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

POP/ROCK

Crow Targets Industry’s ‘Sleazy’ Promotion

Is the pot calling the kettle black? Sheryl Crow, who came to the Grammys in the barest of mini-outfits and appears scantily clad on the cover of this month’s Stuff magazine, is lashing out at the lascivious promotional campaigns for singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

“They’re being marketed like porn stars,” Crow, 40, told Stuff. “I don’t mean to sound like a fuddy-duddy, but the images are pretty sleazy.... Where do you go after you’ve been 19 and you’ve stuck your crotch on a camera lens in front of 20,000 people?.... They’re baring it all like that’s what has to be done to make it as a musician. It’s not fair to them. They’re really not old enough to know any better.”

ENTERTAINMENT

Judge: Hollywood Not Culpable for Columbine

A Denver judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that video games and filmmakers shared responsibility for the Columbine High School massacre. The action had been filed by the family of slain teacher Dave Sanders on behalf of Columbine victims.

During the April 1999 incident, police found a videotape that showed one of the killers with a sawed-off shotgun he called “Arlene” after a character in the video game “Doom.” The plaintiffs also said the perpetrators, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, had watched the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “The Basketball Diaries,” in which a student kills his classmates.

Motions to dismiss had been filed by Time Warner Inc., Palm Pictures and video game manufacturers Sony Computer Entertainment America, Activision and Id Software--the maker of “Doom.”

In his ruling, Judge Lewis Babcock said there was no way makers of violent games and movies could have reasonably foreseen that their products would cause the shooting or any other violent acts.

MOVIES

‘Potter,’ ‘Rings’ Scoring in Global Ticket Sales

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” already are among the worldwide top 10 highest-grossing films of all time, the Hollywood Reporter says.

“Potter,” the top-grossing 2001 release domestically, was reported to have pulled in $941.7 million globally so far and is now second only to “Titanic” (at $1.8 billion) in the all-time world market. It benefited from the broadest overseas release ever for a Warner Bros. picture and was translated into 43 languages. “Rings” has catapulted into the eighth spot, with a worldwide box-office total of $749.6 million.

TELEVISION

New Chief Revamping ‘Sesame Street’

“Sesame Street” just went through its biggest overhaul ever, and now it’s getting a new executive producer, who will be adding even more educational material to the preschool series next season.

Lewis Bernstein, vice president of the show’s global productions, replaces Michael Loman, who has overseen “Sesame Street” for the last nine years. He’ll remain as a consultant.

Bernstein, who started at parent Sesame Workshop 25 years ago in the research department, was tapped to continue revitalizing the show’s curriculum material--incorporating segments on teaching children thinking skills, for example, in addition to the rote A-B-Cs for which the program is known.

THE ARTS

Ads Aim to Cultivate Arts Appreciation

“Art. Ask for More.” That’s the mantra of a new ad campaign produced by the advocacy group Americans for the Arts.

The three-year effort includes public-service announcements currently running on NBC, CNN, VH1 and other networks, plus ads in the print media, radio and the Web. The goal: to make parents aware that arts education is needed not only to produce artists but also to turn out well-rounded human beings.

Narrated by Alec Baldwin, the TV spots paint a grim future full of “Stepford”-like children who’d rather listen to stock reports than ‘N Sync, the Dallas Morning News reports. One of them shows a bored youngster at a birthday party, refusing to acknowledge that a balloon animal is a giraffe.

QUICK TAKES

Annette Bening, Tyne Daly and Swoozie Kurtz are among those set to star in “Talking Heads,” solo pieces by British dramatist Alan Bennett to be directed by Michael Engler (“Sex and the City”). Previews begin on March 12 for a three-week run at West Hollywood’s Tiffany Theatre, which will close its doors shortly thereafter....

Vanessa Williams, currently seen in the Ahmanson’s “Into the Woods,” will star in a concert version of “Carmen Jones”--Oscar Hammerstein II’s adaptation of Bizet’s “Carmen”--at the Kennedy Center in Washington next season. Placido Domingo will lead the National Symphony Orchestra. The Royal Shakespeare Company is also part of the lineup, having signed a five-year partnership with the venue....

Shuffling of the season at International City Theatre in Long Beach has resulted in the addition of David Hare’s “Amy’s View,” starring Carol Lawrence, in the Sept. 6-29 slot and the moving of “Master Harold ... and the Boys” to the June 21-July 14 slot, bumping “Chaim’s Love Song” off the season.