FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, August 17, 1999

DIGITAL DISNEY: Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians among the animated classics Disney plans on making available on DVD in limited release beginning October 26.

RATINGS RACE: CBS wins the less-than-stellar prime-time week ended Sunday. A really exciting preseason football game on ABC was the most-watched show.

FORE! Will Smith teeing up for the Robert Redford-directed golf picture, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Shooting starts in Savannah, Georgia in October.

RYAN REPORT: Meg Ryan committing to star in This Man This Woman, a drama inspired by a series of articles in Esquire magazine. See Dotted Line for more casting news.

THANK GOD! John Travolta unhurt after falling in a pair of boots during a laughing fit on the set of sci-fi flick Battlefield Earth, a Warners rep tells the New York Daily News.

ALLOWANCE-DEPLETION ALERT: Pop phenoms the Backstreet Boys selling all 765,000 tickets for their North American tour, generating nearly $30 million in sales.

BAD YEAR: Amy Grant's estranged hubby Gary Chapman short a job after the Nashville Network axed his Prime Time Country talk show in a format overhaul.

VOW OF SILENCE: Jesse Ventura to abstain from interviews for six months--unless they're about Minnesota politics. (When not dabbling in wrestling, he's a governor.)

SON OF SAM SPEAKS: David Berkowitz, the serial killer who inspired Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, tells CNN he was misquoted and never meant to threaten the director or his family.

SQUEEZING THE JUICE: Denise Brown, sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, considering filing perjury charges against O.J. Simpson for allegedly lying during his civil trial.

HIP-HOP HOORAY: Puff Daddy setting aside items to contribute to the planned hip-hop hall of fame in Mount Vernon, New York.

LIVE ACTS: Lauryn Hill, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z and Kid Rock among the artists set to perform at the Chris Rock-hosted MTV Video Music Awards, September 9 in New York.

PAGEANT PEOPLE: Salt 'N Pepa's Spinderella and Coolio to help judge the Miss Teen USA Pageant, August 24 in Louisiana. 'N Sync and Britney Spears to perform.

LIKE A VIRGIN: David Bowie signing a recording agreement with Virgin Music Group. His first Virgin release, hours..., is set for an October 5 release.

COMMUTER TROUBLE: A Detroit leasing company says the Guy Who Used to Be Called Prince owes some $150,000 in rental bus fees. It's suing.

RAPPER'S DELIGHT: Battery charges dropped against former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell--arrested last month for allegedly whacking someone upside the head with a whiskey bottle.

MASTER DEBATE: Paula Yates, lover of late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, again claiming the rocker did not commit suicide, but died accidentally during a solo sex act.

HUTCHENCE ADD: Australian officials say there are no plans to reopen the investigation. Hutchence's death was declared suicide in 1997.

EVERYTHING MUST GO: Marilyn Monroe's Joe DiMaggio-era wedding dress to go on the block at a Sotheby's show next month in New York--the second planned M.M. auction of the fall.

SHAME, SHAME: Marty Ingels, husband of The Partridge Family's Shirley Jones blaming the couple's recent split on his "insidious" stepson Shaun Cassidy, TV Guide says.

PARTY ANIMAL: Paul McCartney to host the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' annual humanitarian awards, September 18 in Los Angeles.

IN CASE YOU WANT TO KNOW: Cody Gifford, the eldest of Kathie Lee Gifford's two offspring, may land a role in a made-for-TV Disney movie, USA Today says.