TELEVISIONAnd the Hosts Are: Cybill Shepherd, star...

TELEVISION

And the Hosts Are: Cybill Shepherd, star of the CBS sitcom “Cybill,” and Jason Alexander, who plays George on NBC’s “Seinfeld,” were named Thursday to host the 47th annual nighttime Emmy Awards. The ceremony will be held Sept. 10 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and will be broadcast by Fox. Shepherd and Alexander are also both nominees in the acting categories. In other Emmy news, Jonathan Katz has been voted a prime-time Emmy for outstanding voice-over performance for his work on Comedy Central’s “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist.” The award marks the first Emmy for the cable network.

*

Joining ‘SNL’: Two new cast members were announced Thursday for NBC’s beleaguered late-night franchise “Saturday Night Live.” Cheri Oteri and Will Ferrell are both recent alumni of the L.A.-based sketch-comedy troupe the Groundlings, which was also the career starting point for former “SNL” stars Laraine Newman, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz. Oteri and Ferrell join Norm MacDonald and Mark McKinney as the four players confirmed so far for “SNL’s” new season, which begins Sept. 30.

*

Phone Sex on TV?: In what it is billing as an attempt to “take phone sex to the next level,” Playboy TV said Thursday it will air a 90-minute special Aug. 25 “offering viewers the chance to explore their own fantasies by seeing just how far their suggestions will take two gorgeous and spontaneous female hostesses.” A spokeswoman for the pay-TV service said that “Night Calls,” which Playboy hopes to turn into a series next year, will feature interaction between callers and on-screen hostesses that would merit an R rating in a movie, not an NC-17.

RADIO

Biting the Hand That Feeds Him: Comic talkmeister Howard Stern used his morning show on KLSX-FM (97.1) Thursday to criticize the management of KLSX for hiring radio novice Kato Kaelin as a host for the station’s new talk format. Stern said he was embarrassed to be linked to Kaelin in station promos, questioned his qualifications for the job and accused his new colleague of being less than forthcoming in his appearance as a witness at the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Asked for a response, KLSX General Manager Bob Moore said only that he was proud to be airing Stern’s nationally syndicated program.

*

NPR Restructuring: National Public Radio will eliminate 20 staff positions by Oct. 1 as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving the company $2.2 million. The plan will eliminate 40 existing jobs in NPR’s programming and administrative divisions, but will also create 20 new positions. Among the changes that will be noticeable to listeners, the introduction of three new programs late this year: “Wynton Marsalis: Making the Music,” “Billy Taylor’s Jazz at the Kennedy Center” and “Jazz Profiles.”

MOVIES

Barker’s Karate Chops: Longtime “Price Is Right” host Bob Barker, 71, will make his feature film debut in “Happy Gilmore,” an upcoming Universal Pictures comedy starring Adam Sandler of “Saturday Night Live” fame. Barker will appear as himself playing in a pro-am golf tournament in which he is teamed with hockey player Happy Gilmore (Sandler). The two get into an all-out fist fight with Barker surprising and overcoming the younger Gilmore with unexpected karate moves.

*

Waiting for Cindy: For those anxiously awaiting model and MTV queen Cindy Crawford’s film debut in Warner Bros. “Fair Game”--get used to the wait. The action film is being delayed once more. The picture, which co-stars William Baldwin, was originally set to open next Friday. Then it was bumped to Sept. 22. And now it won’t hit the silver screen until Oct. 27. The cause of the delays vary depending on whom you ask: Some on the set say there were problems with Crawford’s voice, while others at the studio say early test-market screenings went over poorly with audiences. A Warner spokesman, meanwhile, blamed the latest delay on Baldwin not being available in September to promote the film.

QUICK TAKES

Slow ticket sales for the gala Sept. 2 opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland have prompted promoters to drop nearly 15,000 extra tickets to the event’s two lowest prices, $30 and $80 (additional seats for the event at the 62,000-capacity Cleveland Stadium are $160 and $540). Only 38,000 tickets have been sold for the show, which includes such diverse performers as Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash and Dr. Dre. . . . Actor-activist Martin Sheen was arrested at the Pentagon on Thursday while protesting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sheen and half a dozen other demonstrators were charged with failure to obey an order to move out of the way. The actor was freed pending an Oct. 6 court appearance.