THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS.... TWXN 32 10/09/96 Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR): http://www.teleport.com/~gater/IAXS/IAXS.html XMR is a periodic annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show XENA: Warrior Princess (1995 - ) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. For a free e-mail subscription send "subscribe XMR" to ktaborn@lightspeed.net. Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. Editor stuff: Whew! I had to take another day off after yesterday. I attended the Jay Leno taping and the subsequent party at Acapulco and it was a day of incredible ups and downs. I have been requested to do a report on it for XMR #18 which is still in production hell. I am anticipating an optimistic release date for XMR #18 sometime next week. On-line Whoosh! #2 (accessible from the IAXS page) will be released in a week on 10/17/96. The articles include, but are not limited to: law and economics in XWP, Gabrielle as the true hero of XWP, and whether Xena was really ever THAT evil (not to mention the Annotated Warrior Princess Guide and The Battle of Corinth Part 2!). Sorry about the length of this one, but the Littlefield article deserved attention. Anything else? I hope not. I am going back to bed! --Kym [ ] 09-30-96 ELECTRONIC MEDIA. Page 3. 707 words. "'Rosie' Rules as Summer First-run" COMMENTARY: According to Nielsen Media Research's Cassandra Ranking Report for July 1996, the action line-up ranked as follows: ST:DS9 (4.0/5, No. 16); HTLJ (3.9/6, tie for No. 17); XWP (3.8/6, No. 20); and Baywatch (3.4/6, tie for No. 27). The July book is generally considered the least relevant of the year because of (1) reruns, (2) lower television viewership and, at least this summer, (3) the unusual competition of the Olympic Games. [ a] 10-03-96 DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. Page 3. 1000 words. "No Ratings Payoff for New Syndie Gamers. Talk Losing Streak. New Syndies Fail to Make Dent in Nielsens" By Jenny Hontz COMMENTARY: IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (#24), 2nd release, 09/16/96. Ranked as the third action hour with a 4.3 rating. (HTLJ took 1st place with a 5.2 and ST:DS9 took 2nd with a 5.1. Other action hours: FX: The Series earned 2.5; Two earned 2.4; Bounty Hunters earned 1.4; TV.Com earned 1.2; The Cape was reprocessed.). [DOCTOR's 1st release (07/29/96) ratings: HTLJ took 1st with a 4.5; XWP took 2nd with a 4.0; and ST:DS9 took 3rd with a 3.9.] [ a] 10-03-96 THE BALTIMORE SUN. Thursday. Page 3E. 486 words. "Suddenly, 'Susan' Feels like We've Seen it Before" By Chris Kaltenbach COMMENTARY: "Myth and mirth" was used to describe XWP and HTLJ. Short description of season opener: "Xena has a pleasant reunion with her son, who has sworn to kill her." [ b] 10-04-96 NEWSDAY. Friday. Page B52. 182 words. "TV this Weekend" COMMENTARY: After offering the date and channel for XWP in New York (Saturday, WPIX/11 at 9 p.m.), the paper noted that HTLJ and XWP were "two of the most successful syndicated action-adventure hours". [ c] 10-04-96 STAR TRIBUNE. Page 1E. 647 words. "On tap: Movies" COMMENTARY: Passing mention of the new season. [ ] 10-04-96 THE VANCOUVER SUN. Friday. Page C3. 377 words. "Bound to titillate a few" By Peter Birnie COMMENTARY: In a review of the movie "Bound", starring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, the reviewer wrote: "Larry and Andy Wachowski write and direct Gershon's character with less femininity than Xena, leading to the suspicion that this slick mix of female skin and glistening guns is less for lesbians than men in need of a little fantasy." He also compared the Gershon character to Xena: "Jennifer Tilly has never been in stronger hands as Gershon's muscles, tank top and plumbing skills make her the warrior to free the fair, breathy maiden next door." The reviewer not only used Xena as a yardstick whether the film was intended for a lesbian or a male heterosexual audience, but he also attempted to compare the screen relationship to that of the Xena-Gabrielle relationship in XWP. This is an example of a sophisticated allusion which is now beginning to be seen more commonly in the media. This evidences not only a journalist who is familiar with the nuances of the show, but also exhibits an anticipation that the audience shares the same with them. [ ] 10-04-96 THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Friday. Page F11. 1190 words. "The Adventure Continues for 'Xena'; Profile: Lucy Lawless, Who Plays the Terminator-in-a-bustier Heroine, Dishes the New Season" By Kinney Littlefield COMMENTARY: In a very compact interview while in Universal City (home office of Renaissance Pictures, the production team behind XWP), Lucy Lawless spilled the beans about the next season and offered her views on fan-opinings about the show. Although a very action-packed interview, Kenney Littlefield did not delve into any analysis or offer anything with more depth than spoilers and cute quotes from Lawless. Ms. Littlefield is a good example of the new type of reporter who not only reports on XWP, but obviously watches and enjoys it too. This is clear through her previous articles. Her previous articles included (1) an interview with Kevin Sorbo (XMR092: 12- 03-95, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, "'Hercules' star Sorbo plays it cool"), (2) positive mentionings of XWP (XMR112: 12-24-95, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "A Look Back at '95 Television; One Trying Year; 1995"; XMR271: 05-04-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, and "We're Outta Here"; 09-01-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "Critical Choices; So much TV, so little time."), (3) her weird fantasy about Chuck Norris and Lucy Lawless hosting the Oscars (XMR208: 03-24-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "Oscar program as it really should be done") and (4) her casual reference to XWP in describing people in other reviews (Tentative XMR326: 07-04-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "Summer on the Set"). Littlefield described XWP as "part sexy action show, part sly pop-culture parody", and evidenced the show's rising popularity by listing all the TV parodies of the show this season so far: "Something So Right" and "Almost Perfect". Littlefield also brought up the issue of Xena and Gabrielle's relationship and reported that this "season the are-they-or-aren't-they? adventures continue." Also discussed was the great moral shift of Xena, the humor latent in the show, the moment Ms. Lawless' decided to pursue acting, her brief career as a miner, her break into professional acting, her daughter Daisy, why she was currently reading psychology books, and some spoilers about the second season of XWP and a guy named Julius. More detailed spoilers were given about: "Xena Scrolls," "a parody of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' Lawless and O'Connor play the descendants of Xena and Gabrielle in the 1940s. Here O'Connor is the hero, the Indiana Jones character popularized by Harrison Ford, and Lawless is the sidekick, a ditzy Southern belle." "Orphan of War" "the season premiere...Xena trounces evil marauders and re-encounters her son Solan, 9, shades of her daughter, Daisy, whom she left with Centaurs for his protection shortly after birth." [editor's note, Solan was left with centaurs, not Lawless' real daughter, Daisy] "Remember Nothing," "Xena rules again what else? and is granted a fateful wish that will change the course of her life." Also Littlefield promoted Lawless' ill-fated Jay Leno appearance: "On Tuesday she is slated to appear on NBC's 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.' Watch for a silly Xena skit." That silly skit was where Ms. Lawless fractured her pelvis after falling off a horse causing her an extended stay in the States and to miss the resumption of filming in New Zealand (can you say ATHENS CITY AND THE PRODIGAL, PART DEUX?). Lawless quotes: "Xena is so completely unlike me, I think she's a hoot" "I'm notoriously hard to hear." (discussing her lack of projection). "I know, I know...I don't know how to deal with that. People keep coming up to me and saying, 'I thought you were bigger.' They may think Xena is real, but she is not reality to me. I use just a sliver of myself to play her. She is just so dour and humorless, so ironical. But I'm not going to fight it. I guess I just have to run with it now. I, Lucy Lawless, am going to be held up as some sort of role model, along with Xena herself. " "Well, apropos of the special relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, Gabrielle gets married. As Gabrielle is saying goodbye, Xena kisses her and Gabrielle hands over the bouquet and Xena goes, 'Ha, ha.' That was my idea, that one which is probably why I think it's so d**n funny. It's just part of broadening people's horizons. You know, the show has been embraced by a lot of political groups with its biracial angle and its feminist angle, although I've never had any political pretensions." "There is a huge lesbian community that's right behind us and we certainly don't want to lock anybody out from our show, either. Renee went home (to Texas) and said, 'You know, there's all this talk about the lesbian element,' and people said, 'What are you talking about?' That just made Renee and I howl with laughter. So if you don't want to see it, you probably won't. If you do, you possibly will. Maybe we like to give our audiences what they didn't know they wanted. Then again, just when they think they've got us pegged, aha!" "I went to Catholic school, where at 8 or 9 I discovered how cool it was to be a dunce, because you could get away with so much by just pretending to be a dummy. The next year, I discovered acting when we did a dramatized version of the story of the prodigal son. I was the woman who met him on the road and stiffed him out of his coins and clothes, that felt really good. And now I happen to be working with people (executive producers Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi) who also have that twisted humor." "...taking dirt samples, jumping over lizards and snakes and pushing ore through a diamond saw" (describing her previous career) "...to see what makes people tick and me, too." (explaining why she's reading psychology books now) "Xena's got a very wide universe, but Lucy doesn't really at all. If you saw Xena when she first emerged in 'Hercules,' she'd really use her sexuality. She was far more of a vixen. We go back and explore that. We meet her when she was merely imperialistic, prior to her going really off the deep end. We go back and meet the guy who really sent her over the edge whose name is Julius. I'm not telling you his surname." "We get all these flashbacks about how all this was supposed to happen. And they only burn Renee's character up, driving a wedge between them." (discussing the episode "Xena Scrolls") "That's another thing that will be happening this season there's a schism in their relationship, between Xena and Gabrielle." [ ] 10-08-96 JAY LENO SHOW. NBC. 11:35pm. TV Show. COMMENTARY: Scheduled to be interviewed by Jay Leno with at least 40 fans in attendence, Lucy Lawless injured herself while filming a skit at a little before 3pm of the day of the taping. Some fans were witnesses to the injury. Jay Leno mentioned the injury on his show and expressed hope that Ms. Lawless would be able appear again on the show in the future. After the taping, Rob Tappert and R.J. Stewart, executive producers of XWP, assured fans that it was not a serious set-back, and that the fans had some heavy Gabrielle episodes to look forward to around Jan-Feb of 1997.