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

TELEVISION

Dueling Anniversary Specials on CBS, NBC

Continuing TV’s current nostalgia craze--and apparently hoping to take a little air out of similar festivities on NBC--CBS has scheduled the two-hour special “CBS ... 50 Years From Television City” for April 27, the first Saturday during the next ratings sweeps. NBC’s three-hour 75th anniversary special, which will range from the network’s beginnings in radio to the present day, is scheduled for May 5.

The CBS program will be hosted by Carol Burnett, whose special during November drew blockbuster ratings.

Among the other blasts from the past scheduled for sweeps, which begin April 25, NBC has an “L.A. Law” reunion movie, a Bob Hope special, a 10th anniversary special for “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and a reunion of cast members from “The Cosby Show.”

NBC also will support its programming with a book, “Brought to You in Living Color: 75 Years of Great Moments in Television & Radio from NBC,” to be issued in mid-April.

ABC, meanwhile, will trot out a “Laverne & Shirley” special and an “American Bandstand” 50th anniversary show.

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‘Greg the Bunny’ Draws Hopping Good Ratings

Fox’s “Greg the Bunny” got off to the most promising start among three new comedies that premiered Wednesday, with the show averaging 10.2 million viewers, building on the audience for the Fox series preceding it, “The Bernie Mac Show.”

That was enough to clearly surpass ABC’s inside-TV satire “Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central),” which averaged just under 8 million viewers, dropping about 20% off its lead-in program, “The Drew Carey Show.”

ABC’s other new comedy, “The George Lopez Show,” averaged an estimated 10.4 million viewers, falling a respectable 13% below tune-in for “My Wife and Kids.”

As usual, NBC won the night behind “The West Wing” and “Law & Order.”

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POP/ROCK

Dynamic Democratic Duo: Jackson, Clinton

Neverland and the White House reportedly will converge at a Democratic fund-raiser to be held at New York’s Apollo Theatre sometime in the next few weeks.

According to New Musical Express, a British pop weekly, Michael Jackson will be taking the stage with former president and saxophonist Bill Clinton, whose office is nearby. Tony Bennett and gospel’s BeBe Winans also will perform.

The show is the first in a series of events aimed at channeling $2.5 million into party coffers--money to be spent toward this year’s Capitol Hill elections and registering new voters.

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Don’t Toy Around With Cajun Phrases, Suit Says

The maker of a toy that utters six Cajun phrases has sued rapper Mystikal for copyright infringement. The problem? The singer allegedly used two of the phrases (including “You gotta suck da head on dem der crawfish!”) in his 2000 hit “Shake Ya Ass.”

New Orleans entrepreneur Steve Winn, owner of Cajun in Your Pocket, says it’s not only that Mystikal is reciting the phrases, but the way he says them also duplicates his product--”a copyrighted sound recording and arrangement of words and sayings.”

He seeks songwriter credit, retroactive profits and royalties, and an estimated $1.25 million in damages. Sales of the toys haven’t been helped by their association with such sexually charged material, he claims.

Mystikal’s lawyer, Roy Maughan Jr., disputes the songwriting claim, saying that those phrases are less than three seconds of a four-minute song. “Winn did not make up those expressions,” he said. “They’ve been in the language for over 100 years. Since he wasn’t the creator of them, they aren’t unique to him. He can’t copyright them.”

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THEATER

Proposed Arts Venue Gets $1-Million Boost

The Santa Monica College Foundation has allocated $1 million to the college’s Madison Theater Project, a 500-seat education and performing arts facility to be built on Santa Monica Boulevard between 10th and 11th streets.

Santa Monica College alumnus Dustin Hoffman is honorary chair of the fund-raising committee for the $15-million venue. The donation, composed of private, unrestricted gifts to the foundation, brings the total raised to $4.5 million.

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QUICK TAKES

ABC has canceled the critically acclaimed drama “Once and Again,” announcing that the final episode will air April 15. Now in its third season, the low-rated program has bounced around the network schedule and been the subject of an Internet lobbying campaign.... Director Spike Lee has accepted the newly created post of artistic director of the graduate division of the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.... KMZT-FM (101.5) will air all five Beethoven piano concertos on April 7, beginning at noon.... CNN’s new version of “Crossfire,” with Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala aboard, premieres Monday at 7 p.m..... In honor of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, BMG Heritage and RCA are issuing “Elvis: Today, Tomorrow & Forever” on July 9, featuring 100 tracks of what is described as previously unreleased material.... Director Robert Altman is creating a series of 30-second vignettes for E! Entertainment that feature stars such as Minnie Driver, Lisa Kudrow and Ving Rhames playing scenes from their favorite movies.... Buoyed by Tuesday’s improved ratings for its Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy “Watching Ellie,” NBC has given the go-ahead to two more episodes of the show on April 9 and April 16 at 8:30 p.m.--a reprieve for the series, which the network planned to pull off the air April 2. Its status for next fall’s schedule remains in doubt.... The world premiere of “Sophie’s Choice,” composer Nicholas Maw’s contemporary opera inspired by William Styron’s novel, will be among six new opera productions during the upcoming Royal Opera House season.

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Elaine Dutka