MORNING REPORT - News from Oct. 26, 2000

ENTERTAINMENT

Laugh Therapy: “Frasier” began its eighth year in spectacular fashion, dominating its new Tuesday time slot with the show’s largest season-premiere audience. The hourlong edition of the Emmy-winning sitcom was watched by 28.6 million viewers, beating the World Series and crushing ABC’s “Dharma & Greg” (10.3 million) and “The Geena Davis Show” (7.8 million). NBC also got off to a reasonably good start with the premiere of “The Michael Richards Show,” which attracted 13.2 million viewers, but will face a truer test next week, when Fox’s “That ‘70s Show”--preempted Tuesday by baseball--returns to the time slot.

Van Dyke’s Goodbyes: “It’s time for me to go to pasture,” Dick Van Dyke told AP Radio Wednesday, announcing his plans to retire from TV after this season of CBS’ “Diagnosis Murder.” “Tastes have changed. Television’s going, as far as I’m concerned, downhill, and I’m an anachronism.” Van Dyke, who turns 75 in December, noted that he’s only two months younger than former talk show host Johnny Carson and said he plans to “follow his lead” into retirement.

KPFK Protest: About 125 protesters carrying “Democracy Now not Hypocrisy Now” and “Honk for Free Speech” placards picketed in front of North Hollywood’s listener-supported KPFK-FM (90.7) Wednesday morning, responding to what they’re calling censorship on the part of the station’s parent, the Pacific Foundation. The protest stems from a disagreement between “Democracy Now!” talk show host Amy Goodman and Pacifica executives over requirements that Goodman disclose her guests and topics before broadcast and get approval for any outside speaking engagements. The matter is now in union hands, with her show continuing to air weekdays at 6 a.m., with repeats at 9 a.m.

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Court Briefs: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s 13-year marriage is officially over. Citing irreconcilable differences, the actors’ final divorce papers were filed last week at a courthouse near Sun Valley, Idaho, where the former couple lived on a $6 million estate. . . . Rapper Old Dirty Bastard’s probation was revoked and a no-bail warrant was issued for his arrest after he left a court-ordered drug treatment program and failed to attend an L.A. probation violation hearing Tuesday. ODB was sentenced to the treatment program as part of a plea bargain on a charge of making a terrorist threat.

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Quick Takes: Al Gore will do an in-depth interview with talk show host Queen Latifah to air on her show Wednesday at 11 a.m. on KTTV. George W. Bush has also been invited to appear on “Queen Latifah” but has not yet responded. . . . Model-actress Lauren Hutton, 55, was in serious but stable condition Wednesday after more than seven hours of surgery on a leg she injured in a weekend crash during a celebrity motorcycle ride near Las Vegas. “She still has a lot of recovery ahead of her,” a spokesman at Las Vegas’ University Medical Center said. . . . UPN’s “Moesha,” the WB’s “Popular,” Lifetime’s “Any Day Now,” Fox’s “That ‘70s Show” and the canceled MTV talk show “Loveline” were among the winners Wednesday of the Media Project’s 2000 SHINE Awards honoring “outstanding portrayals of family planning, sexuality and reproducing health in television programs.” In addition, the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek” received a special Writers’ Award for its “consistency in addressing teen sexual health.”