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

TELEVISION

HBO’s Disclaimer: HBO, responding to complaints from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said Friday that it would air a disclaimer following tonight’s 9 p.m. movie, “Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing,” saying that the film “portrays the actions of a small group of individuals.” While not disputing the facts of the movie--about the four Islamic extremists who were sentenced to 240 years in prison for the bombing--the group charged that every Muslim or Arab in the film is portrayed as an “ugly stereotype,” and predicted that the film will “stand the test of time as one of TV’s most racist movies.” HBO, meanwhile, disputed the group’s claims, with a spokesman noting that one character, an Arab informer, explains that he’s turning in evidence against the extremists because he disagrees with how they are “bastardizing my heritage and religion.” “We think our viewers know the difference between the terrorists portrayed in the movie and the overall Arab and Muslim population,” spokesman Richard Plepler said. “We’re not going to get into the practice of having interest groups edit our films.”

Small Screen Rights: CBS has already acquired the broadcast rights to the upcoming big screen movie “Batman & Robin,” starring George Clooney. The film is among 15 Warner Bros. titles acquired by CBS in a $60-million deal; two other upcoming titles, Jodie Foster’s “Contact” and Mel Gibson’s “Conspiracy Theory,” are also included. The films will go to CBS six months after they air on cable. Fox recently bought the rights to Steven Spielberg’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” in an $80-million deal.

MOVIES

‘Avengers’ Set Damaged: A fire at a London film studio Friday damaged a $2.4-million set for the Warner Bros. movie “The Avengers,” a screen version of the cult television series. Producer Jerry Weintraub said that neither of the film’s stars, Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman, was on the set at the time. The blaze, described as extensive by a local fire department spokeswoman, apparently started in the roof of the hangar-like building housing the set. Weintraub said it was too early to assess the extent of the damage and whether it would delay production, which was due to be completed in September. “It’s a serious blow, but as long as nobody dies or gets severely injured, then we’ll get over it,” Weintraub said. “The Avengers always deal with everything.”

Women, Minorities Still Underrepresented: Although ethnic minority directors made slight gains in employment in 1996, the percentage of work for women directors actually declined a tad--the first such dip since 1993. So says an annual Directors Guild of America study, which since 1983 has measured the total number of days worked by all DGA members. The study’s most positive news was that African American directors saw their percentage of days worked rise from 3.9% in 1995 to 5.2% in 1996. Latino members’ employment also increased slightly, from 1.8% to 2.1%. But even with those gains, minorities of all groups accounted for only 9.7% of the total number of days worked. And the employment of women actually declined from 22.76% to 22.63%. “Employment levels for DGA women and minorities are simply unacceptable,” DGA President Jack Shea said about the study. “Producers must find more effective ways to bring talented females and individuals with a diversity of ethnic backgrounds into our business.” Director Martha Coolidge, the DGA’s first vice president, called the statistics “an embarrassment to our industry.”

SAG to Provide AIDS Drugs: The Screen Actors Guild Foundation, which has previously distributed more than $500,000 to various AIDS charities, is beginning an internal program that will offer new AIDS drugs--called “protease inhibitors--for free to its AIDS and HIV-infected members who are not covered by insurance and can not afford the drugs’ $300 a month cost. The move aims to redirect AIDS funds donated by SAG members along with their regular annual dues to more directly help SAG members. AIDS activists believe SAG is the first union or corporation to directly provide the new AIDS drugs.

PERFORMING ARTS

‘Ragtime’ at the Bowl: Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Stephen Flaherty’s “Suite From ‘Ragtime’ ” on July 3, 4, and 5 at the Hollywood Bowl. Orchestrated by William David Brohn, who had the same assignment for the musical at the Shubert, the suite--part of the Bowl’s “Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular” concerts--will also be performed Sept. 5, 6 and 7 during the Bowl’s “Broadway ‘97” program. The July 5 Bowl concert, meanwhile, will be televised live by KCOP-TV Channel 13.

QUICK TAKES

J. Paul Getty Trust President Harold M. Williams will receive the UCLA Medal, the university’s highest honor, during School of the Arts and Architecture graduation ceremonies today. Previous UCLA Medal recipients include Laurence Olivier, Carol Burnett, Ella Fitzgerald, Vaclav Havel, Henry Mancini, President Bill Clinton and Quincy Jones. . . . Actress Lara Flynn Boyle will join the cast of ABC’s legal drama “The Practice” in the fall in her first regular series role since “Twin Peaks.” . . . Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who is leaving “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” at the end of the month, has been named a roving correspondent in Africa for both CNN and National Public Radio. She starts at the end of August.