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

TELEVISION

‘West Wing,’ ‘Malcolm’ Add to Their Honors

“The West Wing” and “Malcolm in the Middle” were named outstanding drama and comedy, respectively, at the third annual Family Television Awards, which were presented Thursday in Beverly Hills by the Family Friendly Programming Forum, a consortium of advertisers.

The forum also named the WB’s “Gilmore Girls”--a show whose development it helped finance--as best new series and CBS’ “Survivor” as best alternative program. In addition, the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” was presented a lifetime achievement award. CBS will broadcast the awards as a prime-time special Aug. 10.

Good News, Bad News From Comedy Central

Comedy Central has given the go-ahead to a second season of Martin Short’s “Primetime Glick”--one of its most popular shows. Ten new episodes of the program, based on a character created for the comedian’s short-lived stint as a syndicated talk show host, will go into production late this year, to be shown in the first quarter of 2002.

The network has decided not to renew “That’s My Bush!”--a creation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose “South Park” has been a major Comedy Central hit. The parody of the classic sitcom genre, which debuted in April, will conclude after eight episodes.

“The show was the highest series premiere in the network’s 10-year history and continued to draw good numbers,” said Lisa Chader, Comedy Central’s director of publicity. “But because we wanted to approximate the caliber of network sitcoms, it was very expensive to produce and wasn’t cost-effective.”

Repeat shows will continue to be shown, however, and there may be a big-screen version ahead. Stone and Parker plan to write a feature film script based on the Bush premise. “Never say never with these guys,” Chader cautions. “No one thought that the ‘South Park’ movie would be a success and it proved all the skeptics wrong.”

DANCE

More Woes for the American Ballet Theatre

Last week, its controversial executive director resigned. And now one of its high-ranking executives has been charged with sexual harassment. It hasn’t been a good stretch for New York City’s prestigious American Ballet Theatre.

A male dancer--terminated by the company in March--has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against David Richardson, ABT assistant artistic director, accusing him of being “sexually affectionate” with male dancers and subjecting them to a “sexually harassing, hostile and retaliatory environment.” Spurning Richardson’s advances, the complaint went on, led to the dancer’s “wrongful termination.”

“My client’s lifelong dream of dancing and doing something he loved was destroyed by the illegal work environment permitted to exist at the ABT,” said Wylie M. Stecklow, lawyer for the dancer, whose name has not been made public because he was a teen at the time of the alleged harassment.

Richardson’s lawyer, Alfred Ferrer III, refuted the charges, telling the New York Post that his client denies any “improper conduct with this dancer or any other.” Greg Patterson, director of marketing and communications for ABT, said that the decision not to renew the dancer’s contract reflected the “unanimous judgment” of the ABT artistic staff.

“ABT has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and decisions to renew or not to renew contracts are based solely on artistic merit,” Patterson told The Times. “While the dancer may be unhappy with that decision, his claim is totally without merit.”

Patterson said that it was premature to talk of replacing Louis Spisto, who resigned last week after a tumultuous stint at the helm of the ABT. “There will be a long search--and the company is actively involved in that process,” he said.

POP/ROCK

Rap Manager Guilty in Fight With Eminem Fan

The road manager for the rap group Insane Clown Posse pleaded guilty in an Omaha, Neb., court to disorderly conduct for a fight with a fan of rap rival Eminem. William Dail, 27, had been accused of choking the Eminem fan until he blacked out after an Insane Clown Posse concert in May.

The 24-year-old man held up an Eminem T-shirt and threw a few M&M; candies at two clown-faced rappers before being escorted outside, where the confrontation occurred. Dail agreed to plead guilty to one count of disorderly conduct and pay a $100 fine.

MOVIES

A Real-Time Version of the Classic ‘Searchers’

“The Searchers,” the classic 1956 western starring John Wayne, will soon be the longest film in history. The story of a man’s obsessive hunt for his kidnapped niece usually fills two hours. But when Scottish artist Douglas Gordon is through, it’ll last five years--the length of Wayne’s fictional search.

Gordon’s digitally slowed, real-time version runs one frame every 24 minutes rather than 24 frames a second. Telenor, a Norwegian telecom company, will display it for its 8,000 staff on a screen at its new company headquarters, outside Oslo. The project, which is expected to be up and running by fall 2002, can be seen by the public through a glass wall.

Gordon, who previously made a 24-hour version of “Psycho,” is acquiring an international reputation. Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art plans to show a retrospective of his work from Sept. 16 to Jan. 20.

QUICK TAKES

Mick Jagger has signed a deal with Virgin Music Group to produce his first solo album in eight years. The fourth solo project from the Rolling Stones frontman is scheduled for November release and will feature guest turns by Bono, Lenny Kravitz and Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott .... New York’s Lincoln Center Theater will present Alan Alda in “QED,” Peter Parnell’s play about the late Caltech physicist Richard Feynman that premiered at the Mark Taper Forum earlier this year. Gordon Davidson, artistic director of the Taper, will repeat his directing duties. The show will run Oct. 22-Dec. 17, on Sundays and Mondays only--the dark nights for “Contact,” the current occupant of Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater Citing concerns about the show’s content, CBS is moving the three weekly editions of “Big Brother 2” to begin an hour later, at 9 p.m. The shift may also help the show find more viewers, since TV viewing tends to be higher at that hour ....The Lynyrd Skynyrd concert at Universal Amphitheatre has been rescheduled for Sept. 27. The Southern rock band postponed its Wednesday show at the venue after the recent death of bassist Leon Wilkeson. Tickets for the original show will be honored at the Sept. 27 performance.