TELEVISIONTawny Little Moving: Tawny Little is the...

TELEVISION

Tawny Little Moving: Tawny Little is the latest local news anchor to switch stations. Little, anchor of KCAL Channel 9’s 10 p.m. newscast, is joining the 10 p.m. newscast at rival KCOP Channel 13. Little, who was at KABC Channel 7 for 15 years before joining KCAL in 1992, will join co-anchor Bob Jimenez at KCOP, the station announced.

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An Emmy for PBS: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will bestow its 1995 Governors Award Emmy on the Public Broadcasting Service in recognition of “a year of memorable original programming and its impressive service to the American public on the occasion of the network’s 25th year of broadcasting.” The academy’s board of governors said the award is also an effort to “explicitly and unequivocally state our support for [PBS] and our opposition to the current proposed cuts in federal funding.” The Governors’ Emmy, the first given since Ted Turner received one in 1992, will be presented in Pasadena on Sept. 9 at a banquet preceding the Sept. 10 televised Emmys.

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‘Donahue’ Dropped in New York: Talk show veteran Phil Donahue has been dumped by New York’s WNBC-TV and so probably will not be seen this fall in the city where he has filmed his show for 18 years. The unexpected cancellation, announced to a shocked “Donahue” staff Tuesday morning, may prompt Donahue, who has hinted that he may quit after next year, to retire. A spokesman at WNBC, which will replace “Donahue” with “Sally Jessy Raphael” beginning Sept. 5, said it dropped the show because of slipping ratings and to make room for new programming. “Donahue” was also dropped from San Francisco’s KGO-TV early this year, but the program will still be aired by an estimated 185 stations nationwide, including Los Angeles’ KNBC Channel 4, where it is scheduled to keep its 2 p.m. time slot.

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Taking on Ovitz Role: While Hollywood’s hottest news story continues to center on who will fill super-agent Michael Ovitz’s shoes at Creative Artists Agency now that he has moved over to the Walt Disney Co., actor Treat Williams was selected to play the role of Ovitz in his former post as CAA head in HBO’s upcoming movie about the late-night talk show wars, “The Late Shift,” it was announced Wednesday. Among other new “Late Night” casting, Bob Balaban (“Altered States”) will play NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield, Ed Begley Jr. (“The Accidental Tourist”) will portray CBS programmer Rod Perth, Peter Jurasik (“Babylon 5”) will take on the role of CBS head Howard Stringer and comedian Rich Little will become Johnny Carson. The film stars John Michael Higgins (off-Broadway’s “Jeffrey”) as David Letterman and Daniel Roebuck (“The Fugitive”) as Jay Leno.

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Producers Move to DreamWorks: Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason, the executive producers of “Designing Women” and “Hearts Afire,” will produce their next three TV shows under an exclusive agreement with DreamWorks SKG. The husband-and-wife team have three more series to go under an earlier five-series contract with CBS, but under the new deal, DreamWorks will co-own those shows if CBS declines to air them. The move is seen as increasing the likelihood that the producing couple will get their programs on a network schedule because DreamWorks has a production deal with ABC.

POP/ROCK

Marilyn, the Singer: A never-released 1948 recording of then-struggling actress Marilyn Monroe singing a ballad will be sold at Sotheby’s London auction house on Sept. 13. The 12-inch 78 rpm record was lost for almost 30 years but was rediscovered in a pile of old platters when an anonymous vendor noticed the hand-written label reading: “Fred Karger at the piano, Manny Klein on the trumpet, vocal by Marilyn Monroe.” The recording, which is expected to fetch more than $15,000, is the only known copy of the song, titled “How Wrong Can I Be.”

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Farrell’s Surprise: Lollapalooza organizer Perry Farrell and his band Porno for Pyros made a surprise appearance on the second and closing day Tuesday of the festival’s stint at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre. Surrounded by tiki lamps and dressed in a flowered shirt on the show’s third stage, Farrell led the band through a Hawaiian-style set that featured punk guru Mike Watt sitting in on bass.

QUICK TAKES

For the third time in three months, Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Cracked Rear View” returned to the top of the nation’s album pop chart, selling 184,000 copies to displace Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “E. 1999 Eternal,” which came in No. 2 with 162,000 albums sold. . . . Film and stage star Mercedes Ruehl (“The Fisher King,” “Lost In Yonkers”) will join NBC’s “Frasier” this fall in a four-episode guest-starring role as Frasier’s (Kelsey Grammer’s) new no-nonsense, outspoken station manager and boss. . . . A Los Angeles federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by former FBI agent Herbert Simmons against “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” producers Saban Entertainment. Simmons had claimed that he created the “power rangers” concept. The judge also ordered Simmons to pay Saban’s attorney fees and court costs.