Quick Takes: Enforcing the R rating

An undercover government survey credits movie theaters for making a “marked improvement” in keeping underage audiences away from R-rated movies.

The Federal Trade Commission arranged for 13- to 16-year-olds, unaccompanied by a parent, to attempt to buy R-rated movies’ tickets and similarly rated DVDs, music CDs and video games. Less than one-quarter of underage shoppers were able to buy a ticket to an R-rated movie, down from one-third in 2010. In fact, ratings enforcement at the movie box office is at its highest level since the FTC began its survey in 2000, the agency said.

In other findings, 30% of shoppers were able to purchase R-rated DVDs compared with 38% in 2010, and 30% were able to buy unrated DVDs, down from 47% in 2010.

Unchanged from 2010, 13% of underage teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated video games — the highest level of compliance among the industries.

—Richard Verrier

VMAs returning to New York

MTV’s Video Music Awards are packing up from Los Angeles and heading to the East Coast.

The always irreverent video fete is returning to New York City for the first time since 2009 as it turns 30 this year. The ceremony will be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Aug. 25.

Last year, it was held at Staples Center for the first time, after spending two years at L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre.

—Gerrick D. Kennedy

Actress raising funds for illness

Actress Karen Black, who’s been battling cancer for more than two years, has turned to the public for help to pay for an experimental treatment.

The 73-year-old, Oscar-nominated star of such films as “Five Easy Pieces,” “Airport 1975” and “The Day of the Locust” was diagnosed with ampullary cancer in November 2010. After surgery and chemotherapy, she was declared disease-free in mid-2011.

It didn’t last, her husband, Stephen Eckelberry, said on the “Help Karen Beat Cancer” GoFundMe webpage. Through the website, they’re asking for money to fund a two-month treatment in Europe.

By 6:30 p.m. Monday, the site was more than $1,000 past its $22,000 goal, with donations from 447 people.

—Christie D’Zurilla

Soap opera turning 40

“The Young and the Restless” isn’t so young anymore. The CBS soap celebrates its 40th birthday Tuesday.

The show has been the top-rated daytime series for the last 24 years, and has received 113 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Eric Braeden, who has played Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless for 33 years, said he has been so busy working that he hasn’t had much time to enjoy the significance of the show’s longevity.

“To be frank, I haven’t taken notice of it,” Braeden said. “You don’t have that luxury when you work as hard as we do.”

—Greg Braxton

Veteran accepts show’s apology

The national commander of the American Legion says he accepts CBS’ apology for a passage on “The Amazing Race” where contestants visited the wreckage of an American B-52 bomber in Vietnam.

The segment aired March 17 and angered many veterans, particularly those who served in the Vietnam War. As part of its scavenger hunt game, contestants on the show had to visit the site in Hanoi, which Vietnamese authorities turned into a memorial.

Before Sunday’s edition, host Phil Keoghan read a statement apologizing to veterans and families who may have been offended.

—Associated Press