TELEVISIONSupporting Troubled Show: One day after CBS...

TELEVISION

Supporting Troubled Show: One day after CBS announced it was pulling the low-rated “Bonnie Hunt Show” from its Friday night lineup, the Virginia-based advocacy group Viewers for Quality Television said Tuesday that its members have voted the program the season’s best new comedy and Hunt best actress in a new series. CBS had said Monday that the show, produced by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants company, was being taken off the air until after the first of the year. Dorothy Swanson, president of Viewers for Quality Television, said Tuesday: “CBS has axed the only new sitcoms with quality potential; the [Friday] time slot is the problem, not the shows.” “Dweebs,” another Friday show that was canceled outright by CBS on Monday, also figured in the group’s poll, being named the season’s No. 1 “biggest surprise/better than expected” show. Meanwhile, the group lauded ABC’s “Murder One” in four categories--the season’s best new drama, best written new series, best actor in a new series (Daniel Benzali) and most interesting new character (Teddy Hoffman).

MUSIC & DANCE

Rare Viennese Treat: The Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s top orchestras, will perform at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa on March 4-5, 1997, playing two different programs. The performances, the orchestra’s first in Southern California since 1987, are part of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s 1996-97 season. Daniel Barenboim, music director of the Chicago Symphony and the Berlin Opera, will conduct. Dean Corey, Philharmonic Society executive director, called the performances a “dream” that took two years to materialize. He noted that the Austrian orchestra goes to New York “once every year and sets the [orchestral] standards for the East Coast. We wanted to establish the same type of situation . . . here.” The Costa Mesa concerts will precede the orchestra’s only other scheduled U.S. appearances, at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

*

Cerritos Accolades: The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts has joined its much larger counterparts, including the Rose Bowl, the Forum and Universal Amphitheatre, in being ranked among “Top 10 California Venues” by the trade magazine Amusement Business. At No. 8, the Cerritos center, which seats between 900 and 1,900 depending on the event, was the only performing arts venue included in the list. Nationally, meanwhile, the Cerritos center continues to be listed in Performance Magazine’s Top 10 list of “Highest Grossing Venues” with less than 3,000 seats, holding the state’s top spot in that category.

POP/ROCK

New Pearl Jam Single: Two previously unreleased tracks from the Neil Young/Pearl Jam recording sessions of last spring that resulted in Young’s “Mirror Ball” album will be released as a single in early December. The songs, titled “I Got ID.” and “Long Road,” both feature Eddie Vedder singing with Young playing guitar. Collectively, the single is being titled “Mirkin Ball” as a joking reference to the album name.

*

Legal Deja Vu: Soul singer James Brown, 62, was charged with criminal domestic violence Tuesday after allegedly assaulting his wife of more than 10 years. Police said Adrienne Brown called 911 in Aiken, S.C., asking for medical help, and was treated at a hospital for a bloody nose and swollen and bleeding lips. James Brown was released on bail; a trial is set for Nov. 27. The only comment from Brown’s lawyer, Buddy Dallas, was, “it’s just another story in the continuing saga of James and Adrienne Brown.” Brown, who served nearly three years in prison after a 1988 arrest for leading police on a car chase between South Carolina and Georgia, was accused a year ago of shoving his wife, but charges were dropped when she refused to testify.

*

Un-Neighborly Conduct: Former Motley Crue front-man Vince Neil and his Malibu neighbor, Gregory Cassidy, are pointing fingers at each other in a two-day feud that started Sunday, when several of Neil’s friends parked in front of Cassidy’s home. Cassidy, who is 39, confronted 34-year-old Neil, they argued, and Cassidy allegedly tried to hit Neil, who then punched him in the face, according to sheriff’s deputy Benita Nichol. Then on Monday, Neil heard glass breaking, went outside and found a rock had been thrown through the windshield of his Rolls-Royce and Cassidy was walking away from the car, Nichol said. Neil followed Cassidy to his house, kicked open his front door and threatened him, the deputy said. Each called the sheriff’s department, and both were issued vandalism citations. Battery allegations are being investigated.

QUICK TAKES

MGM stars June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, Donald O’Connor and Esther Williams will be at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard tonight at 5:30 to sign copies of the new “That’s Entertainment!” audio and video box sets. . . . Actor Alec Baldwin will discuss his arrest last week for allegedly punching a tabloid photographer, on tonight’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” . . . KCRW-FM (89.9) legal correspondent Kitty Felde has garnered the State Bar of California’s Golden Medallion for her “Notes From the O.J. Trial.” It is Felde’s fourth straight win in the award’s radio category. . . . Burbank-based KROQ-FM (106.7) has been named Billboard Magazine’s 1995 rock radio station of the year.