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

TELEVISION

FCC Takes Aim at “Late Late Show”: Several public apologies notwithstanding, CBS is still feeling heat for a joke on its “Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn” in which the words “snipers wanted” appeared under footage of presidential candidate George W. Bush giving a speech at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, who has sent a letter to CBS President Leslie Moonves urging the network to take further responsibility for the broadcast, told Daily Variety that viewers are asking the government to step in, though she conceded that “perhaps there is no government solution for bad taste or the thoughtless broadcast of misguided humor.” CBS, which in addition to apologizing for the joke said it would conduct an internal investigation, intends to respond to the letter, network spokesman Chris Ender said.

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“Brother” Contestants’ Counselor: Fueling speculation that the “Big Brother” contestants are growing tired of living in a fishbowl, Inside.com reports that a psychologist has been visiting the house on the CBS lot in recent weeks. Identified by network executives as Augusto Britton Del Rio of Sherman Oaks, he drops by occasionally to talk to contestants who ask to see him. Primarily, though, Del Rio is sent in to counsel contestants after they are ousted from the house--a move that stems in part from experiences in Sweden, where a contestant on an earlier version of “Survivor” committed suicide after being voted out. “The overarching point is that this is a game, but not to the detriment of the stability of the people playing the game,” says Diane Ekeblad, a spokeswoman for “Big Brother.” “Their health and well-being are first and foremost.”

THE ARTS

Kennedy Center Honors Announced: Dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, tenor Placido Domingo and rocker Chuck Berry joined actors Clint Eastwood and Angela Lansbury as this year’s winners of Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement in the arts. Kennedy Center Chairman James A. Johnson said the five were chosen by a committee of 103 artists “for the unique and extremely valuable contributions they have made to the cultural life of our nation.” President Clinton will appear with the five laureates at the 23rd annual honors gala Dec. 3 in the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The two-hour event, a fund-raiser for the center, will be televised later in December.

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“Elysium” Saved: The purchase of a downtown Los Angeles industrial building by art lovers Nathan, Esther and Benjamin Korman will have the unexpected effect of preserving “Elysium,” a unique environment created three years ago by Los Angeles painter Norman Zammitt. He painted “Elysium” in his former studio, at 1427 E. 4th St., using ultraviolet-light-sensitive pigments to create a mysterious, vividly colored space in which the walls seem to lose their substance. After Zammitt gave up the studio, it appeared that the landlord would paint over “Elysium,” but the Kormans have agreed to preserve it. A group of artists and civic leaders dedicated to saving the artwork will stage a celebration at the site on Sept. 16.

PEOPLE

For Him, It’s a Good Thing: Trespassing charges will not be filed against a limo driver who had a run-in with domestic diva Martha Stewart outside her home in Maine. Richard Anderson said he was taking a group of women home from a bachelorette party early Aug. 13 when he took a wrong turn onto a private road that goes by Stewart’s house. He said he ended up being detained for an hour after Stewart backed out of her driveway and boxed in his limo. Stewart asked him what he was doing there, Anderson said, “then she went off like gunfire,” telling him that she was sick of people coming by her home. Stewart’s publicist released a statement Monday saying Stewart saw an unknown vehicle on her property, called police and went down to investigate. “Although Ms. Stewart plans no further action in this matter,” the statement said, “like any homeowner, she remains concerned with issues of privacy and personal safety when in the sanctity of her own home.”

ENTERTAINMENT

Gifts for Retirement Facility: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Thomas and Ruth Jones Trust have donated $500,000 each for the expansion of the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s 40-acre Woodland Hills retirement and health-care facility, the fund said Tuesday. The money is slated to go toward a project to expand the Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills and begin to address a seven-year waiting list for retirement care, officials said. The fund also will increase outpatient care, expand and implement new elder care services and expand nonresidential services for caregivers and their families. “This grant to the MPTF Capital Campaign will help thousands of entertainment industry workers and their families who depend on MPTF for their health care, child care and retirement,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman of the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation. The contributions bring to $32 million the total raised toward the $115-million capital campaign for the facility’s expansion and renovation.

QUICK TAKES

Veteran CBS correspondent Mike Wallace sat down with Chinese President Jiang Zemin last week in a rare interview that will be broadcast Sept. 3 on “60 Minutes,” just two days before Jiang is scheduled to visit the U.S. . . . Theatre.com reports that the hit London and Toronto musical “Mamma Mia!” will launch its U.S. tour Nov. 15 in San Francisco with a Los Angeles run beginning Feb. 22 at the Shubert Theatre. The musical weaves the pop songs of the Scandinavian rock band ABBA into three love stories. . . . Attorneys for Eminem’s estranged wife, Kim Mathers, filed a $10-million suit against the rapper on Monday, claiming that Eminem was unfit to retain even partial custody of the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, according to the Detroit Free Press. The new legal action is a response to the divorce papers Eminem filed in Detroit last week. . . . Singer Kenny Loggins will receive the 2,162nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 11:30 a.m. today at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. . . . Stewart Finlay-McLennan, who played Dr. Neil McNeil on the original CBS series “Christy,” will reprise his role in three new PAX movies set to begin shooting this week. . . . Vicellous Shannon (“The Hurricane”) and his wife, Misty, welcomed their first child, daughter Sierra Monet, on Saturday, said publicist Arnold Robinson. . . . David Letterman will honor the cast of “Survivor” tonight with a special “Survivor”-themed Top 10 List. On Thursday, Letterman will interview the $1-million winner.