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

TV & VIDEO

More ‘Tales’: Fans of Armistead Maupin’s 1994 PBS miniseries “Tales of the City” will be happy to know that cable’s Showtime is moving forward with Maupin’s sequel, “More Tales of the City,” which drew controversy a couple of years ago when PBS declined the project. At the time, many believed that PBS passed on it more because of controversy over the lifestyles of Maupin’s characters (casual drug use and varied sexual interests) than because of prohibitive location filming costs. “Whenever there’s an indication of censorship or interference, that’s like a red flag popping up to me,” said Showtime’s president of programming, Jerry Offsay, who last year rescued Anjelica Huston’s child abuse-themed directorial debut, “Bastard Out of Carolina” from TNT. “More Tales of the City” is expected to start production in June, although there’s no word yet on whether the original “Tales of the City” cast--including Olympia Dukakis, Laura Linney and Thomas Gibson--will return. To keep costs down, Offsay said, filming will take place in Montreal instead of San Francisco, where the story is set. Meanwhile, the original “Tales of the City” will repeat on the Bravo Channel starting March 4.

Back on Video: Walt Disney Home Video will re-release its 16th animated masterpiece, “Sleeping Beauty,” on Sept. 16. The 1959 movie has not been available on video for more than 10 years. Other upcoming Disney video releases include “Fun and Fancy Free,” featuring the celebrated final performance of Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey Mouse, on July 15, and “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin,” a direct-to-video release that marks the first new Winnie the Pooh movie in 20 years, on Aug. 5. Disney has also announced that it will take its classic “Mary Poppins” out of video release at the year’s end.

Scheduling Notes: Two ABC series based on feature films, “Dangerous Minds” and “Clueless,” will leave the air in March as part of the network’s midseason schedule changes. “Dangerous Minds,” which stars Annie Potts, will be replaced by the new action-adventure show “Spy Games” at 8 p.m. Mondays. The family series “Step by Step” is expected to return in place of “Clueless” at 9:30 p.m. Fridays. . . . CBS has scheduled “The Last Don,” its miniseries based on the best-selling Mario Puzo novel, to air during the May sweeps (May 18, 20 and 21).

MOVIES

You and Chong?: Think you’ve got what it takes to be a hit comedian? Tommy Chong, of the former comic duo Cheech and Chong, is embarking on a nationwide search for the person he hopes will be “the next Cheech.” Chong, who has been traveling the stand-up circuit while his former partner pursues solo film and TV projects, including his CBS show “Nash Bridges,” has written a new film, “Best Buds,” for which he needs a new partner. Chong kicks off the search Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard. His spokeswoman says “potential Cheeches” can be “anybody--black, white, male, female, gay, straight--they just have to be funny.” The real Cheech Marin, meanwhile, declined to comment on Chong’s search.

THEME PARKS

Nickelodeon to Go to Universal: Universal Studios Hollywood will open a new attraction in March based on programming on the kids’ cable TV channel Nickelodeon. “Totally Nickelodeon” will be staged in a 1,200-seat theater and will incorporate “The Pie Pod,” from the hit show “What Would You Do?,” as well as “The Sliminator,” a new device designed to dispense gallons of Nickelodeon’s trademark green slime onto volunteer guests.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Traveling Light: It’s new, it’s L.A. and it’s a critical hit. So why isn’t the Los Angeles Philharmonic taking Esa-Pekka Salonen’s just-premiered “LA Variations” with them on the road to the Canary Islands and Spain this week? With all the extra musicians and percussion required by the piece, it’s too expensive to transport, says managing director Ernest Fleischmann. Instead, the orchestra is toting a program of well-worn blockbusters like Mahler’s Fourth. So is “LA Variations” doomed to a one-series stand this season? Maybe not. Fleischmann says it could make the cut for the orchestra’s Lincoln Center residency in May.

QUICK TAKES

John Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston (“Jerry Maguire”), will be honored as “Man and Woman of the Year” by the New York Friar’s Club during the club’s annual celebrity tribute on June 13. . . . Steve Martin, Richard Dreyfuss, Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Nancy Travis, Christian Slater and Dan Lauria are among the celebrities scheduled to be on hand Monday night for the grand reopening of La Cinega Boulevard’s Coronet Theatre, recently purchased by Dee Gee Entertainment. . . . Jerry Stiller has withdrawn from the Theater League’s “Fiddler on the Roof,” soon to play Glendale and Thousand Oaks, and has been replaced by Lenny Wolpe, who played the role in Sacramento last summer. Stiller will instead do “Three Sisters” in New York. . . . TV’s “Frugal Gourmet,” Jeff Smith, has been accused in a lawsuit filed in Washington on Thursday of sexually molesting a then-15-year-old boy who was taking a vocational education course at Smith’s restaurant in Tacoma in 1976. Smith has denied the accusation both in court papers and in statements issues by his lawyers.