''Dawson's Creek'' is named the worst show on TV

TUBE WATCH For the second year in a row, the WB’s Dawson’s Creek has topped the Parents Television Council’s annual list of the worst shows for families. The conservative council cited ”Creek” as the most offensive series on network TV, due to its frequent depiction of premarital sexual situations and story lines — not to mention its major subplot involving a gay teenager coming out of the closet. Another WB show did make the right-wing watchdog group happy: ”7th Heaven,” which follows a Protestant minister and his large family’s many crises, was named the best show for families…. The NAACP is also condemning the television networks, but not for one specific show. At the annual NAACP convention, national president Kweisi Mfume blasted TV execs for offering a ”virtual whitewash in programming” in this fall’s prime-time lineup. Fox and CBS followed Mfume’s announcement by offering to meet with the NAACP leader, and ABC released a statement saying ”we have made improvements in this area, and we understand that we need to do more.” NBC went on the record asserting that ”including minorities on our air is an issue that has been a top priority for some time, and it continues to remain an important priority.”

MOONLIGHTING Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura will return to his World Wrestling Federation role as The Body for an Aug. 22 pay-per-view wrestling fest called Summer Slam. According to the WWF and Ventura’s office, the 48-year-old gov. will take to the ring for the last Slam of the millennium.

CASTING Christina Ricci is in final negotiations to star in the WWII drama ”The Man Who Cried,” written and directed by Sally Potter (”Orlando”). Ricci, who will play a young woman who flees Germany for Paris, may star opposite John Turturro and Johnny Depp, who have also been linked to the project…. Dominique Swain (”Lolita”) has signed on to star in ”Intern,” an indie spoof of the fashion industry. The satire costars Kathy Griffin (”Suddenly Susan”), model/actress Paulina Porizkova, and Joan Rivers…. Oscar-nominated British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste (”Secrets & Lies”) will play a research scientist opposite Jennifer Lopez in New Line Cinema’s psychothriller ”The Cell,” which starts shooting in late July

DISBANDED The New Radicals have officially split. Frontman and founder Gregg Alexander announced yesterday that he was disbanding the relatively new group to focus on music producing. The New Radicals released their only album, ”Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too,” last October for MCA Records and had one hit, ”You Get What You Give,” which debuted earlier this year.

REEL DEAL Shekhar Kapur, the Oscar-nominated director of ”Elizabeth,” will direct ”Air Pirates” for DreamWorks. The action-adventure pic is based on the real-life story of Gary Larkin, an airplane-salvage expert who’s hired by an older woman to find out what happened to her MIA husband during a secret WWII mission.

FINED DMX was released from a Trinidadian jail yesterday, after paying a $25 fine for using obscene language during his Saturday-night concert there. After spending two nights in the local jail, DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was given the no-brainer decision of paying the negligible fine or serving a month’s imprisonment and hard labor. The rapper reportedly thanked the police and apologized to Trinidad at his court hearing.

HITCHED Rosie Perez (”Do the Right Thing”) married filmmaker/playwright Seth Zvi Rosenfeld last weekend at a private ceremony in Brooklyn. Fellow actors Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, Debi Mazar, and Annabella Sciorra were on hand to celebrate with the happy couple.

TOUR UPDATE Seven acts have been added to this month’s Woodstock ’99 concert, including Elvis Costello, Al Green, the Bruce Hornsby Group, Megadeth, the Roots, and Sevendust. The 30th-anniversary festival, held July 23-25 at Griffiss Park in Rome, N.Y., will also feature a reunion of the original members of the funk band Parliament/Funkadelic (George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and Bernie Worrell).