Speaking From Experience . . .

More than a few eyebrows were raised when Robin Givens was recently announced as the new host of the syndicated talk/relationship show, “Forgive or Forget,” replacing the series’ original host, Mother Love. Given some of the turmoil in the actress’ life, she seems a better candidate to be a guest on the show than a host. Much of her notoriety comes from her stormy marriage to boxer Mike Tyson in 1988, which lasted less than a year. Givens also made headlines in 1997 when she filed for divorce from tennis instructor Svetozar Marinkovic one day after they were married. But despite Givens’ tabloid headlines and less-than-flaming film and television career, Rick Jacobson, president of Twentieth Television, which produces and syndicates “Forgive or Forget,” maintains that she is the perfect host for the second-year series, in which guests appeal for forgiveness from someone they have wronged. “Once people watch her, Robin will have a new image,” Jacobson said. “Viewers will see that she’s compassionate and that she doesn’t mind talking about her own trials and tribulations.” Jacobson is also hoping that Givens will bring in more young viewers than her predecessor. Givens starts her “Forgive or Forget” stint today at 10 a.m. on KCOP Channel 13.

Hard-Rockers Korn Keep Lid on Ticket Prices

When the Los Angeles band Korn embarks on its 24-city U.S. concert tour Tuesday in Lakeland, Fla., it might have the look of a lonely rock warrior in a wilderness of teen-pop squads and geezer-rock acts. After all, the concert industry publication Pollstar’s list of the 50 top-grossing tours of 1999 contained only three that represented the new generation of hard-rock acts: the Ozzfest package (No. 22 on the chart with a gross of $19.4 million), the Korn/Rob Zombie bill (No. 29, $11.5 million) and the Family Values lineup (No. 34, $10.7 million). But looks can be deceiving, cautions Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar. “One of the reasons you might not see as many [hard-rock bands] on the Top 50 tours is because, in general, hard-rock music appeals to a much younger audience, and those kids don’t have the same kind of money to spend on concert tickets,” says Bongiovanni. “The bands are much more sensitive to the price of tickets for their shows, and therefore it doesn’t add up to as much money at the end of the year.” Indeed, at a time when ticket prices are rising faster than Internet stocks, Korn and comrades such as Limp Bizkit are holding the line. Korn’s prices on this arena tour (which includes a Feb. 29 date at the 16,000-capacity Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim) are in the $30 range, notably lower than the average price for the entire 1999 Top 50, $43. “The rock ticket pricing at this point still takes into account who the target audience is,” notes Bongiovanni. “The younger kids are at least getting a bit of a break in that regard from the huge escalation we’re seeing.”

Getting to Know the ‘Real Tammy Faye’

The Sundance Film Festival 2000 kicks off Thursday, with scores of independent films from around the globe being shown in Utah’s Park City. Like every year, Main Street--the spine of the tiny ski resort--will teem with filmmakers and agents, studio acquisitions people and publicists, aspiring actors and established movie stars. But even in this supercharged milieu, there are two festival participants who are likely to get noticed wherever they go--particularly when they go together. Cross-dressing entertainer RuPaul and the so-called “queen of eyelashes,” former televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner, will be at the festival to promote a documentary about Bakker-Messner titled “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” The film sounds potentially surreal: It is narrated by RuPaul and the original puppets that were used on the PTL network (the one-time headquarters of Bakker-Messner and her first husband, Jim Bakker, who lost his ministry after a sex scandal). But festival programmers say the film--which follows Bakker-Messner’s addiction to prescription drugs, her battles against cancer, her divorce, the imprisonment of her second husband and her short-lived comeback as a TV talk-show host--is a revealing portrait of “one of the most public weepers of all time.” Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato plan to escort Bakker-Messner and RuPaul to their premiere, where they predict that “Sundance will have that rare opportunity to really get to know the real Tammy Faye as we have.” The film is up against 15 others in the festival’s documentary competition. Should the judges consider sheer tonnage of mascara among their criteria, it’s a shoo-in.

--Compiled by Times staff writers