MORNING REPORT - News from July 25, 2000

TELEVISION

Walters Nixes O.J. Appearance: Barbara Walters announced Monday that she had decided to cancel a scheduled appearance by O.J. Simpson this week on her ABC talk show, “The View.” Loud cheers from a studio audience and her co-hosts greeted her after she said, “Mr. Simpson will not appear on our program.” Several viewers, members of the show’s production staff and all four of her co-hosts had told her they were uncomfortable having Simpson as a guest, she said. Simpson’s appearance, scheduled for Wednesday, was to promote his participation in a two-hour Internet “chat” session on Thursday where members of the public can pay a fee to ask him questions. Walters said she and her co-executive producer, Bill Geddie, made the decision to cancel the booking. “Although on ‘The View’ Bill Geddie and I encourage differences of opinion among us--we can’t stop it and indeed we love it--there was more serious concern about having Mr. Simpson on the program from all of you at this table,” she said. Simpson is making other television appearances ahead of his Internet “chat,” including Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show and Fox News Channel’s “The Edge With Paula Zahn” and “Fox News Live.”

Emmy News and Documentary Nods: The 21st annual News and Documentary Emmy Award nominees, recognizing outstanding achievement by individuals and programs broadcast during 1999, were announced Monday by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Nominations ranged from ABC’s millennium coverage to coverage of the war in Kosovo by ABC, A&E; and NBC, to Cinemax’s “The Brandon Teena Story,” which inspired the feature film “Boys Don’t Cry.” ABC led the networks with 21 nominations, followed by CBS with 19, PBS with 18, NBC and TBS with 13 each, and Cinemax, TLC, CNN and the History Channel with four each. The awards will be presented Sept. 6 in New York.

Winkler One for Two: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences pulled Henry Winkler’s Emmy nomination for outstanding comedy guest actor after it learned that his appearance on “Battery Park” aired after May 31--the cutoff date for Emmy eligibility. Winkler’s appearance was listed on the official entry form as having an April air date, but NBC pulled the plug on the low-rated show before the episode could air. The episode finally was shown in June. William H. Macy moved into Winkler’s slot among the Emmy finalists for his portrayal of a ratings consultant on ABC’s “Sports Night.” Winkler will still be in contention this year: He also was nominated as guest actor in a drama series for “The Practice.”

FILM

Coppola’s ‘Gidget’: Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has found the Big Kahuna for his movie musical remake of 1959’s “Gidget,” and it’s Dermot Mulroney. The noted director introduced Mulroney at a press conference Monday at the Margaret A. Webb Performing Arts Center at Los Alamitos High School, where he is workshopping the proposed musical with high school students. Coppola, who hasn’t selected any other cast members for the project, said he was drawing from students and alumni from the Orange County High School of the Arts in his workshop performances of musical numbers from the movie. Doing these informal workshops with an age-appropriate cast for “Gidget” helps him to fine-tune his plans for the movie, Coppola said. “Workshops are the only method you have to make sure that it all sticks together.” Students will perform selections from the project Aug. 3-6 at the Webb Performing Arts Center. Coppola did not discuss financing or distribution of the film, nor would he say when he thought it might go into production.

POP/ROCK

TV’s Top Musical Moments: A new top 100 list chosen by VH1 and Entertainment Weekly magazine rates the Beatles’ 1964 performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as the top music moment ever broadcast on television. Rounding out the top 10, in order: Elvis Presley’s comeback special on NBC, 1968; MTV launches with its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star,” 1981; “Saturday Night Live” premieres, showcasing musical acts each week, 1975; “Motown 25” special featuring Michael Jackson’s first moonwalk, 1983; Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” series premieres, 1957; Live Aid aired by ABC and MTV, 1985; Madonna rolls around the stage in a wedding gown singing “Like a Virgin” on the MTV Video Awards, 1984; Elvis performs on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” shown only from the waist up, 1956; and the Who’s overuse of explosives ending their performance on the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1967. “100 Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on TV” will air as a five-hour, five-night special, premiering Monday on VH1 at 10 p.m.

QUICK TAKES

The California African-American Museum and the Japanese American National Museum each received grants of $40,848 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The NEH announced 206 grants totaling 18.9 million Monday. . . . Ricardo Montalban’s Nosotros organization is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with its annual awards banquet on Friday. The Golden Eagle Awards, to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, will honor Showtime for “Resurrection Blvd.,” Telemundo’s “Los Beltran,” director Salvador Carrasco and producer Alvaro Domingo for the film “The Other Conquest,” and writer Evelina Fernandez for “Luminarias.”