HOLLYWOOD (Special) - Now that his transition team is in place, U.S. president-elect Bill Clinton has a really important job ahead: planning a fabulous party for his Jan. 20 inauguration. And thanks to strong celeb backing throughout the campaign, it shouldn't be too hard booking A-list performers.

While Clinton friend TV producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason won't confirm her involvement in the activities, she does offer, "It would be very representative of Bill and Hillary's style if the theme was Populist Elegance."

The names of those who might serenade the First Couple are already being tossed about. The top of the list includes Barbra Streisand, Michael Bolton, Aretha Franklin and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., all of whom made appearances for the Democrats this year. Also at the top is Fleetwood Mac, whose '77 hit "Don't Stop" became Clinton's theme song. While he hasn't officially been asked, Mick Fleetwood says his group might reunite for the first time in three years to perform at the inaugural, adding, "I'd jump at it. I'd love to."

And Clinton has said he'd like to ask Judy Collins to perform, since daughter Chelsea was named after Collins's version of a Joni Mitchell song, "Chelsea Morning".

How much the inaugural will cost is anybody's guess, but consider the inflation rate for the event. John F. Kennedy's 1961 gala, which featured Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, Sidney Poitier, Ella Fitzgerald, Sir Laurence Olivier, and what seemed to be half of Hollywood, was staged for $1 million. By contrast, George Bush's more modest 1989 inauguration, starring Loretta Lynn, the Oak Ridge Boys, Anita Baker, Julio Iglesias, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Sinatra again, ran up a $30 million tab.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Genies Host: Actor Leslie Nielsen will host the Genie Awards Nov . 22 , the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced yesterday. The 13th annual celebration of excellence in Canadian cinema will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and telecast on CBC-TV at 8 p.m. EST.

Tremblay Sells Papers: Michel Tremblay, one of Quebec's best-known playwrights and a strong Quebec nationalist, has sold his manuscripts to the federal government for more than $300,000. But Tremblay said Sunday in Montreal that he has no regrets about selling his papers to a federal institution. "The property is very well managed in Ottawa, they have an extraordinary collection. And it's normal for writers to sell their manuscripts if they're worth something."

Tremblay said his agent offered the papers to Quebec's Bibliotheque nationale library in 1986 but was flatly, and rudely, refused. "They told us to get lost."

Tremblay said he sold the documents, which span 30 years of his career, because he needed the money after his publisher went bankrupt.

Tremblay is best known for Les Belles-Soeurs (The Sisters-in-Law), a play first presented in 1968 and set in working-class east-end Montreal. The story concerns a woman who has won one million trading stamps and has invited her sisters and neighbors over for the evening to paste them into books.

CANADIAN PRESS

Bad News: Gary David Goldberg's acclaimed '50s-era drama-comedy Brooklyn Bridge will hit the shelf after Saturday's episode, CBS-TV confirmed yesterday. Like almost every Saturday series this season, it has been a Nielsen disaster, ranking 93rd among 106 shows. CBS promises that the six remaining episodes - 13 were ordered - will be broadcast during the season.

Four segments of Miracles And Other Wonders, with host Darren McGavin, will take over the 8 p.m. Saturday slot as of Nov. 28. The reality show got a summer tryout.