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

TELEVISION

Everywhere You Want to Be?: Bob Dole probably rather would have been in Washington than in Pittsburg, Texas, where he filmed a television commercial last week for Visa credit cards. But the former senator from Kansas, defeated for the presidency in November, said he agreed to do the spot “because it looked like a lot of fun, it showcases my hometown and it’s a nice break from working on my inaugural address.” But Dole’s hometown is Russell, Kan., not Pittsburg, a poultry-producing community of about 4,400 people 110 miles east of Dallas. BBDO New York, the ad agency producing the commercial, declined to explain the discrepancy. The humorous 60-second spot will debut during Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast; other versions will air later, a Visa spokesman said, adding that a “significant portion” of Dole’s fee will go to charity.

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‘Globe’ Ratings Golden for NBC: Preliminary ratings for NBC’s telecast of the Golden Globe Awards were up 8% over last year. The three-hour ceremony was Sunday’s top-rated prime-time program, attracting 24% of the available audience in 35 major cities monitored by Nielsen Media Research. National results are to be released today.

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Clark Staying Busy: Dick Clark, who produced the Golden Globes, is at work on a couple of new projects. The former emcee of “The $25,000 Pyramid” returns to the game-show genre March 10 with the premiere of “It Takes Two,” which he will host on cable’s Family Channel. Meanwhile, Dick Clark Productions has a seven-episode commitment from the Fox network for a new hourlong anthology series, also to begin in March. The series, “Strange Truth,” will reenact several “strange, eerie tales” per show, leaving the viewer to guess until the conclusion of the program which tales are real and which are “pure fiction.”

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CNN’s ‘Impact’: CNN is dropping its weekly documentary series “CNN Presents” and will replace it this spring with “Impact,” a newsmagazine that the cable channel is developing in conjunction with Time magazine. Through Time Warner’s acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System, CNN and Time magazine now are corporate brethren. “Impact” will air Sundays at 5 p.m. PST and “will define for the viewers the importance of the big stories that dominate our time,” according to Pam Hill, its senior executive producer.

POP/ROCK

Parton Disbands Fan Club: Dolly Parton says she no longer wants a fan club. The country singer-actress is disbanding her Dollywood Ambassadors and refunding annual membership dues, which had been used to fund Dollywood Foundation projects. “It has always bothered me to profit from your devotion,” she told members in a letter dated New Year’s Day. “Many of you are donating your hard-earned money because you care for me . . . not because you believed in the programs of my foundation.” The 10-year-old club handled mail-order merchandise and provided advance tickets to benefit concerts. The dues money went to projects including a buddy program and a library program in Sevier County, Tenn., where Parton lives.

PEOPLE

Moore in Hiding: Actor-pianist Dudley Moore, who failed to return home to Newport Beach last month after a worldwide concert tour, is somewhere in England hiding out from the paparazzi, according to his biographer. “He’s fine, he just wants rest and solitude,” Barbra Paskin told London’s the Mail on Sunday. Moore, 61, filed for divorce from his wife of two years, Nicole Rothschild, in June. They have an 18-month-old son, Nicholas, and their marriage--with allegations of physical abuse on both sides--has been watched closely by Britain’s tabloid press. Speaking from her Newport Beach home, Rothschild, 31, told the Mail that she is “desperate” to hear from Moore, who she said has not contacted her in three months.

QUICK TAKES

CBS Entertainment President Les Moonves will receive the 1996 Television Showmanship Award at the 34th annual Publicists Guild luncheon March 21 at the Beverly Hilton. . . . Roslyn Walker, a longtime curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, has been promoted to museum director. She follows Sylvia H. Williams, who ran the museum for 12 years until her death from a brain aneurysm in February. . . . Dennis Miller has signed an exclusive multiyear deal with HBO. Along with extending his Emmy-winning “Dennis Miller Live” into the 1998-99 season, Miller will do two stand-up specials and will be involved in a variety of on-screen and promotional activities. In other HBO news, “The Larry Sanders Show” will return for a sixth season in 1998. . . . Ellen DeGeneres will present the Creative Integrity Award given by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center to k.d. lang in Los Angeles on March 1. The event is sold out.