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

TV & MOVIES

‘Angels,’ ‘Malcolm’ Ratings: CBS’ high-profile new drama, “City of Angels,” hit a hurdle in its first outing Sunday, when the program’s scheduled 8 p.m. debut was delayed by 30 minutes in most of the country because of a football overrun, pitting its second half-hour against the ABC juggernaut “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The drama, which moves to its regular Wednesday, 8 p.m. time slot this week, ended up scoring about 14 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings estimates. Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle,” meanwhile, improved its new hit status, garnering an estimated 23.3 million viewers at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, topping its impressive numbers from last week’s premiere. Early ratings for HBO’s “The Sopranos,” which began its much promoted second season Sunday, were not yet available.

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Studio to Appeal ‘Psycho’ Rating: Lions Gate Films said Monday that it will appeal an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Assn. of America for director Mary Harron’s forthcoming film “American Psycho.” The film company said the rating came not because of violence in the movie, but because of a single scene depicting a sexual encounter between Christian Bale’s character and two prostitutes. Harron called the scene “one of the most significant” in the film. The film will be shown intact at its world premiere, this coming weekend at Utah’s Sundance Film Festival.

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GLAAD Nominees: “Being John Malkovich,” “Big Daddy,” “Election,” “Flawless” and “Happy, Texas” are the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s nominees for 1999’s best wide-release film, while “All About My Mother,” “Better Than Chocolate,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Edge of Seventeen” and “Show Me Love” vie in the limited-release category. TV nominees include Fox’s “Action,” Telemundo’s “Los Beltran,” ABC’s “Oh Grow Up,” HBO’s “Sex and the City” and NBC’s “Will & Grace” (outstanding comedy series) and the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity,” HBO’s “Oz” and MTV’s “Undressed” (drama series). The GLAAD Media Awards, honoring “fair, accurate and inclusive representations” of the gay community, take place in Los Angeles on April 15.

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Life Still “Beautiful”: Roberto Benigni’s Italian-language Oscar winner, “Life Is Beautiful,” topped the Landmark Theatres chain’s list of all-time favorite foreign-language films as voted by 35,000 filmgoers. Fellow Italian films “Cinema Paradiso” and “Il Postino” took the survey’s next two spots, respectively. The rest of the Top 10, in descending order: “Like Water for Chocolate” (Mexico), “Das Boot” (Germany), “Babette’s Feast” (Denmark), “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (Botswana), “The Seven Samurai” (Japan), “Shall We Dance?” (Japan) and “The Bicycle Thief” (Italy). French films, meanwhile, held 36 of the survey’s 100 spots.

POP/ROCK

Airport Encounter: Whitney Houston faces a possible misdemeanor charge in Hawaii, where she was reportedly caught with about half an ounce of marijuana at Kona International Airport. An airport guard tried to detain Houston after allegedly finding the drugs in her bag at a security checkpoint last Tuesday, but the singer-actress walked away and boarded a plane for the mainland before police showed up, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. The airport guards, who work for a private firm, do not have authority to arrest suspects for crimes unrelated to airport security. A police spokesman, who said that 15.2 grams of pot were recovered in the seized bag, told the newspaper that prosecutors could take about a month to decide whether to file misdemeanor drug charges. If convicted, Houston could face a $1,000 fine and up to 30 days in jail. Her spokeswoman could not be reached for comment over the holiday weekend.

QUICK TAKES

U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky will give a reading at USC on Thursday at 7 p.m. as part of a Distinguished Artist Series. Tickets are $20. . . . While his new CBS show was premiering Sunday, “City of Angels” co-creator Paris Barclay was at the Beverly Hills Hotel, picking up the director of the year award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors for his work on “NYPD Blue.” Other peer award winners included producer Robert Halmi Sr. (“Merlin”) and writer David Chase (“The Sopranos”). . . . Marie Osmond and her second husband, music producer Brian Blosil, have reportedly separated after 13 years of marriage. The couple have seven children. . . . Singer-actress Brandy was to be honored in New York Monday night with the Congress of Racial Equality’s Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Award for her “outstanding achievements as a role model for youth.” Noted photographer Gordon Parks was also an honoree.