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

MOVIES

Off to the Races: The Oscar race gets underway in earnest next week, with Wednesday being the entry deadline for three important categories for the 2001 ceremonies: foreign-language films, live-action shorts and animated shorts. Academy screenings of the entered films will begin in December, with nominations to be announced Feb. 13 and the awards themselves to be held March 25 at the Shrine Auditorium. Entries for the Golden Globes, meanwhile, which take place Jan. 21 at the Beverly Hilton, are due by Nov. 10.

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Halloween Treat: Disney’s “Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas” is playing a limited Halloween engagement in 72 theaters nationwide, including Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre, beginning today. The initial 7:30 p.m. screening here will be preceded by a short 7:15 p.m. discussion with director Henry Selick and others who worked on the film. Also to be featured at the 10-day El Capitan run will be an exhibit of props and character puppets used in the 1993 stop-motion animation picture.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Fisher Prize Winners: Clarinetist David Shifrin and double bassist Edgar Meyer are the recipients of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ 2000 Avery Fisher Prize. Each will receive $50,000. Previous winners of the prestigious prize--awarded for “outstanding achievement and excellence in music”--include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianists Emanuel Ax and Yefim Bronfman.

TELEVISION

New Liver: Actress Shelley Fabares (“Coach”) was recuperating at an L.A.-area hospital Thursday after undergoing a liver transplant earlier in the week. “She’s doing well, and doctors do expect a full recovery,” said a spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Assn., for which Fabares does regular charity work. He said the actress’ liver had deteriorated as the result of an autoimmune disorder, but provided no further details. Fabares, 56, is the niece of actress Nanette Fabray and the wife of “Providence” star Mike Farrell.

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Can They Do Impressions of Each Other?: Al Gore and George W. Bush are both scheduled to appear on “Saturday Night Live’s Presidential Bash 2000,” a prime-time special airing Nov. 5 at 9 p.m. The candidates will no doubt need to poke a little fun at themselves on the program, which will feature various political satires from “SNL’s” past.

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Who Wants to Watch a Billionaire: Fox will air “The Ultimate Auction” Dec. 7 at 8 p.m., giving viewers a chance to watch “billionaires from around the world . . . bid for holiday and Christmas gifts for their families and friends.” Items up for grabs include a pearl-and-diamond necklace and earrings set worn by Princess Diana at her last public appearance, a private tropical island, and an early Soviet spaceship. While there will be a live Internet component for bidding on cheaper items, the big-ticket pieces will have already been claimed, since the special airs six days after the actual auction takes place.

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Tube Notes: Madonna guests Nov. 3 on “Late Show With David Letterman” in her first sit-down interview on the CBS show since 1994. . . . Mia Farrow makes a rare guest-starring appearance on NBC’s “Third Watch” Nov. 20 playing the mother of police officer Faith Yokas (Molly Price). . . . Oprah Winfrey guests on the Nov. 8 episode of CBS’ Bette Midler comedy, “Bette.” . . . General Electric CEO Jack Welch, whose company owns NBC, sits down with Lesley Stahl for a rare interview Sunday on rival CBS’ “60 Minutes.” . . . Cable’s VH1 airs highlights from the Equality Rocks concert for gay civil rights tonight at 10 p.m. Hosted by singer Melissa Etheridge, the concert--held last April in Washington--also included performances by k.d. lang, Chaka Kahn and the Pet Shop Boys, with appearances by, among others, Ellen DeGeneres and Tipper Gore. . . . Also on VH1 will be a “Storytellers” program with the band Smashing Pumpkins--which has announced its plans to break up at the end of the year--on Nov. 4 at 10 p.m. . . . ABC will air five celebrity editions of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on Nov. 12, Nov. 13-16 and Nov. 19. The contestants are Alec Baldwin, Tyra Banks, Joy Behar, Drew Carey, Sean “Puffy” Combs, Vivica A. Fox, Jon Lovitz, Norm Macdonald, Charlie Sheen and Jon Stewart.

QUICK TAKES

Garth Brooks, who has talked repeatedly of a possible retirement from the music business, announced Thursday that he will make a new album to be released on either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day of 2001. . . . KABC-AM (790) will broadcast live from Beverly Hills’ Museum of Television & Radio from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today to celebrate 40 years of talk radio and the museum’s first L.A. Radio Festival. . . . The Nov. 3-5 performances at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall by violinist Young Uck Kim and pianist Menahem Pressler have been canceled due to Kim’s re-injury of a vertebra in his neck. . . . Actress Sadie Frost, wife of Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law, gave birth to the couple’s daughter Wednesday in Santa Monica.