MOVIES’Pulp’s’ Troika: Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” captured...

MOVIES

‘Pulp’s’ Troika: Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” captured three of the top prizes in voting Tuesday by the National Society of Film Critics, winning awards for best picture, best director and best screenplay (the latter award is shared by Roger Avary). “Pulp” beat out Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Red,” which came in second in both best picture and best director voting and was the clear winner in the foreign picture category. In other awards voted in New York by 34 film critics from major publications across the country: “Ed Wood” picked up two wins, for cinematography (Stefan Czapsky) and best supporting actor (Martin Landau); “Hoop Dreams,” the critics’ third choice for best picture, easily prevailed in the documentary category; Paul Newman took the best actor prize for “Nobody’s Fool”; Jennifer Jason Leigh was named best actress for “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle”; and Dianne Wiest was voted best supporting actress for “Bullets Over Broadway.”

LEGAL FILE

Michael’s Side: Michael Jackson’s attorneys have responded to Friday’s ruling by a Rome court that Jackson’s song “Will You Be There” had plagiarized a song by Italian singer Al Bano, titled “I Cigni di Balaka” (The Swans of Balaka). In a statement, Jackson attorney Eve H. Wagner called the ruling, which also banned the sale of Jackson’s entire “Dangerous” album in Italy, “invalid because it was issued by a magistrate who did not have jurisdiction and is in direct contradiction of the evidence.” Wagner also called the ruling “only of a preliminary and temporary nature” and said Jackson’s legal team “fully expects that the ruling will be revoked and that Michael Jackson will win this case once it is presented in a full trial.”

TELEVISION

Another Talker: The newest entry to the crowded talk-show field is Mark Walberg, a former game show host and guest host of E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup,” who last summer hosted his own sports magazine show on ESPN. (Not to be confused with rapper-underwear model “Marky Mark” Wahlberg.) The syndicated “Mark Walberg Show,” to be executive produced by Randy Douthit (“The Jenny Jones Show,” “The Jane Whitney Show,” “Larry King Live”), will begin airing this fall on all Fox and New World Entertainment stations. The hourlong show is being billed by New World Entertainment Chairman Brandon Tartikoff as offering “something that’s been missing to the daytime talk-show audience--the young, male point of view.”

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Rose Parade Ratings: KTLA-TV Channel 5 was the landslide station of choice for viewing the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on Monday morning. Ratings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that KTLA attracted viewers in more than 1.3 million Southern California homes--more than twice as many as watched the parade on four other channels combined. KABC-TV Channel 7 won the battle of the college football games here, with its Rose Bowl coverage garnering 1 million homes, compared to about 755,000 for the Sugar Bowl, the next-most-watched game (also on KABC).

STAGE

100 Years Later: Sir John Gielgud unveiled a plaque in London’s West End theater district on Tuesday to commemorate flamboyant Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, who died penniless and in disgrace because of his homosexuality. “He was a brilliant and witty man,” Gielgud said of Wilde, whose play “An Ideal Husband” premiered in London 100 years ago at the Theater Royal Haymarket. Wilde, who died in 1900 at age 46, was sentenced in 1885 to two years in jail for gross indecency over his affair with the Marquis of Queensberry’s son, Lord Alfred Douglas. Tuesday’s ceremony was attended by members of both families, who had feuded bitterly in the ensuing years. Wilde is also to receive a memorial in Westminister Abbey’s famed “Poets’ Corner” next month.

QUICK TAKES

The artist formerly named Prince will receive the American Music Awards’ annual Award of Merit, recognizing “outstanding contributions to the musical entertainment of the American public” during the awards show, airing Jan. 30 on ABC. . . . Actors John Larroquette (“The John Larroquette Show”) and Janine Turner (“Northern Exposure”) will host the 52nd Annual Golden Globes Awards presentation, taking place Jan. 21 at the Beverly Hilton with a live telecast at 7 p.m. on cable’s TBS. . . . After a two-year relationship, actors Melissa Gilbert (“Sweet Justice”) and Bruce Boxleitner (“Babylon 5”) were wed New Year’s Day in a private ceremony in Los Angeles. The bride’s sister, actress Sara Gilbert (“Roseanne”) was maid of honor.