She used to turn the world on...

She used to turn the world on with her smile, but now Mary Tyler Moore wants to be on “The Sopranos.” Calling from New York to talk TV, Moore said of the HBO mob series: “That’s a show I would love to do. But it would be terribly challenging for the writer to create a character for me.”

Well, she could always get whacked.

Moore recently toughened up, making a dramatic stretch from her signature roles as perky Laura Petrie and Mary Richards. In May’s CBS movie “Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes,” she played manipulative killer Sante Kimes, who has been convicted in New York and is facing a capital murder trial in Los Angeles.

Moore, who co-hosts a celebration of TV music Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl, isn’t exactly thrilled with the medium that made her famous. “I’m really quite upset with TV at the moment,” she said. “It hasn’t evolved. It’s all sexual innuendo. It seems that’s the only emotion around.”

Yet, Moore said she does have a couple of other favorite shows: “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Friends,” and, she added, “I love talk shows. That’s how I get educated about what’s going on in my country.”

Moore is contemplating her next project. “Things are brewing. I don’t think I’ll be walking the streets for long.”

Risky Business

Filmmaker Kristina Ann Kirstin denies defaming Tom Cruise by selling a story to the National Enquirer detailing her ex-husband’s claims that he had an affair with the actor, according to her lawyer.

“Did she make statements to the National Enquirer? Yes. Did she say anything defamatory? No,” attorney Chuck Kester said. Kester doesn’t deny that the tabloid paid Kirstin for her statements. But he insists that she talked only after Cruise brought public attention to himself by suing her former husband, erotic wrestler Chad Slater, who worked under the name Kyle Bradford.

Kester has scheduled Cruise’s deposition for Sept. 24, and he’s also trying to arrange Nicole Kidman’s. “My client’s sued for 100 million bucks; I can’t let ivy grow on me,” the lawyer said, before unleashing the quote of the day:

“Mr. Cruise had his ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ when he filed this lawsuit against my client. All he could see is ‘The Color of Money.’ But litigation is ‘Risky Business,’ and we are optimistic that the court will dismiss his claim in the near future.”

Over the Rainbow

Mariah Carey, who last month was hospitalized for what her publicist called an “emotional and physical breakdown,” is slowly resurfacing. Last week, the diva spent a couple of hours signing autographs and handing out portable CD players and copies of her “Loverboy” single to 150 campers at the Fresh Air Fund’s Camp Mariah in Fishkill, N.Y.

And, Carey has popped up on her Web site, where she had posted two rambling, despondent messages shortly before her meltdown. In an audio message, Carey thanks fans for their letters and support and cautions that, “Definitely, you can’t believe everything you read.” She adds, “I am taking care of myself, and as we speak--or as I speak to you--I’m looking at the most beautiful rainbow that is going across the entire sky, and I love you so much!”

The Hatch Report

If Richard Hatch, the original $1-million “Survivor” keeps racking up the arrests, he just might qualify for the cast of the next “Big Brother.”

Hatch was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor domestic assault involving one Glenn Boyanowski, described by Hatch’s publicist as “an ex-boyfriend.” Hatch pleaded not guilty in a courtroom in Newport, R.I., and was released on his own recognizance.

Hatch’s lawyer, Christopher Behan, said the 40-year-old former corporate trainer was merely defending his turf when he pushed Boyanowski off the front steps of his house in Middletown on Monday. When Hatch went to the courthouse to obtain a restraining order, his lawyer said, he learned Boyanowski already had filed a complaint resulting in a warrant for his arrest. He turned himself in, and obtained the restraining order.

It’s not Hatch’s first run-in with the law. Last year, he was charged with abusing his 9-year-old son, but the charges later were dropped. Last week, a judge tossed out his false-arrest lawsuit but allowed Hatch to pursue a legal claim alleging that certain “John Does” invaded his privacy by leaking his mug shot and a witness statement to the National Enquirer.

Sightings

Benicio Del Toro, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Tom Green, Heath Ledger and Tommy Lee, taking in the Radiohead concert at the Hollywood Bowl .... Cindy Crawford, looking very expectant and sipping tea in the Living Room at the Peninsula Hotel; upstairs at the spa, Charlie Sheen treating himself to a hot rock and crystal treatment .... Ray Bradbury and family, celebrating the author’s 81st birthday with lunch at Pancho’s in Manhattan Beach .... Keanu Reeves, partying with about two dozen friends at Chaya Venice before heading off to Australia to shoot “The Matrix” sequels.

Quote, Unquote

“When I was younger, I was never really insecure at all. Now I sometimes get insecure because people expect celebrities to look a certain way. And there are mornings I wake up and my butt feels fat.”

--Britney Spears, 19, in the Scottish Daily Record

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Times staff writers Louise Roug and Gina Piccalo contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday-Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.