ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

TELEVISION

Oprah Scaling Back Book Club Segment

Oprah Winfrey, whose monthly book club feature has been a boon to the publishing world and to reading nationwide, announced on her show Friday that she’s scaling back the segment.

“It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share,” Winfrey said in a statement. “I will continue featuring books on the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ when I feel they merit my heartfelt recommendation.”

The last monthly selection, revealed on Friday’s show, is Toni Morrison’s “Sula.” The book, published in 1974, is the fourth by Morrison to be singled out by Winfrey.

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ABC Cancels New TV-Themed Sitcom

So much for inside Hollywood jokes.

ABC, the real-life struggling television network, has pulled “Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central),” its sitcom about a fictional struggling TV network, after just two telecasts. “The Job,” starring Denis Leary, will return to the schedule in its place next week.

ABC said the remaining episodes of “Wednesday” will be televised at a later date.

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MOVIES

Crowe May Testify in Extortion Trial

The ever-controversial Russell Crowe may soon be called to give evidence in an extortion trial getting underway Monday in Australia.

Philip Cropper and Malcolm Mercer are accused of trying to blackmail the Oscar-winning actor, threatening to release a tape to the media unless Crowe forked over $106,000. The footage, said to have come from a Sydney nightclub’s surveillance camera, purportedly shows the actor and others in a brawl outside the venue in November 1999. Crowe, who wasn’t charged in the incident, owns a ranch about 280 miles north of the city.

The duo--along with another defendant, Mark Potts--are also charged with perverting the course of justice by not giving the tape to police. Prosecutors have not revealed how they got hold of the video.

Blackmail carries a maximum 10-year sentence in New South Wales province, and perverting the course of justice a maximum of 14 years.

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POP/ROCK

R.E.M.’s Buck Acquitted of Air Rage Charges

R.E.M.’s Peter Buck was acquitted Friday of all charges that he misbehaved on a transatlantic flight last April. The singer had been heading to a South Africa Freedom Day Concert, where he was due to perform with his band.

According to MTV.com, an Isleworth Crown Court in London found the guitarist not guilty of assault, being drunk on an aircraft and damaging meal-service items. At the trial, the prosecution accused him of drinking 15 glasses of wine, getting stuck between seats, dumping yogurt on himself and a crew member, tearing up a warning from the captain, and choking a flight attendant with a necktie.

Bandmate Michael Stipe and U2’s Bono were character witnesses, testifying in Buck’s defense.

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After Hip-Hop Musical, Dre Will Avoid the Mic

Convinced that he needs to explore new turf, rapper-producer Dr. Dre has decided to make his third album, “Detox,” a hip-hop musical.

The project, which he expects to start recording this summer and release a year later, will be his final outing in front of the microphone, the singer told MTV.com.

The story line chronicles the life of a hit man and his family, something different but still “hard-core,” the singer said.

“What I decided to do was make my album one story about one person and just do the record through a character’s eyes,” Dre said.

The rapper also plans to hang up his hat on the movie front, where he’s taken on roles in “Training Day” and “The Wash.”

“I had fun doing it, but acting really isn’t my thing,” he said. “I am more of a production-director type. I would rather be behind the scenes and organizing and putting things together like that.”

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QUICK TAKES

Now that a lawsuit with producer Scott Rudin has been settled, “Gold,” the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical is set to open at Chicago’s Goodman Theater in June 2003, the New York Times reports. The theater is also planning the world premiere of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” next April.... New Line Cinema’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” has passed the $800-million mark worldwide and moved ahead of “Independence Day” as the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time.... The NBC medical drama “ER” drew an estimated 28.5 million viewers on Thursday, its second-largest audience of the year.... According to Variety, CBS is gathering the cast of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” for a one-hour reunion show to air next month.... HBO is suspending production of “Sex and the City” on Wednesday so it can reevaluate the show’s production schedule in light of Sarah Jessica Parker’s pregnancy. The new season, originally due to debut in June, is now tentatively scheduled for July.... Director Martin Scorsese will join Will Smith, James Gandolfini, Angelina Jolie and Renee Zellweger in the voice cast of DreamWorks Pictures’ animated “Sharkslayer.” He’ll play Sykes, a puffer fish.... The Maze show scheduled at the Greek Theatre on May 18 will now take place on May 17. Tickets will go on sale Monday, as planned.... Julio Iglesias, Carlos Santana, Dizzy Gillespie and Astrud Giberto are among those being inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in New York Wednesday .... Stevie Wonder will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Songwriter Hall of Fame Awards on June 13 in New York. Ashford & Simpson, Barry Manilow, Michael Jackson, Randy Newman and Sting are among the inductees.

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Elaine Dutka