Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TV & RADIO

CBS ‘Morning’ Plans: CBS News will reformat the third-rated “This Morning” on Aug. 5. Described as “a unique combination of local and network coverage” by CBS News President Andrew Heyward, the reconfigured show, unveiled Tuesday, will offer network affiliates three broadcasting options. CBS stations can either air the complete two-hour program, or can fashion a so-called “cooperative broadcast,” in which the first hour is shared between the local station and network--providing for expanded local news, weather and traffic reports while still allowing national and international network coverage. A third option is a “blended broadcast” featuring less local participation in the first hour.In all cases, the second hour of “This Morning” will feature network fare, including longer news, feature and talk segments on multiple topics. The network offered no word on the fate of current hosts Paula Zahn and Harry Smith, saying only that anchors for the retooled “This Morning” will be announced in late May.

*

Radio Seminars: Beverly Hills’ new Museum of Television & Radio will hold four seminars in May as part of its yearlong listening series “Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio.” “Early Top 40” on May 7 will include radio personalities Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, Johnny Hayes, Art Laboe, Dan Ingram, Brian Beirne and Dick Hugg discussing the roots of Top 40 radio and how it relates to today’s music formats, and “The Rise of Rock FM” on May 8 will feature well-known deejays Jim Ladd, Raechel Donahue, Jeff Gonzer, Pat Kelley and Bob Coburn examining the birth of progressive FM radio in the late ‘60s and how it evolved into today’s album-oriented and classic rock formats. Two seminars take place on May 9: “Contemporary Rock Radio Narrowcasting,” with program directors from several local stations looking at the many different formats in today’s rock radio, and “Black Radio: Yesterday and Today,” with panelists including deejays J.J. Johnson from KACE-FM (103.9) and Tom Reed of KGFJ-FM (1230). Tickets are $10 for each seminar or $40 for the four-seminar series.

POP/ROCK

Unrest Over Garcia Ashes: Some relatives of the late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia--including his brother and four daughters--are furious that some of his ashes were spread across the sacred Ganges River in India without their being notified, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday. “This was all done 100% without our knowledge,” Annabelle Garcia, 25, was quoted as saying. “It is gut-churning, to say the least.” Annabelle Garcia said she and her sisters had planned to travel to the San Francisco area to spread her father’s ashes in the Pacific Ocean in accordance with his expressed wishes. Garcia’s widow, Deborah Koons Garcia, and fellow Grateful Dead member Bob Weir sprinkled “a portion” of Garcia’s ashes in the Ganges River in a private ceremony Thursday and plan to distribute some ashes in the Pacific Ocean at a later date, according to the band’s spokesman, who called the dispute “a very painful family matter.”

MOVIES

Brando Watch: Marlon Brando, under fire by Jewish leaders for comments he made on Friday’s “Larry King Live” about Hollywood being “run by Jews” who allow stereotypes of other minority groups to be portrayed on film, has agreed to visit the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance on Friday. Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center’s dean and founder, said Tuesday that Brando had phoned him late Monday to “express his remorse” over the remarks. While there was no announced time for the Friday visit that Hier said had been arranged, the rabbi said he expects “Mr. Brando will use his visit to our Museum of Tolerance to make a public statement regarding this matter.”

STAGE

SCR Season: New plays by Richard Greenberg, David Henry Hwang and Donald Margulies will highlight South Coast Repertory’s 1996-97 season. The mainstage season so far (two slots remain to be filled): Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” (Sept. 6-Oct. 6); Hwang’s “Golden Child” (Jan. 10-Feb. 9); Pierre Marivaux’s “The Triumph of Love” (Feb. 28-March 30); and Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” (April 11-May 11, 1997). The Second Stage season (two slots remain to be filled): Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain” (Sept. 20-Oct. 20); Margulies’ “Collected Stories” (Nov. 1-Dec. 1); and Lynn Nottage’s “Crumbs From the Table of Joy” (March 14-April 13, 1997).

QUICK TAKES

“Equal Time” co-host Mary Matalin announced Tuesday that she will leave the CNBC program in June to join Sen. Bob Dole’s presidential campaign. Her replacement has not yet been determined. . . . CBS is in discussions with Oscar- and Emmy-winning producer Edgar Scherick (the upcoming “Ruby Ridge” miniseries) about a movie that would focus on the suspected Unabomber and his family. However, the network said that a deal has not yet been formalized. . . . “Full House” twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, now 9, have a 14-book deal with children’s publisher Parachute Press to write a series of paperback mysteries based on two of their best-selling home videos: “The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley” and “You’re Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley’s.” Scheduled for release today are two “Adventures of” titles, “The Case of the Sea World Adventure” and “The Case of the Mystery Cruise,” both aimed at 7- to 9-year-olds. New titles will be released every other month.