Morning Report / ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION'S PRESS. - Los Angeles Times
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Morning Report / ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

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TELEVISION

Coming to HBO: HBO’s much-anticipated miniseries “Band of Brothers” will premiere on the pay cable outlet in September, the network said Friday. The 10-part World War II-era drama, with a budget of more than $100 million and executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, is based on historian Stephen Ambrose’s bestseller. HBO also used the Television Critics Assn. tour in Pasadena to announce that a new half-hour comedy series, “The Mind of the Married Man,” will debut in August. The series was created by and stars comedian Mike Binder. Meanwhile, another comedian with a series on HBO, Larry David, will return in August with new episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

A Baby for Leeves: Jane Leeves of NBC’s “Frasier” has given birth to a girl. Isabella Kathryn Coben was born Jan. 9, weighing 9 pounds, 12 ounces. This is the first child for Leeves, 38, and her husband, TV executive Marshall Coben. The English actress, who plays Daphne on the long-running series, hid her pregnancy on the show by standing behind furniture and wearing large coats, and scripts cracked jokes about her weight gain. The pregnancy came at an awkward time for the show, as the long-simmering romance between Daphne and Frasier’s brother, Niles, finally heated up this season. Peri Gilpin, Roz on the series, was with Leeves in the delivery room.

RADIO

Mad in Madison: The Federal Communications Commission has threatened a radio station in Madison, Wis., with a $7,000 fine for playing an unedited version of Eminem’s former Top 10 hit “The Real Slim Shady,” which contains explicit lyrics. The song by the controversial rapper, who earlier this month received four Grammy nominations, gets frequent airplay but usually with the explicit lyrics edited out. The FCC said Friday it proposed the fine after receiving a complaint that WZEE-FM willfully played the unedited version on Aug. 24. The station told the FCC that a disc jockey queued up the edited version of the song, but static electricity caused a CD player to skip to the unedited version. Clear Channel Communications, which owns the station, was not immediately available for comment.

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Arts Leaders Do “Lunch”: “Let’s Do Lunch,” the community arts forum on public radio station KCSN-FM (88.5), will celebrate its second year on the air next week with five conversations with arts representatives, broadcast live from Otto’s Beer Bar and Grill at downtown’s Music Center from noon to 1 p.m. Host Rene Engel will be joined by Tony Award-winning playwright Warren Leight, whose newest work, “Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine,” opens at the Mark Taper Forum Jan. 25; Music Center president Joanne Corday Kozberg; Museum of Contemporary Art director Jeremy Strick; Joseph Thayer, executive director of the Colburn School of the Performing Arts; and Kelly Scott, editor of The Times’ Sunday Calendar section.

MOVIES

Epstein Memorial: The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a celebration of the life and career of screenwriter Julius J. Epstein (“Casablanca”) at 1:30 p.m. today at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. The memorial is open to the public. Speakers include Epstein’s son and daughter, Julius and Elizabeth; Bert Granet, TV producer and roommate of Epstein in their early days in Hollywood; Fay Kanin, a writer and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and Robert Ellis Miller, director of “Reuben, Reuben,” Epstein’s favorite film. Mel Shavelson will present a 15-minute filmed tribute to Epstein, who died Dec. 30.

QUICK TAKES

Leeza Gibbons will co-host a live entertainment report on Friday mornings on KBIG-FM (104.3). In addition, her syndicated radio show, “Hollywood Confidential,” will become part of the station’s weekly programming, airing Sundays from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. . . . News station KNX-AM (1070) on Friday named Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paramount Studios executive Sherry Lansing as its “Man and Woman of the Year” for 2000. . . . “The Larry Sanders Show” is being sold into syndication for 2002. TV stations are being offered two episodes of the HBO series to run back-to-back on weekends. . . . Charlotte Ross, most recently seen in Showtime’s “Beggars and Choosers,” will join ABC’s “NYPD Blue” in March as the new partner for the police detective played by Kim Delaney. . . . The outdoor ice skating rink in downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square will remain open for an additional two weeks, through Feb. 4.

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