Morning Report - News from Dec. 26, 1998

TV & RADIO

‘Loveline’ Suit, Round II: Former KROQ-FM (106.7) deejay Jim “The Poorman” Trenton has intensified his legal battle over rights to the “Loveline” format, the call-in advice show he created and hosted while at KROQ in 1983. His latest salvo is a $40-million suit against MTV Networks, which airs the TV version of “Loveline,” now hosted by Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky. Though Trenton lost the first round of his 1994 suit against KROQ when a judge found that the station’s employment contracts granted it ownership of all KROQ programs (that case is now on appeal), Trenton’s suit against MTV contends that he taped a “Loveline” TV pilot in 1991 and a similar TV prototype in 1995 that were both rejected by MTV. MTV, which began airing “Loveline” in 1997, declined comment on the suit, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation. Trenton, meanwhile, is back on the airwaves, hosting a new weekday 4-8 p.m. show on KYPA-AM (1230) called “Anti-Radio” in which he plays only unsigned bands and independent label artists in formats ranging from “underground rap all the way to Orange County punk.” (It’s simulcast in Orange County on KMNY-AM, 1600.) To submit tapes for Trenton’s show, artists can e-mail him (at pooorman@aol.com) or write to Anti-Radio, 177 Riverside Ave., Newport Beach, CA 92663.

All-Classical, All the Time: The strains of Beethoven, Brahms and Bach are headed to cable with Fanfare--the Classical Music Channel, set to premiere on Thanksgiving Day, 1999. The nascent 24-hour channel plans to air music videos, performances, news and interviews that aim to “present classical music in a relaxed and engaging manner.” Dick Cavett will be the network’s primary on-air host. The channel--which also plans to offer programming aimed at teaching schoolchildren about classical music--is an offshoot of Washington’s PBS outlet, WETA-TV.

Tube Notes: HBO will debut a weekly hourlong series, “Sopranos,” on Jan. 10 in the Sunday, 9 p.m. time slot. James Gandolfini stars as a modern-day mob boss having a midlife crisis; Lorraine Bracco plays his therapist. . . . UPN has ordered “Home Movies,” a half-hour animated sitcom from the producers of Comedy Central’s “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist,” for midseason. Comedian Paula Poundstone heads the voice cast, which will work mainly by improvisation. . . . “Rupert,” an animated series based on the adventures of comic strip character Rupert Bear, will join CBS’ children’s lineup on Jan. 9, airing Saturdays at 7 a.m.

STAGE

Casting Notes: Nine-time Tony Award-winner Tommy Tune will replace David Cassidy in January as the star of “EFX” at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Tune, 59, will play himself, and the special-effects show has been changed to showcase his tap dancing and singing. . . . Two-time Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth has left the cast of the new Kander & Ebb musical, “Over and Over” at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va., over what Artistic Director Eric D. Schaeffer called “that old cliche, ‘artistic differences.’ ” The play was to have opened Jan. 6; Neuwirth’s replacement has not been named.. . . Tom Arnold’s stage turn, playing Pseudolus in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”--the role tackled on Broadway by the likes of Zero Mostel, Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg--is slated for Jan. 26-31 at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas.

AWARDS SHOWS

Just One More: The latest televised glory fest to arrive on the scene is the Teen Awards, slated to air on Fox in the coming year With winners to be selected by a poll of American teens, the show promises to honor “the hottest teenage icons and idols in film, television, music, sports and fashion.”

And on the Net: America Online will take votes today through Jan. 4 (AOL Keyword: EA or https://www.aol.com/webcenter/entertainment) for You’ve Got Fans, an event billed as “the first annual worldwide online entertainment awards.” Culled from the top vote-getters from previous polls of AOL’s 15-million subscribers, movie of the year nominees are “Saving Private Ryan,” “Armageddon,” “Star Trek: Insurrection,” “X Files: Fight The Future,” “Ever After,” “There’s Something About Mary” and “The Truman Show.” Additional nominees include “Dawson’s Creek,” “The X-Files,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Friends,” “Ally McBeal,” “ER” and “Felicity” for favorite TV show, and ‘N Sync, Garth Brooks, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Madonna, Celine Dion and the Backstreet Boys for favorite musical artist.

QUICK TAKES

After only a few weeks on the beat, ABC is relying on new “NYPD Blue” star Rick Schroder to revive its “ABC Monday Night Movie” franchise. The network has scheduled “What We Did That Night,” a two-hour “psychological thriller” starring the former child star, for the movie block’s season premiere at 9 p.m. on Jan. 18. . . . MTV is in the very early stages of development on a feature film version of the cable channel’s popular “Celebrity Deathmatch” series, in which clay versions of celebrities duke it out in the boxing ring. . . . Weekend KABC-AM (790) host Kevin Ross does his last broadcast tonight in his Saturday, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. time slot. Ross is leaving the station to take the bench as a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge on Jan. 4.