MUSIC

No TV for Babs After All: Just two days before her first paid public performance in more than two decades, Barbra Streisand decided not to videotape the concerts after all. According to a statement read Friday by Streisand spokesman Michael Levine, she decided after two days of blocking and rehearsal that “the nine cameras were interfering with some of the audience’s ability to see and enjoy the concert fully. Miss Streisand came to the decision after feeling that the taping compromised both the live and TV audience.” Levine added, “So, with no television broadcast, it seems ticket-holders are the luckiest people in the world.” Speculation is still rife that Streisand’s sold-out New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day concerts at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas could be precursors to a national tour, but Levine said that decision has not yet been made.

TELEVISION

Preferences, Via Satellite: “Home Improvement” was selected as TV’s best comedy and “Northern Exposure” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” tied for best drama in a subscriber poll conducted by “Satellite TV Week,” a leading program guide for satellite dish owners. Among other categories, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” was named best new show, David Letterman favorite late-night host and Oprah Winfrey top daytime host. Dan Rather and Connie Chung topped the voting for “favorite TV couple,” outranking such twosomes as Beavis & Butt-head, Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco, Burt and Loni, and Woody and Mia.

What, No Ted Danson? The stars will be out next week for one of those famed celebrity roasts, but this time it’s to tape an episode of the new CBS series, “Burke’s Law.” Guests for the yet unscheduled episode, titled “Who Killed the Host of the Roast?” include Milton Berle, Eva Gabor, Rue McClanahan, Ed McMahon, Elliott Gould, Jack Carter, Gavin MacLeod, Dom DeLuise, Tori Spelling, Corey Feldman, Peter Scolari and Tracy Scoggins.

Bruce Lee Documentary: For all those Bruce Lee fans who didn’t learn enough about their hero from “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” the summer film dramatizing the late martial arts star’s life, cable’s A&E; will profile Lee on Jan. 18 in a documentary airing at 5 and 9 p.m. “A&E; Biography: Bruce Lee” features interviews with Lee’s former students, including basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and film star James Coburn, as well as Lee’s close friend, martial arts master Dan Inosanto. In addition, Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Cadwell, shows home movies giving a glimpse of Lee’s humorous and charming private side.

Waging War on ‘Murphy’: It’s war on the “Murphy Brown” set. A columnist from the Nashville Banner who won a role as an extra on the show reports that its star, Candice Bergen, wages friendly little battles with her co-stars. “Bergen and Joe Regalbuto, who plays Frank Fontana . . . get into a swizzle stick and toothpick war, tossing props from Phil’s (a restaurant-bar) like darts at each other,” columnist Ruth Ann Leach reported. She quoted an unidentified crew member as saying: “This is nothing. You should see them when they bring water guns.” Leach won the non-speaking part at a charity auction last year. She took part in the taping earlier this month for an episode to be shown Monday.

PEOPLE WATCH

Stewart Museum Planned: Jimmy Stewart’s fans will be excited by the news that a museum is being built for the actor, but you’ll have to travel quite a ways to get to it. The James M. Stewart Museum is being built on the third floor of the library in his hometown of Indiana, Pa. Jay Rubin, president of the Stewart Museum Foundation, says that Stewart will donate his 1984 Academy Award for lifetime achievement but that Stewart’s 1940 Best Actor Oscar for “The Philadelphia Story” will stay in the family. Construction on the museum is expected to begin within a few weeks.

QUICK TAKES

KLSX personality Frazer Smith continues his traditional Rose Parade simulcast sendup today between 6 and 10:30 a.m. Smith and fellow spoofsman Peter Crabbe offer their irreverent commentary on 97.1 FM to match KTLA’s visuals. . . . The effects of TV news coverage and dramatizations on criminal court trials is examined in “Trial by Television,” an A&E; Investigative Reports cable special airing Jan. 7 at 6 and 10 p.m. . . . In an upcoming book on ABC News, author Marc Gunther says Peter Jennings’ latest contract calls for $7 million a year for five years. The book also predicts that ABC News President Roone Arledge--who earns $3 million per year--will be promoted to chairman of ABC News in a few years, with Executive Vice President Paul Friedman in line to be his replacement. . . . Rather than attending a charity dinner for Comic Relief and Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, celebrities like Kelsey Grammer, Jon Lovitt, Brian Dennehy, Rick Dees and Mariel Hemingway will be serving it. The Jan. 9 event at the Palm Restaurant in West Hollywood features celebrity waiters along with the more traditional auction and raffle. The four-hour “Comic Relief VI” HBO special airs Jan. 15 at 9 p.m. . . . EvaWagner-Pasquier, the great-granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, has been appointed artistic consultant to the Houston Grand Opera. She will asssist HGO general director David Gockley in scouting artists and productions world-wide, among other duties.