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

TELEVISION

Kelley Left Out: HBO’s “Sex and the City� scored two of five nominations for the best-written comedy series episode in the annual Writers Guild Awards announced Tuesday. Conspicuously absent from the TV and radio nomination list was writer-producer David E. Kelley, whose “The Practice� (ABC) and “Ally McBeal� (Fox) won Emmys in September for best drama and comedy series, respectively. Other comedy series nominees were NBC’s “Frasier� and “Friends� and ABC’s “Dharma & Greg.� Drama nominees, meanwhile, were NBC’s “Law & Order� and “ER,� and HBO’s “The Sopranos� and “Oz.� In the TV movie categories, the nominees for original story were Showtime’s “Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within� and “Freak City,� TNT’s “Purgatory� and A&E;’s “Dash and Lilly�; and for adapted story, Showtime’s “A Cooler Climate� and “The Devil’s Arithmetic,� Cinemax’s “The Confession� and CBS’ “Having Our Say.� Other nominees included HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live,� NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien� and CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman� (comedy/variety series); ABC’s “All My Children,� NBC’s “Days of Our Lives� and CBS’ “The Young and the Restless� (daytime serial); Nickelodeon’s “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo� and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?,� Fox’s “Young Hercules,� HBO’s “Dear America� and Showtime’s “Sea People� (children’s script); and CBS’ broadcast of “The Kennedy Center Honors� (the lone TV special nominee). Winners will be announced March 5.

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Quick Discharge: Apparently expecting better star treatment, French actress Jeanne Moreau walked off the set of NBC’s “ER� shortly after her arrival on Friday, bailing out of a planned five-episode February sweeps guest stint as the mother of Alex Kingston’s Dr. Corday. Though producer John Wells and Warner Bros. TV had no comment on Moreau’s departure, they acknowledged that the role has already been recast, with British actress Judy Parfitt now portraying Dr. Corday’s mother. Sources close to the series said that Moreau was simply “not happy� with her working conditions, having expected, for instance, to be transported by limo. Moreau was believed to have already returned to Europe on Tuesday, and her London representative could not be reached for comment.

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Stolen ‘Clues’?: A Baltimore film producer has filed a $30-million lawsuit against Nickelodeon parent Viacom, claiming that Steve and Blue, the characters on Nickelodeon’s popular children’s show “Blue’s Clues,� are based on a comic strip he developed as a child in the 1970s. Steven Fisher said he began publishing “Steve and Bluey� in his hometown newspaper in 1989, and produced a show for cable and radio before submitting it to Viacom in 1993. Three years later, the suit claims, a relative told him the show was on Nickelodeon. “We’re not saying that ‘Blue’s Clues’ is Steve and Bluey, but the characters are clearly based on Steve and Bluey,� Fisher’s attorney said. A Viacom attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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Pumpkins Get ‘Politically Incorrect’: “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher� will be among ABC’s post-Super Bowl programs on Jan. 30. A special 11:35 p.m. edition of the program--to air live on the East Coast but tape-delayed here--will include a musical performance by the Smashing Pumpkins. Guest panelists include Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan and “The Practice’s� Steve Harris. Tickets to attend the program, which tapes at CBS Television City, are available by calling (323) 575-4321.

KUDOS

Sundance Tribute: Likely Oscar nominee Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty�) will be feted with the 2000 Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Independent Vision on Jan. 25 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The tribute is given “in recognition of a commitment to portray original and challenging characters on the screen with insight and sensitivity.� Spacey, whose credits include “L.A. Confidential� and “Swimming With Sharks,� won an Academy Award in 1996 for “The Usual Suspects.� Previous Piper-Heidsieck honorees include Denzel Washington, Nicolas Cage, Tim Robbins and Laura Dern.

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Image Awards: Diana Ross will host the 31st annual NAACP Image Awards, airing in April on Fox. Special honorees include Steven Spielberg (who receives the Vanguard Award for “pioneering courage to promote social justice through creative endeavors�), Halle Berry (entertainer of the year) and Smokey Robinson (Image Awards Hall of Fame).

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Honoring Estefan: Gloria Estefan will receive the American Music Awards’ Award of Merit during the show’s ABC telecast Monday. The honor recognizes “outstanding contributions to the musical entertainment of the American public.� Previous winners include Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder. Meanwhile, scheduled performers added to the telecast include Mariah Carey, Beck, Christina Aguilera, R. Kelley, Brian McKnight and Eminem. And Diana Ross will lead a tribute to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., with planned participants including Harry Belafonte and LL Cool J.

QUICK TAKES

Hillary Rodham Clinton has been booked for tonight’s “Late Show With David Letterman� on CBS. . . . Douglas Sills will re-create his Tony-nominated performance in the L.A. run of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,� May 3-June 18 at the Ahmanson Theatre. . . . Pierre Boulez has extended his tenure as composer-in-residence at New York’s Carnegie Hall through the 2002-2003 season. . . . UPN has scheduled the “Dilbert� episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld--as the voice of an arrogant super computer--for Feb. 22. The episode reunites Seinfeld with “Dilbert� executive producer Larry Charles, who was a supervising producer and Emmy-winning writer on “Seinfeld.� . . . Pamela Anderson Lee tells tonight’s “E! News� that she’s planning a 24-hour Internet TV channel to debut this fall featuring all-Pam, all-the-time. She plans to produce original shows to fill the schedule of PAMTV.COM, and claims to already have big backers in place.