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

TELEVISION

TV Viewing Up inLate Night, Morning

Late-night and daytime ratings for the week of Sept. 17-21 reveal heightened tune-in across the board but little change in competitive status, as NBC’s “Today” show--averaging nearly 7 million viewers--continued to lead the morning ratings while “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” edged “Late Show With David Letterman” and “Nightline” in a tighter-than-usual late-night race.

Leno--who returned a day later than Letterman--averaged 6.6 million viewers to Letterman’s 6.2 million. (An estimated 8.8 million watched Letterman’s first show back, when Dan Rather appeared.) ABC’s “Nightline,” which was expanded to an hour, also exhibited viewing increases, with an average audience of 5.4 million.

“Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher,” which spurred controversy due to remarks by its host, also delivered that show’s highest weekly average in more than six months, averaging 2.8 million viewers, despite starting late because of “Nightline.”

‘Friends’ and ‘CSI’Make Strong Debuts

“Friends” drew its biggest audience since the 1995-96 season on Thursday, as 31.7 million people watched, according to viewing estimates from Nielsen Media Research.

With “Friends” setting the bar so high, new sitcom “Inside Schwartz” had a hard time measuring up, attracting 22.5 million viewers, meaning 30% of the “Friends” audience tuned out. CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” then won the 9 p.m. hour with 22.3 million viewers, compared to 19.6 million for NBC’s “Will & Grace”/”Just Shoot Me” tandem and 11.1 million watching “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

“ER” kicked off its eighth season with an estimated 28.2 million viewers, versus 12 million for the debut of CBS’ new CIA drama “The Agency,” which, in a bad sign, lost more than 2 million viewers the first to the second half-hour.

THE ARTS

President of Lincoln Center Steps Down

Gordon Davis has resigned as president of Lincoln Center after less than a year, departing as the nation’s largest performing arts complex plans a $1.5 billion renovation. “Things are not working out in the way either of us hoped or expected,” he wrote in a letter to Lincoln Center’s chairwoman, Beverly Sills, which was made public by the center Friday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Davis, 60, declined to elaborate on the problems that led to his resignation but said the economic downturn in New York and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center accelerated his decision.

Davis, a former New York City parks commissioner, was named president of Lincoln Center in October and took over in January. He has been overseeing the renovation, which includes plans for an expanded lobby at the Metropolitan Opera, skyboxes for Avery Fisher Hall and an expanded Juilliard School.

Sills has appointed Janice Price, a vice president at Lincoln Center, as interim executive director. A search committee will be appointed to find a new president.

Opening of Robbins’ ‘Mephisto’ Delayed

The opening of Tim Robbins’ staging of “Mephisto” at the Actors’ Gang has been postponed from next Friday to Oct. 27. Robbins returned to his New York home in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. He is expected to return to L.A. next week. The Gang’s other scheduled production, “The Seagull,” is still expected to open Oct. 12.

POP/ROCK

Web Downloads Affecting Music Sales

Worldwide recorded music sales in 2001 will probably be little changed from last year’s $37 billion, hurt by a “massive proliferation” in the free copying of music from the Internet, a music industry organization said.

The increase in free music downloads from the Web comes in tandem with an economic slump. Global music sales for the first half of the year fell 5%, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries said. Sales in North America, which accounts for more than 40% of all recorded music sold, declined 5%. Sales fell 8% in Asia and 20% in Latin America.

Rapper in Stable Condition After Crash

Rapper Erick Sermon was in critical but stable condition Friday, three days after slamming his car into a cement divider on a highway in Paterson, N.J., resulting in broken bones and internal bleeding.

Biff Warren, a publicist at Sermon’s record label, J Records, said Sermon, 32, regained consciousness Thursday but couldn’t speak because his jaw has been wired shut. Sermon was heading home to Long Island after finishing up a video shoot in upstate New York when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel, Warren said.

Sermon, whose latest hit “Music” features the late Marvin Gaye, got his start in the late ‘80s as part of the duo EPMD. His new album is due Nov. 30.

QUICK TAKES

Susan Cahan has been replaced by Kris Kuramitsu as senior curator of the art collections of Peter and Eileen Norton. Kuramitsu, previously associate curator of the collections, will also serve as director of arts programs for the Norton Family Foundation .... Peter Darling (“Billy Elliot”) and John O’Connell (“Moulin Rouge”) have been nominated for best choreographer of a feature film in the seventh annual American Choreography Awards. Costume designer Bob Mackie will be given an honorary award at the Oct. 14 ceremony in Hollywood .... The American Cinematheque gala honoring Nicolas Cage, originally scheduled for Sept. 22, will now be held on Tuesday. .... The Japanese women’s dance and drum ensemble Hanayui has canceled its U.S. tour, which was to have included a performance Sunday at the Japan American Theatre in downtown L.A.