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

TELEVISION

CBS’ Rooney to Apologize Sunday

“60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney will deliver an on-air apology Sunday for a quip about President Bush two weeks ago.

Rooney quoted the president as saying that America’s enemies in Afghanistan think their “harbors are safe. But they won’t be safe forever.” Noted Rooney: “Afghanistan is landlocked. It doesn’t have a harbor.”

Many viewers took him to task, according to USA Today.

“If you didn’t know the meaning of ‘safe harbor,’ you probably thought the ‘underground railroad’ had tracks,” one wrote in.

Said another, “If [he] really thought Bush meant seaports, Andy must think ‘wildlife preserves’ are breakfast jams.”

Upon reflection, Rooney said, he agreed that Bush--or his speechwriter--was probably speaking metaphorically.

He plans to excerpt some of the letters on Sunday’s broadcast and then will conclude, “Look, George W. Bush is your president and he’s my president. I feel bad about what I said and I apologize for saying it.”

Doherty’s DUI Sentence to Include Work-Release

Shannen Doherty will serve five days in a work-release program as part of her sentencing for a drunk driving arrest in December, most probably picking up freeway trash.

A Ventura County judge on Tuesday imposed the minimum sentence for the 30-year-old actress after she gave lectures to teens about the dangers of driving under the influence. She could have gotten two days in jail.

Doherty, who starred in television’s “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed,” was arrested Dec. 28. She pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge in April.

POP/ROCK

Country MusiciansChipping In

Not to be outdone by their rock counterparts, country musicians are stepping up to the plate in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Wynonna Judd is returning to her home state of Kentucky for two shows today at Ft. Campbell to rally the troops. And George Strait, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and Martina McBride will team up for the Country Freedom Concert to benefit the Salvation Army.

The concert will be shown Oct. 21 on Country Music Television.

Meanwhile, former pop star Yusaf Islam, once known as Cat Stevens, is donating the royalties from his four-CD box set to charity, with a major portion going to the Sept. 11 Fund. The recordings, due to come out Oct. 30, span the career of the singer, who retired from the music world after embracing Islam in 1977.

“Radicals on all sides have stolen holy words out of context,” he said. “Never does the Koran, or any sacred book of any religion, allow the killing of innocent civilians.”

THEATER

‘Woods’ Heading for Broadway

The producers of the new version of the fairy tale-inspired musical “Into the Woods,” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, will take the show to Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre in April following its initial run in February and March at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown L.A.

The role of the witch in the Ahmanson production has been offered to Vanessa Williams, according to her manager, Emily Gerson Saines, but “we don’t have a closed deal.”

THE ARTS

Intervention Frees Up Brazilian Altar

The president of Brazil and the country’s culture minister have promised to send the centerpiece of a sweeping display of Brazilian art to New York’s Guggenheim Museum, as planned. After Sept. 11, Brazilian courts had ruled that the 18th century Baroque altarpiece could be damaged by further terrorist attacks.

“President Fernando Henrique Cardos and the culture minister had to intervene because they realized that Brazil had made a commitment to deliver and its word was at stake,” said Roberto Peixe, cultural secretary of the city of Recife and one of the advisors of the exhibition. “The altar is the soul of the exhibition and we all realized it couldn’t happen without the piece.”

After Cardoso stepped in, a federal court overruled an injunction blocking the altar’s removal from Brazil. The opening of the exhibit, pushed back a week to Oct. 18, could be further delayed because of the confusion. The show is expected to travel to Bilbao, Spain, in March.

Taking Time to Contemplate the Arts

Los Angeles has designated Saturday as Arts Day to celebrate the role of culture and creativity in California.

The event, sponsored by the California Arts Council, ushers in a week of activities in which museums and theater companies will offer free or reduced-cost admissions, local artists will be honored, and more than 75 bus and bus shelter signs will declare “Create,” “Sing,” Paint,” “Dance” and “Rhyme.”

Most of the events are free. For more information: https://www.lacountyarts.org.

QUICK TAKES

Bob Tuttle, a trustee of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art since 1996, has been elected chairman of the museum. A managing partner of Tuttle-Click Automotive Group, he was a presidential aide at the White House from 1982 to 1989 .... Mary Hart, entering her 20th year as co-host of “Entertainment Tonight,” has signed a new long-term deal with Paramount Domestic Television.