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

OPERA

And Then There Was One?: British Culture Secretary Chris Smith has proposed that the English National Opera’s London Coliseum theater be shut down and the famed Royal Opera House be given a more populist name--Covent Garden. The plan--backed by Britain’s ruling Labor Party--would leave the British capital with only one opera house (Paris, by comparison, has five), with the National Opera sharing the renamed facility with the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet. The proposal--which will now be studied by a committee appointed by Smith--has already drawn fierce criticism from arts groups. The government’s proposal is aimed at making the opera more accessible to the masses while easing a heavy debt rung up by London’s two existing opera houses.

TELEVISION

Coming Up Rosie: Daytime’s “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” which normally originates from New York, will be taped at Burbank’s Warner Bros. studios during the month of February. (Information on obtaining tickets will be announced in the coming weeks.) The visit will be sponsored by General Motors’ Chevrolet Venture minivan; in return, the talk show will support GM’s “Concept: Cure” initiative to raise funds and awareness in the battle against breast cancer. O’Donnell’s show has taped in Los Angeles once before, when it aired from Universal Studios for two weeks last February.

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Headed to Court: Well-known boxing referee Mills Lane--who is also a district court judge in Nevada--is the latest jurist to follow in original “People’s Court” Judge Joseph Wapner’s footsteps with Rysher Entertainment’s planned syndicated series, “Judge Mills Lane.” The half-hour weekday series is being offered for fall ’98. Lane--who disqualified boxer Mike Tyson for his infamous ear-biting incident--will preside over one case per episode. . . . Twentieth Television has signed a multiyear deal with criminal prosecutor and best-selling author Vincent Bugliosi, with the deal’s focal point being a half-hour syndicated series to be hosted by Bugliosi. A fall ’98 launch is planned.

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Sustained ‘Exposure’: A state appeals court has upheld a $7.3-million award to a writer who claimed the 1990-95 CBS series “Northern Exposure” was based on his idea, “Colletta.” With interest, writer Sandy Veith--who has written for the shows “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times” and “Love, Sidney”--will receive nearly $10 million from MCA and Universal Studios, attorney Glen Kulik said. The studio--which had maintained that writers Joshua Brand and John Falsey developed “Northern Exposure” independently--had no comment on the ruling.

ART

Not a Statement: A quote by pop icon Yoko Ono telling viewers of a Cincinnati museum show of her paintings that “no one can tell you not to touch the art” was apparently misinterpreted by one man, who now faces criminal charges for allegedly defacing her work. Jake Platt, 22, of Seattle, allegedly drew lines with a red marker last week across several of Ono’s stark black-and-white paintings that were on view at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center. A friend of Platt’s told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Platt considered his act an “art statement,” and his attorney called the matter “an innocent mistake.” Ono’s quote concerning touching the art was printed on a sign in the arts center. The paintings--valued at $10,000 apiece--were returned to New York for an assessment of the damage.

POP/ROCK

Prison Time for Preston: Grammy-winning singer-keyboardist Billy Preston, 51, was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for violating probation on a cocaine-possession conviction. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard J. Kamins rejected a weeping Preston’s impassioned pleas for leniency and ordered the maximum sentence, saying prison would save Preston’s life. “We’ve got enough famous people six feet under the ground; we don’t need to add another one,” the judge said, noting that Preston has “tested dirty for narcotics use several times” in recent months.

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So Long, Opryland: Nashville’s 26-year-old Opryland USA theme park will close in January for a $200-million renovation that will turn it into an entertainment and shopping mall called Opry Mills. The 72-year-old Grand Ole Opry country music show will continue on the 65-acre site on the banks of the Cumberland River. But Gaylord Entertainment, which owns the park, said only a few of the 22 rides and dozen shows now offered at Opryland will remain. Opry Mills is projected to attract 17 million visitors a year.

QUICK TAKES

Bluesman Jimmy Rogers will perform in a benefit for former New York Times pop music critic Robert Palmer--who is awaiting a liver transplant--tonight at 7 the Mint nightclub, 6010 Pico Blvd. Tickets are $25. . . . The rock group Metallica has announced plans to hold a free Nov. 11 Veterans Day concert in the parking lot of Philadelphia’s CoreStates Complex, just one week before the Nov. 18 release date for the best-selling group’s new album, “Re-Load.” The band is not scheduled to tour until spring. . . . Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey are scheduled to perform at the Dec. 7 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Oslo. . . . ABC’s “Home Improvement” and actor John Travolta took home the top honors at the seventh annual Environmental Media Awards Sunday recognizing efforts to protect and promote awareness of the environment.