Arts and Entertainment Reports From the Times, News Services and the Nation’s Press

TELEVISION

‘Sopranos’ a Hit in Italy

Italian critics on Thursday raved about the first episode of HBO’s mob drama, “The Sopranos,” which premiered in Italy on Wednesday night at 12:30 a.m. Despite the late time slot, and what reports called “practically no [advance] publicity,” the program attracted nearly a fourth of the nation’s viewing audience. Italy’s top TV critic, Aldo Grasso of the daily Corrier della Sera, raved about the show, saying: “Rarely does one see fiction so intelligent, ironic, full of psychological and narrative subtleties.” The daily La Republica, meanwhile, called the show a “masterpiece” and deplored the network’s decision to “hide it” in a late-night time slot. Due to the high ratings, Canale 5 said Thursday that it would move the show to 11:30 p.m. Saturdays. Though “The Sopranos” has won several Emmys in the United States, it has drawn criticism from some Italian Americans, who say the show stereotypes them.

Downey Has One Charge Reduced

Actor Robert Downey Jr. emerged from a drug treatment facility for a brief court appearance in Indio on Thursday, in which he pleaded not guilty to reduced charges stemming from his arrest last November in a Palm Springs hotel. A felony Valium possession charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, and although Downey still faces a felony cocaine possession charge, a prosecutor said the case could end in a plea bargain. Downey’s next court appearance is set for July 16. Meanwhile, it was the first time that Downey, dressed in a conservative dark-blue suit and amber-tinted glasses, has been seen in public since being arrested in Culver City last month on different drug charges. Prosecutors in that case have decided not to file charges, though Downey, 36, will have to spend at least six months in drug treatment.

POP / ROCK

McGraw, Chesney Found Not Guilty

After two hours of deliberations, a Buffalo, N.Y., jury found country singer Tim McGraw not guilty Wednesday of charges he assaulted a sheriff’s deputy during a scuffle over a police horse. If convicted, McGraw could have faced a year in jail. The jury also found singer Kenny Chesney and McGraw’s road manager, Mark Russo, innocent of related charges, though Chesney had faced a much less serious violation. McGraw and Chesney hugged each other as the verdict was read, and McGraw’s wife, singer Faith Hill, wiped away tears. “We’ve been waiting 11 months to have our day in court,” a tired-looking McGraw said. “The justice system works.”

THEATER

Bergman Taking ‘Ghost’ Turn Filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, 82, will put on a production of Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” next year at Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. The play, for which Bergman will also adapt the script, is scheduled to premiere in February. Bergman’s production of August Strindberg’s “The Ghost Sonata” is slated to be performed at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music next month. The last film made by Bergman, who recently told the European tabloid Expressen that he is finished with movie-making, was “Fanny and Alexander” in 1983.

QUICK TAKES

Wednesday night’s series finale of “Star Trek: Voyager” drew the UPN network’s highest ratings in more than three years, since the same series’ 1997 season premiere. Wednesday’s broadcast averaged a total of 8.8 million viewers, beating ABC, CBS and the WB. . . . Reba McEntire, who has a TV sitcom premiering on the WB network in the fall, will wind up her critically praised run in Broadway’s “Annie Get Your Gun” on June 22. . . . As expected, founding artistic director Robert Brustein has announced that he will leave Harvard University’s American Repertory Theater next summer. Brustein told the New York Times that his replacement will be Robert Woodruff, 54, who directed the Flying Karamazov Brothers’ “Room Service” at the Mark Taper Forum in 1997. . . . KPFK-FM (90.7) on Thursday resumed live broadcasts of Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!” following daily small protests outside the station, which had been airing old editions of “Democracy Now!” for a week with a disclaimer that host Goodman had “refused to cooperate with KPFK and provide fund-drive programming.” Goodman, who is the subject of a formal grievance filed against the station’s management, has denied the station’s on-air claims. . . . Public radio station KLON-FM (88.1) will air commercial-free tributes to the late jazz legend Miles Davis, marking the 75th anniversary of his birth, today from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.