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

TELEVISION

Thawing Out: Magician David Blaine--frozen in a block of ice for 61 hours as part of an ABC special broadcast Wednesday--did live interviews from his New York apartment Thursday with “Good Morning America,” “Entertainment Tonight” and Rosie O’Donnell. Described as being incoherent and dehydrated and saying, “Something’s wrong,” when he first emerged from the ice, Blaine had been briefly hospitalized Wednesday night. He told “GMA” Thursday that although his ankles were “really swollen and my legs can’t bend or anything,” mental disorientation from sleep deprivation was the worst part of the ordeal: “I thought that I had died. I thought that I had woke up and this is where I was. This is death.” The special attracted nearly 16 million viewers, giving ABC a ratings boost on the final night of sweeps.

People’s Choices: Fox’s David E. Kelley high school drama “Boston Public” and James Cameron’s “Dark Angel” will vie with ABC’s Andre Braugher hospital show “Gideon’s Crossing” for favorite new drama series at the 27th annual People’s Choice Awards airing Jan. 7 on CBS. Other TV nominees, announced Thursday, include Drew Carey, Kelsey Grammer and Ray Romano (favorite male performer); Jennifer Aniston, Jenna Elfman and Calista Flockhart (female performer); and CBS’ “Bette,” NBC’s “Ed” and ABC’s “The Geena Davis Show” (favorite new comedy series). In the music categories, nods went to Garth Brooks, Ricky Martin and George Straight (male performer); Faith Hill, Britney Spears and Shania Twain (female performer); and Alabama, the Dixie Chicks and ‘N Sync (best band). Among the motion picture nominees: Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington (favorite actor), and Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan (actress).

ART

Provenance Research Agreement: The American Assn. of Museums and the Assn. of Art Museum Directors have reportedly reached an agreement with a presidential Holocaust commission to research and disclose on their Web site the backgrounds of all pre-1945 artworks in their collections that were acquired after 1933--when the Nazis took power in Germany and looted many art collections. According to the New York Times, details of the agreement, the latest attempt to identify the provenance of all Holocaust-era works, is expected to be released next month.

Ruscha Archive: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has purchased the complete archive of graphic works by L.A.-based artist Edward Ruscha for its Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts. The acquisition--made at an undisclosed price with funds from philanthropist Phyllis Wattis--includes 325 final prints and 800 proofs. Impressions of each new print Ruscha produces will be added in the future. Ruscha’s graphic works will be exhibited May 26-Sept. 9 at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor.

POP/ROCK

Battling Berry for Song Credits: Pianist-composer Johnnie “Johnnie B. Goode” Johnson has filed a multi-count lawsuit against legendary rocker Chuck Berry, claiming he helped to write several Berry songs, including “Roll Over Beethoven,” but never received proper credit or royalties. Johnson’s suit maintains that he and Berry, together, created the music for several hit songs, but that Berry claimed sole copyright ownership and therefore reaped the songs’ profits while Johnson “toiled in obscurity and abject poverty.” Meanwhile, Berry’s longtime agent Dick Alen said the lawsuit’s timing is suspect because “it’s 45 years after these songs were written, and this is the first we’ve heard of it” and also because Berry is set to be recognized this weekend at the Kennedy Center Honors. “I suppose it’s meant to embarrass him,” Alen said. “[Johnson] must have a new lawyer or something.”

THEATER

‘Selena’ Musical: A new production of “Selena Forever,” the musical about the slain tejano pop star, is slated to begin performances Jan. 24 at the Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood--the first show at the venue since it was bought by the Ricardo Montalban Nosotros Foundation earlier this year. The premiere production of “Selena Forever” played several Texas cities and Chicago last spring, but a Universal Amphitheatre engagement that had been scheduled for May was canceled after disagreements between the producers and the promoters, which resulted in an ongoing lawsuit and the premature closing of the original tour.

QUICK TAKES

Tonight’s performance by European cabaret singer Ute Lemper at the Irvine Barclay Theatre is being postponed to an undetermined date because the artist is ill. . . . Bobby Brown says that he and wife Whitney Houston had so much fun performing together at a recent Las Vegas concert that they’re planning to do a joint concert tour next spring. “She’s making me sing and I’m making her dance, so it’s a beautiful combination,” Brown told reporters in New Jersey this week.