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

TELEVISION

Prodigy Video: MTV plans to air the video for “Smack My Bitch Up,” a controversial new song from British techno group Prodigy, early Monday at 1 a.m. As reported in The Times Thursday, the song--released last week as a single by Madonna’s Time Warner-owned Maverick label--has drawn the ire of the National Organization for Women, which says the song advocates violence against women. The video itself--which is being edited by the network’s broadcast standards division, although few changes are expected to be made--could provoke protests as well as it contains both nudity and drug use: The clip--which MTV called “groundbreaking”--is shot through the eyes of a protagonist who goes out to procure women, has sex and takes drugs. MTV said that the video will air with a mature rating and disclaimer; all screenings will run after 1 a.m. and be preceded by a news story about the song’s controversy. Prodigy producer Liam Howlett, meanwhile, denies the song is about violence and has said the title phrase means “doing anything intensely.”

‘Hope’ Fades: “413 Hope St.,” Fox’s drama about an inner-city youth center, is running out of hope. The series, which returned to the schedule Thursday after being yanked during the November sweeps, scored just 7% of the available audience in the overnight ratings and was last among the four major networks in its 9 p.m. time slot. Fox officials indicated that no decision had been made about the drama’s future, although one representative conceded, “It doesn’t look good.” Meanwhile, NBC’s “The Tony Danza Show,” another new series that was shelved during November, performed slightly better when it returned to the lineup Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., but wound up last in its time period.

MOVIES

Spielberg’s Stalker Secret: A pretrial felony hearing is scheduled Monday for a man reportedly charged with stalking Steven Spielberg after being arrested July 11 near the director’s Pacific Palisades home. All court records in the case have been sealed, but a witness who testified in the closed grand jury proceedings against Jonathan F. Norman, 31, told the Santa Monica Evening Outlook that Spielberg was the alleged victim. Meanwhile, the LAPD and the District Attorney’s Office--citing a court order--have remained silent about the case, prompting at least one First Amendment lawyer to accuse the government of going overboard to protect a powerful celebrity. “This is unfortunately, [the] logical extension of the post-O.J. [Simpson trial] hysteria,” attorney Doug Mirell told the Santa Monica paper. “Anything now that involves a celebrity, there’s just this over-protectiveness. . . . It’s very troubling.”

‘The Devil’s’ Suit: The National Cathedral and sculptor Frederick Hart are suing Warner Bros. because they claim a central image in the Al Pacino movie “The Devil’s Advocate” is a distorted, sexually graphic copy of a religious artwork over the Alexandria, Va., cathedral’s main entrance. The federal lawsuit claims that human figures in a large sculpture that appear to come to life and have sex in the movie are “virtually mirror images” of the forms in the cathedral’s Hart sculpture “Ex Nihilo.” Hart and the cathedral--who claim the movie violates their copyright and damages their reputations--want to stop further distribution of the movie and also seek damages and a share of the film’s profits. A Warner Bros. representative declined to comment Friday because the company had not seen the lawsuit.

THE ARTS

Pavarotti Asked to Pay: Italian tax authorities have reportedly accused super-tenor Luciano Pavarotti of failing to report more than $6 million in income from concerts given abroad. The singer’s official residence is the tax haven of Monte Carlo, but authorities reportedly claim he really lives in Italy, which taxes worldwide income. Meanwhile Pavarotti’s accountant, Vanni Trombetta, told the Rome daily Il Messagero that Pavarotti “has always declared income that non-residents are required to declare in Italy.”

Neighborly Welcome: The Skirball Cultural Center will welcome its new Sepulveda Pass neighbor, the much-trumpeted Getty Center, by offering half-price admission every Saturday this month and on the Getty’s opening day, Tuesday, Dec. 16. Regular admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. The current exhibition at the Skirball (2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.) is “Temporary Quarters: Artists Build for Shelter and Celebration.”

QUICK TAKES

Saying that she feels “creatively stifled,” “Family Matters” star JoMarie Payton-Noble, who plays Harriette Winslow, is leaving the show to “grow as an artist.” Payton-Noble, for whom the series was created nine seasons ago, had threatened to leave last year, but was persuaded to stay when the comedy changed networks, from ABC to CBS. Her last episode airs Dec. 19. . . . Rock pioneer Carl Perkins (“Blue Suede Shoes”), 65, was resting at home after suffering two mild strokes in the last three weeks. His son, Stan Perkins, said the singer suffered no paralysis and is expected to fully recover. . . . Robin Abcarian, the former Times columnist who co-hosted the morning show on KTZN-AM (790) before the station’s talk format changed to “Radio Disney” last August, will fill in for two weeks for the vacationing KABC-AM (790) host Ronn Owens (9-11:45 a.m.), starting Monday.