www.lionkingla.com. To kick off the ticket sales ($10-$125), several members of “Lion King’s” Broadway and London casts will do free performances of musical numbers from the show at three locations on May 3: at 8 a.m. at a specially erected stage outside the Pantages on Hollywood Boulevard, at 12:30 p.m. at the downtown California Plaza and at 4:30 p.m. at Orange County’s South Coast Plaza (near the carousel).

POP/ROCK

The Ride Gets Ruffer: The travails of the season’s biggest hip-hop concert package are continuing as organizers of the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Millionaires tour have canceled the second of two Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre shows this weekend. Tour organizers said in a statement Thursday that the Sunday show was called off because “the acts are exhausted” and “feel they cannot give their best performance to their fans on the second night.” However, the statement goes on to say ticket-holders may get refunds, but are encouraged to instead redeem them at the amphitheater’s box office for the Saturday concert--an arrangement that suggests the shows suffered disappointing ticket sales. The tour received negative publicity after six people suffered stab wounds earlier this month during a backstage brawl at a Boston arena stop. Police are still investigating that incident, which prompted venues in Philadelphia, Miami and Tampa to cancel or postpone the tour’s visits. The tour features Ruff Ryders members DMX, Eve, the Lox and Drag-On and Cash Money Millionaires members such as Lil’ Wayne, Juvenile and the Hot Boy$.

QUICK TAKES

David Schwimmer, in London for a movie shoot, called in to a live BBC radio show Wednesday to deny claims that he and his “Friends” co-stars are demanding $1 million an episode to continue the NBC series next season. . . . British comic Eddie Izzard brings his one-man show “Circle” to the Henry Fonda Theatre June 15-17. Tickets ($22-$42) go on sale today. Izzard was last in Los Angeles in 1988 with “Dress to Kill,” which was also an HBO special. . . . ‘N Sync, Jennifer Lopez, the Goo Goo Dolls, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees will perform at Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards, to be seen Saturday at 8 p.m.