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

TELEVISION

CBS’ ‘Big Brother 2’ Closes House

CBS’ “Big Brother 2” concluded with its highest rating of the summer on Thursday night, though the finale--pushed back an hour by President Bush’s address to the nation--didn’t yield the sort of heightened tune-in the network was expecting.

An estimated 12.3 million people watched the finale, in which Will Kirby, the doctor from Florida, won the $500,000 prize. The program was out-rated by both ABC news coverage and an “ER” rerun.

MTV, BET Music Shows Sing New Tune

The usually jubilant atmosphere at MTV’s “Total Request Live” and BET’s “106 & Park: BET’s Top 10 Live,” two New York-based series in which young audiences cheer wildly while swooning over their favorite music groups, has changed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

“The mood at our studio has definitely been a more serious and somber one,” said Stephen Hill, vice president of music and talent at BET. “It’s not back to where it was and probably won’t be for a while, if ever.”

So too at the Times Square studio of MTV’s “Total Request Live.” The audience still comes, but there is more talk about emotions, grief and coping.

“I’m sure there’s a point where we’ll return to that, but not right now,” said Tom Calderone, senior vice president of music and talent programming at MTV.

TV Executives Still Tinkering With Pilots

The major networks continue to tinker with episodes of programs filmed before the terrorist attacks that occurred Sept. 11, seeking to remove sensitive material.

Fox made the biggest switch on Friday, saying it would excise from its new action series “24” a key scene in which an airplane explodes. “24” will premiere in early November. CBS, meanwhile, said a line from Ellen DeGeneres’ new sitcom, “The Ellen Show,” in which she refers to her dot-com company going under, is being scratched.

CBS also is amending elements in “The Agency,” a new series about the CIA, and will introduce the show with an episode other than the prototype shot last spring.

RADIO

‘Talk of Nation’ Names New Host

Neal Conan, who joined National Public Radio in 1977 and has worked at the network as both a foreign correspondent and a producer, has been named host of the weekday show “Talk of the Nation.”

Conan had been filling in as guest host since the beginning of the month following the departure of Juan Williams, who left the program to become a senior correspondent for NPR.

“Talk of the Nation” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on KPCC-FM (89.3).

MOVIES

‘Shrek’ Leads in Animation Nods

“Shrek” got 12 nominations and “The Emperor’s New Groove” captured 11 in competition for the 29th annual Annie Awards, presented by the International Animated Film Society. Both are in the running for best animated theatrical feature, along with “Osmosis Jones” and “Blood: The Last Vampire.”

Nominees for best prime-time or late-night TV production are Fox’s “The Simpsons” and “Futurama,” Nickelodeon’s “The Fairly OddParents” and “Invader Zim,” and Cartoon Network’s “Time Squad.” Winners will be announced Nov. 10.

STAGE

‘Bat Boy’ on3-Week Hiatus

The off-Broadway musical “Bat Boy,” reeling from reduced ticket sales that are filling only 20% of the 499-seat Union Square Theatre in the wake of the terrorist attacks, will close Sunday for a three-week hiatus, with a plan to reopen on Oct. 19 on a reduced schedule of five performances per week instead of eight.

The arrangements were approved Thursday by Actors’ Equity for any off-Broadway show that wants to use them.

The L.A.-born “Bat Boy” also has begun a campaign for Angelenos and others to buy tickets and contribute them back to the producers for eventual use by relief workers and victims of the attacks.

QUICK TAKES

On what would have been his 75th birthday, KJAZ-AM (1260) will broadcast a five-hour tribute to the life and music of John Coltrane, beginning at noon Sunday. ... The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has canceled a lecture by paleontologist Peter Ward that had been scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. ... Starting Sunday, Smokey Robinson will host a weekly dedication show called “Intimate” on KHHT-FM (92.3), airing from 9 a.m. to noon.