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

TELEVISION

Diverse Unity: The multiethnic coalition that had pressed for diversity in the television industry has reunited following a rift last week that pitted nonblack advocacy groups against NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. The coalition of black, Latino, Asian Pacific American and Native American organizations plans to announce their renewed commitment today at a Los Angeles press conference. The groups had charged that they were being excluded from diversity discussions between Mfume and the four major networks.

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‘Malcolm’ in the Millions: Fox got off to a terrific start with its new comedy “Malcolm in the Middle” Sunday, drawing an estimated 22 million viewers--the second-largest premiere audience in the network’s history. “Malcolm,” starring Frankie Muniz, ranked only behind the 1990 premiere of “The Simpsons.” But on Sunday, “Malcolm,” which followed “The Simpsons,” drew about 4 million more viewers than its established lead-in. Game shows were the night’s other big story, as ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” picked up where it left off with more than 28 million people tuning in--its second-biggest audience yet--helping “The Practice” (19.2 million), which followed it, achieve record viewership. NBC’s game show revival of “Twenty One” also showed promise, attracting roughly 16 million viewers--a fourth-place finish, but still the network’s highest 8 p.m. Sunday rating this season outside of the World Series.

POP/ROCK

Babs’ Record: Barbra Streisand’s New Year’s Eve show at Las Vegas’ 12,477-seat MGM Grand arena set an all-time single concert box-office record, taking in $14.7 million. The sold-out show benefited from ticket prices of $500 to $2,500. The previous record holder was another high-priced event, a 1996 Three Tenors concert at New York’s Giants Stadium.

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Scotland Yard to the Rescue: A plot to kidnap Victoria “Posh Spice” Adams and her 10-month-old son for $1.6 million in ransom was foiled by an elite Scotland Yard unit, British newspapers reported Sunday. The Sunday Times reported that kidnappers had planned to abduct the pair while the singer’s soccer star husband, David Beckham, competed in a match last November. One newspaper suggested an underworld crime figure was involved in the plot. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman refused to confirm the news reports, saying police did not comment on kidnapping cases.

THE ARTS

Landlord Lloyd Webber: Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is set to become London’s largest theater operator, after agreeing to buy Stoll Moss, a Australian company that owns several famous West End theaters, for about $140 million. Stoll Moss’ London theaters include the Palladium, the Garrick, Her Majesty’s and the Theater Royal Drury Lane. Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group already owns the Adelphi, the Palace and the New London theaters, which will be grouped with the Stoll Moss houses in a yet-to-be-named new company. In a BBC interview Sunday, Lloyd Webber said he made the deal partly to safeguard London’s theatrical tradition. “I have been worried . . . that the group would fall into the hands of people who are, you know, money men and who wouldn’t necessarily understand that the thing about theater is you’ve got to take risks.” Lloyd Webber said that he won’t pack the houses with his own long-running hit musicals like “Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats” and “Evita,” but will instead explore new plays. And he added that he is working on a new show of his own, with British novelist-comedian Ben Elton, called “The Beautiful Game,” about a 1960s football team in Northern Ireland.

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Cerritos’ Banner Year: The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, only midway through the 1999-2000 season, has already surpassed its previous full-season ticket sales record. The center’s previous high was reached last year, when 1998-99 sales surpassed $5 million. So far this season, the Center--whose season runs through May--has already sold more than $5.3 million in tickets.

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Meet New Philharmonic Manager: The Performing Arts Center of L.A. County will hold a free public forum with its administrators and artistic directors on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Speakers include new L.A. Philharmonic Managing Director Deborah Borda, as well as Center Theatre Group’s Gordon Davidson, L.A. Opera’s Peter Hemmings and L.A. Master Chorale’s Paul Salamunovich.

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s FX has picked up the Chris Carter virtual-reality series “Harsh Realm,” which was quickly canceled by the Fox network this season. FX, which plans to debut the series in March, will air all nine episodes, including six that never aired on Fox. The series stars Scott Bairstow as a military soldier assigned to a life-or-death battle within a top-secret computer simulation. . . . The motion picture academy announced Monday that 244 feature films are eligible for this year’s Academy Awards, down from last year’s record 281 films. . . . MTV personality Cynthia Garrett has signed for a minimum of 13 weeks as host of NBC’s late-night program “Later,” which has been without a permanent host since Greg Kinnear’s departure in October 1996. Garrett has been a frequent guest host on the program. . . . Veteran TV journalist Pedro Sevcec will join Telemundo’s evening news program “Noticiero Telemundo” on Jan. 26. The Emmy-winning Sevcec will co-anchor the 6:30 p.m. broadcast with current anchor, Maria Elvira Salazar. He replaces Guillermo Descalzi, who will concentrate exclusively on his job as host of Telemundo’s daily investigative newsmagazine, “Ocurrio Asi.”