Dark Shadows

An Oscar-winning film about the Civil War and a wicked comedy about Madison Avenue top this week's list of new videos. GLORY (1989) (RCA/Columbia) 122 minutes. Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes. Edward Zwick's passionate film meticulously details how the Civil War, initially a conflict to keep the Union together, became a struggle to emancipate slaves. Broderick plays Robert Gould Shaw, the Brahmin son of Boston abolitionists who is commissioned to lead the first all-black regiment in the Civil War. As a runaway slave and a freeman who represent the diversity of black enlistees, Washington and Freeman are stunning.

NBC yesterday announced its biggest schedule overhaul of the season, canceling "Ferris Bueller," "Grand" and "Working It Out. " The network will also send "American Dreamer" on hiatus, reschedule several other programs and premiere three new series next month. "Ferris Bueller" was universally panned as the most annoying of NBC's 1990 series. In last week's Nielsens, it ranked 47th out of 97 prime-time programs. It will be replaced on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. by "Blossom," a new comedy starring Mayim Bialik (who played the young Bette Midler character in 1989's "Beaches")

Dark shadows mask Philip Leonetti's eyes. He seems razor-thin. His brow is deeply furrowed, his hair slicked back. He leans forward in the witness box, close to the microphone, but his voice is soft and unenthusiastic and the judge has to tell him to speak louder. At one point yesterday, the admitted mob underboss and icy hit man-turned informant seemed close to tears as he recalled growing up in the Mafia, raised by his uncle, mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, who now rots in prison and disowns Leonetti for his betrayal.

Hawaiian popster Bruno "Nothin' on You" Mars has accepted a deal in state court in Las Vegas to plead guilty to felony possession of cocaine - with the proviso that the charge will be wiped if he remains a good boy for one year. Mars was arrested with 2.6 grams of cocaine after a Vegas club show on Sept. 19. Paltrow. Oscars. Be there Budding country star Gwyneth Paltrow , who is unjustly mocked by cruel gossipers, will perform the award-nominated song "Coming Home," from her pic Country Strong , at the Grammys on Feb. 13 - and at the Oscars on Feb. 27. Sarah Palin to ?

From his living room, Paul Rice saw it all. The drugs, the late-night fights, even the prostitutes. In front of Rice's house was one of West Chester's prime drug areas - a patch of woods and brush whose dark shadows attracted drunks and drug dealers from all over town. The area, often used as a shooting gallery by drug addicts, stretches from the corner of West Chestnut and West Brandywine Streets to less than 100 yards from Bishop Shanahan High School. "For 22 years it's been that way," Rice said.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful ultrasound yesterday to help doctors determine when lumps in women's breasts are noncancerous, so those women can skip a common surgical cancer test. Advanced Technology Laboratories has predicted that its High-Definition Imaging, or HDI, ultrasound eventually will cut by 40 percent the number of breast biopsies performed annually in the United States. Of the 700,000 women who annually undergo biopsies, 180,000 are diagnosed with breast cancer.

Nobody slips between baritone and falsetto like singer Andy Bey. One minute, his bourbon-strength baritone is producing a vibrant vibrato. The next second, his voice has soared into the stratosphere, caressing a blissful blue note and recalling the rhythm-and-blues prodigy Bey once was. Bey, who also performed on piano, thoroughly covered the top and bottom registers Monday night at a Peco Energy Jazz Festival concert at Zanzibar Blue, in...

ALTHOUGH many support the idea of re-creating the old Reading Viaduct as a public attraction, one influential neighborhood group wants to tear parts of it down. "It's the dark shadows; it's the trash," said John Chin, executive director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. "There's more crime in this area around the viaduct. Many bad things have been associated with the viaduct and the fact that it overshadows the streets. " Further, he said, the embankments and steel structures that support the railway occupy chunks of city blocks, creating unusable parcels that make it hard for Chinatown to expand north of Vine Street.

This is a big week at the video store, with a number of good theatrical movies arriving. Among them: an underwater adventure, a French memoir, a poignant operatic drama and a prep-school coming-of-age inspirational. THE ABYSS (1989) (CBS/Fox) $89.98. 136 minutes. Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Todd Graff. James Cameron, who directed Aliens, takes us into another implacably hostile world: our own. Set in the nethermost reaches of the ocean, this taut adventure breaks ground technically, raising the issue of nuclear responsibility in the process as the crew of an experimental oil rig goes to the aid of a downed American submarine and has a close encounter of a different kind.

"Shannon's Deal" is out. "Midnight Caller" is out. "Hunter" is out. And - sorry, all you fantasy freaks - "Dark Shadows" is out. Nine new comedies and dramas are in, part of the fall 1991 TV schedule that NBC uveiled yesterday. Judging from the brief descriptions of the new series made available yesterday, NBC's programmers are relying on familiar TV concepts for most of the shows: Cops, lawyers and single parents all will be well-represented. On the other hand, so are some big names: James Garner, Sam Waterston, Marlee Matlin and Mark Harmon will have starring roles.