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

TELEVISION

Paley Fest Lineup: The cast and creators of first-year series “Gideon’s Crossing,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Boston Public,” “Dark Angel” and “The Gilmore Girls” will all be featured in evening panels during the Museum of Television & Radio’s 18th annual William S. Paley Television Festival, scheduled for Feb. 28-March 13 at the Directors Guild of America. The festival--featuring programs chosen for their “artistic merit, cultural impact or historical significance”--includes screenings of episodes or highlights from the series, followed by a question-and-answer session with cast members, writers and producers. The schedule also includes second-year series “Judging Amy,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Angel”; more retro fare such as Cinemax’s documentary spoofs “The History of White People in America,” Eric Idle’s Beatles send-up “The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash,” and one panel focused on an individual: comic documentarian Michael Moore (“The Awful Truth”). The festival will close, meanwhile, with a March 13 panel devoted to the reality show “Survivor,” featuring series creator Mark Burnett, host Jeff Probst and other panelists to be announced. Tickets are $15 per event and go on sale Feb. 9.

No Strings Attached: A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that the Detroit Institute of Arts is the rightful owner of the original Howdy Doody puppet. The ruling, made public Thursday, comes after a two-year custody battle over the freckle-faced puppet between the museum and the family of its late puppeteer, Rufus Rose. U.S. District Judge Christopher Droney ruled that there was a clear contractual agreement with the museum, Rose and NBC--”The Howdy Doody Show’s” network--that promised the puppet to the arts institute. Rose’s survivors had claimed that the puppeteer, who manipulated Howdy’s strings off-camera during the show’s 1947-1960 run, had only thought about giving away the puppet and never made a “completed gift.” “Along with our many historic puppets (which include Punch and Judy and Kermit the Frog), Howdy Doody will be cared for under the highest standards of museum conservation and will be exhibited for the enjoyment of the public,” museum director Graham Beal--formerly director of the L.A. County Museum of Art--said of the ruling. The Rose heirs’ lawyer, however, said the family is deciding whether to appeal. The puppet--estimated to be worth $50,000--has been locked in a bank vault in Rhode Island. A second puppet, called Double Doody, is housed at the Smithsonian.

THEATER

Oscar Watch: Screenwriter-producer Ernest Lehman, a six-time Academy Award nominee for films such as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “North by Northwest” and “West Side Story,” will receive an honorary Oscar during the March 25 Academy Awards. The honor, voted by the academy’s board of governors “in appreciation of a body of varied and enduring work,” has previously gone to such recipients as Kirk Douglas, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Donen and Elia Kazan.

They Still Like Her: Actress Sally Field will receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ Board of Governors Award on Feb. 18. The annual award honors non-cinematographers who have “made significant and enduring contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking.” Previous recipients include Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola, Jodie Foster and Martin Scorsese.

POP/ROCK

Celine’s Baby: Singer Celine Dion, 32, gave birth to a 6-pound, 8-ounce baby boy--named Rene-Charles--Thursday morning at an undisclosed location. Dion, who had undergone fertility treatments to conceive with husband-manger Rene Angelil, had said in June that she was due in March, but the singer’s spokeswoman said Thursday: “Both mother and child . . . are doing marvelously well and are in perfect health.”

ARCHITECTURE

And the Final Four: The General Services Administration has narrowed its search for the architectural firm to design the $300-million-plus federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles to four candidates: Rafael Vinoly, Cannon Dworsky, Perkins & Will and Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Among the firms dropped from the list is Richard Meier and Partners, designer of Los Angeles’ Getty Center as well as a much-celebrated, recently completed federal courthouse in Islip, N.Y. GSA officials plan to make a final selection in April. A site has yet to be selected for the building.

QUICK TAKES

‘N Sync members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone are headed to the big screen, playing best friends in a romantic comedy called “On the Line,” Miramax Films said. Shooting is set to begin in Toronto in March, with the film’s soundtrack to be released on ‘N Sync’s label, Jive Records. . . . Douglas Sills, known for his Tony-nominated turn in Broadway’s “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” will star as Benedick in South Coast Repertory’s March 2-April 1 run of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” to be set in a glamorous 1930s Hollywood. . . . Country singer Reba McEntire, who makes her Broadway debut this weekend in “Annie Get Your Gun,” will star in a half-hour comedy for the WB, playing a Texas woman whose life gets turned around when she finds out that her husband has a pregnant mistress and her 17-year-old daughter is also pregnant and intends to keep the child. . . . Steven Weber, star of NBC’s “The Weber Show,” is a first-time dad. Wife Juliette Hohnen gave birth Jan. 15 to their son, Jack Alexander Hohnen-Weber.