TV/RADIOPeace, ‘Sesame’ Style: “Sesame Street” is getting...

TV/RADIO

Peace, ‘Sesame’ Style: “Sesame Street” is getting involved in the Middle East peace process with a new bilingual production of the classic program for Palestinian and Israeli children. The $4.5-million project, to be produced by Children’s Television Workshop and Israeli Educational Television, in association with the Palestinian organization Jerusalem Film Institute, aims to create “an initial base for establishing values of tolerance and recognition of the similarities and differences of both sides,” said Dolly Wolbrum, executive producer of the series. President Clinton called the program, scheduled to air in 1997, a “bold venture” that will “encourage the mutual understanding necessary for Israeli and Palestinian youth to overcome the differences that have divided their parents and grandparents for so many years.”

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Anchor-in-Waiting: NBC chief White House correspondent Brian Williams has solidified his position as heir apparent to Tom Brokaw when the latter retires by signing a new long-term deal with the network that expands his duties to make him the primary replacement anchor for “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw.” Williams, who anchors the Saturday edition of “NBC Nightly News,” will now also provide live reports on major events for the network when Brokaw is unavailable.

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All-News, All in the Family: With CBS stockholders expected to vote today to approve a $5.4-billion merger with Westinghouse Electric Corp., managers and employees at Los Angeles’ rival all-news radio stations still haven’t been told how the transaction will affect them. KFWB-AM (980) is owned by Westinghouse and KNX-AM (1070) belongs to CBS. According to a key industry source, the stations are expected to remain separate entities: “Whatever adjustments would take place, the differences between the stations are time-honored and developed. . . . You don’t want to meld [them]; [you want to] keep them clean and crisp.” No official announcements are expected from the new company until the merger wins final FCC approval.

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Safer’s Take: “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer, accepting an award in Los Angeles from the USC School of Journalism Tuesday night, acknowledged that the long-running newsmagazine had been wounded by CBS management’s decision last week to squelch an interview for a story about the tobacco industry. Network attorneys said they were afraid that broadcasting the interview might result in a lawsuit. Safer said it was the first time in 30 years at CBS News that he had seen the division “cave in” to such corporate pressure. “The truth and the First Amendment remain remarkably good armor--unless you let them go to rust,” he said.

POP/ROCK

Alice Tops Chart Wonderland: “Alice in Chains,” the new album from the Seattle rock band of the same name, was the nation’s top-selling album last week, moving 189,000 copies during its first week in stores. Also making a strong debut was Madonna’s “Something to Remember,” selling 113,000 units to rank No. 6. Rounding out the Top 5: Mariah Carey’s “Daydream,” Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,” Tha Dogg Pound’s “Dogg Food” and the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.” The top-selling single was Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

ART

Auction News: The auction record for a work by American painter Barnett Newman was nearly doubled Tuesday night at Christie’s New York when “The Word II”--a signature 1954 abstraction painted in black, blue and red--was sold to an anonymous private collector for $3 million. It was the most spectacular moment at a contemporary art auction that brought a total of $14.5 million in sales but failed to find buyers for 14 of the 60 works offered--including Jackson Pollock’s 1952 “drip” painting “Number 1,” valued between $4 million to $6 million.

PEOPLE WATCH

The Labors of ‘Comic Relief’: Those watching HBO’s “Comic Relief” Saturday who thought the very-pregnant Marilu Henner looked close to delivery were right. Henner, who appeared on the program to make an appeal for the homeless, went into labor three hours after returning home. Joseph Marlon was born at 4:23 a.m. Sunday.

QUICK TAKES

Walt Disney’s 1977 full-length animated classic “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” will make its limited-time-only video debut March 25. . . . The new James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, goes online today in a 6 p.m. conference on Compuserve’s Entertainment Drive Forum (CIS:EDRIVE). . . . ABC News on Friday will air an hourlong BBC interview with the normally press-shy Princess Diana. . . . The correct dates for Chita Rivera’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” at the Pasadena Civic are Jan. 10-14. . . . Martha Reeves, Billy Vera, Traci Lords and Kato Kaelin are among the scheduled participants for tonight’s “First Annual Music Trivia Bowl,” a 7:30 p.m. benefit for the City of Hope National Medical Center, at the El Rey Theater. Tickets are $10.