MOVIESCount Him In: Responding to a full-page...

MOVIES

Count Him In: Responding to a full-page ad placed in four national newspapers on Thursday, Sen. Bob Dole accepted an offer to join President Clinton for a screening of “Three Wishes”--a Martha Coolidge family film that, the producers say, exemplifies the “positive” side of Hollywood. (See review, F14.) “If the President wants to use his theater at the White House, I’ll bring the snacks,” Dole replied. While awaiting White House response, Rysher Entertainment announced that it is making the promised $150,000 donation to the Make-a-Wish Foundation in the name of Dole and Clinton, both of whom have been openly critical of Hollywood fare. The producers will contribute an additional $150,000 to the Starlight Foundation, a group providing services to chronically or terminally ill children. In a briefing, White House press secretary Mike McCurry said that he hadn’t yet asked the President about the screening, but added: “It sounds like a good thing to do and we’ll see if we can make it happen.”

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Calling All Kieslowski Fans: The second annual “City of Angels Film Festival” will premiere two films from “Red” director Krzysztof Kieslowski--”A Short Film About Killing” (1987) and “A Short Film About Love” (1988)--today at 7 p.m. as a double feature at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood. (Both films have previously been seen in Los Angeles in their edited television versions.) Also as part of the festival, Kieslowski’s “The Decalogue” will screen at UCLA’s Melnitz Theater this weekend. Parts one through five will be shown on Saturday and parts six through 10 on Sunday, both from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

TELEVISION

Sci-Fi ‘Brady Bunch’: “Aliens in the Family,” a planned comedy series from Muppet creators Jim Henson Productions about a single father who forms a family with a single mom who just happens to be an alien from outer space, has been picked up for ABC’s 1996 prime-time schedule. The half-hour live-action series, incorporating state-of-the-art animatronics and puppetry, will join “Muppets Live!,” a previously ordered Henson/ABC series scheduled to start production next month. The two series are part of a new, exclusive five-year partnership between Jim Henson Productions and ABC. The deal, announced Thursday, aims to develop programs that appeal to “parents and children alike.”

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L.A. Lineup: CBS has announced the lineup for “The Late Show With David Letterman’s” Los Angeles visit, Nov. 6-10. The first L.A. show will kick off with former Letterman rival Arsenio Hall, in what is being billed as Hall’s first TV appearance since his own late-night talk show ended in 1994. Additional scheduled guests for the tapings at CBS’ Television City include actors Danny DeVito, Brett Butler, Ellen DeGeneres, Bruce Willis, Heather Locklear, Jerry Seinfeld and David Duchovny, and musical guests Green Day, Bonnie Raitt and Bryan Adams. Letterman last broadcast from Los Angeles in May, 1994.

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Levine Retiring: Veteran news correspondent Irving R. Levine will retire next week after almost half a century with NBC. His last scheduled appearance on the network will be this Sunday on “Meet the Press.” Levine, 73, known for his signature bow tie and the drawn out “R.” in his sign-off, will take a new post as dean of International Studies at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. In 1955 Levine was the first TV network reporter accredited in the Soviet Union, and in 1971 he became the first network correspondent to cover economics full time. At the invitation of the Library of Congress, Levine’s scripts and other materials are being deposited in an Irving R. Levine Collection at the library in Washington.

MUSIC

Domingo’s Vocal Winners: South Korean soprano Sung Eun Kim and Spanish bass Miguel Zapater are the top winners of the second annual Placido Domingo World Opera Contest, which concluded this week in Madrid. Joint first runners-up at the event, which awarded prize money totaling $200,000, were American soprano Elizabeth Futral and Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou. At Tuesday night’s finals, Domingo himself conducted the Orquestra Sinfonica de Madrid, accompanying the singers in the city’s Teatro de la Zarzuela.

QUICK TAKES

Actress Mary Tyler Moore, who is interviewed by Jane Pauley on tonight’s “Dateline NBC,” has been tapped to host the 17th annual CableACE Awards. This year’s show takes place Dec. 2 at the Wiltern Theatre and airs that same night on TNT. . . . ABC’s daytime program “One Life to Live,” created in 1968 by Agnes Nixon, taped its 7,000th show on Thursday. The program will air Nov. 20. . . . Fox’s “Mad TV” Saturday night will include the premiere of “Like a Rolling Stone,” the Rolling Stones’ new video for their version of the Bob Dylan classic. The video stars film actress Patricia Arquette (“True Romance”). . . . John and Donald Mills will perform with the Harry James Orchestra Nov. 12 at North Hollywood’s Academy Plaza Theatre. The Millses replace the late Maxene Andrews, who died last weekend. . . . A 1994 class-action suit against Ticketmaster alleging that the company held a “monopoly” on statewide ticket sales and charged unfair service charges has been dismissed. The L.A. Superior Court action follows on the heels of a separate U.S. Justice Department decision not to pursue antitrust claims against Ticketmaster.