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

TELEVISION

Passing a Critical Hurdle: CBS gave full-season pickups to five of its new series on Tuesday, while NBC also ordered the additional nine episodes of one of its dramas, the Sunday night critical favorite “Ed.” The CBS shows picked up for the rest of their first season were the Friday night dramas “The Fugitive,” starring Tim Daly, and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” the highest-rated new drama so far this season; the Saturday night drama “The District,” starring Craig T. Nelson; the Wednesday night Bette Midler comedy “Bette,” and the Monday night family comedy “Yes Dear.” CBS, crowing over its ratings success this season, noted that its five new-series, full-season pickups is “the most by any major network in several years.”

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Presidential Puns: Taking a satirical page from Emmy-winner “The West Wing,” “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker plan to set their new Comedy Central series, a live-action sitcom expected to premiere in February, in the White House. In an interview with the Web site Inside.com, the duo said the show’s cast and plots will be determined by the outcome of next week’s presidential election. In one proposed plot, they said, “President” Al Gore’s aides build a robot to handle his duties, and nobody is able to tell the resulting machine apart from the real man.

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Back on the Bench: Judge Joseph Wapner stepped out of retirement on Monday to return to the set of “People’s Court” for the syndicated series’ 3,000th episode, scheduled to air on Nov. 16. The 81-year-old Wapner, who started “People’s Court” in 1981, taped the show with his former co-stars, court reporter Doug Llewelyn and court officer Rusty Burrell. There are currently 10 court shows on the air, with Judge Jerry Sheindlin now regularly presiding over “The People’s Court.”

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Cable Notes: The Fox News Channel had its best month rating-wise in its four-year history in October, when it tied cable news stalwart CNN for the first time in terms of ratings share (the percentage of viewing homes from among those in which each service is available). However, CNN, available in considerably more homes nationwide, still had a strong lead in terms of its actual number of viewing homes. . . . Fox Family Channel on Monday began using TheatreVision, a descriptive narration intended to make media programming more accessible to blind and visually impaired viewers, along with its 10 p.m. weekday airings of “Early Edition.” The descriptions, carried on the Second Audio Programming Channel, are narrated this week by actors Ernest Borgnine and Joe Campanella; different celebrities will give future narrations. . . . President Clinton taped an interview Monday with Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas; the second part of the interview is to air on Univision tonight at 6:30.

POP/ROCK

Students Speak Out: A small group of University of Illinois students held a press conference Tuesday seeking to have school administrators cancel a Thursday concert featuring rapper Eminem, who has come under fire for his lyrics reflecting violence--including murder--against women. The students said the concert would violate the university’s policy against discrimination. However, a university spokesman said the school is contractually bound to stage the show and does not want to interfere with artistic expression. Last week, Ontario Atty. Gen. Jim Flaherty cited Canada’s hate-speech laws in an effort to ban the rapper from performing in Toronto, but the concert went off without incident after Toronto police determined that Eminem’s lyrics did not qualify because women are not a protected group under the hate-speech laws.

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Elton Goes to Court: Elton John began what is expected to be an eight-week court proceeding in London Monday against his top accountants, who he claims wrongly charged him millions of dollars in tour expenses. John’s suit--which reportedly seeks more than $29 million--claims that the firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Andrew Haydon, the former managing director of John Reid Enterprises, should not have allowed the latter company to charge him the millions of dollars in expenses. Under a management agreement, John’s lawyers argued, Reid Enterprises was responsible for those costs. Both plaintiffs have denied any wrongdoing.

QUICK TAKES

The late comedian Phil Silvers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today during 10 a.m. ceremonies at 6370 Hollywood Blvd. Today is also the 15th anniversary of the death of Silvers, who was best known for his Sgt. Bilko TV character. . . . Liza Minnelli was accompanied by her formerly estranged half-sister, Lorna Luft, when she left the Florida hospital Monday where she’d been undergoing treatment for viral encephalitis. Doctors have said it will take several months for Minnelli to recover fully. . . . Shirley Ceasar, the Oak Ridge Boys, Roger Breland and Truth, the Kingsmen, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, Christian hard rock band Petra and the late music executive Bob MacKenzie were inducted Monday night into the Gospel Music Assn.’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Tennessee. . . . President Clinton has appointed Cal Poly Pomona architecture professor Hsin-Ming Fung to the National Council on the Arts, which reviews grants applications, funding guidelines and leadership initiatives for the National Endowment for the Arts. The appointment of Fung, who is director of design for Los Angeles’ Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates, now must be approved by the U.S. Senate.