THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS.... TWXN 67 02/09/97 Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR. 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. From the Editor: 1. If you would like to access WHOOSH!, please use this address: http://207.137.170.163/whoosh/ We have already changed changed servers, but InterNIC has not assigned the new DNS to www.thirdstory.com. I know, bummer. 2. Again, a thousand apologies for being soooo behind. [ ] 01-12-97 THE DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES. Sunday. Page N6. 726 words. "News Lite; Lottery Turns Physician into Baltimore Benefactor" COMMENTARY: Picture of convention goers. No other text except photo caption. EXCERPT: ...GRAPHIC: Photo: (1) Labors of a Hercules fan; Eric Laughlin, 4, of Shadow Hills overcomes shyness Saturday in a chat with Laura Drane, playing an Amazon warrior, at a Burbank convention of fans of the TV shows ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and ''Xena the Warrior Princess.''... [ ] 01-12-97 THE DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES. Sunday. Page N6. 517 words. "News Lite; Winner of Movie Bus Loses to IRS" COMMENTARY: Picture of convention rehearsal. No other text except photo caption. EXCERPT: ...GRAPHIC: Photo; Photo: Epic encounter; Bobby Lento, left, and Tim Weske practice their battle scene in Johnny Carson Park for this weekend's ''Official 'Hercules' and 'Xena' Convention'' at the Burbank Hilton. The gathering will feature the stars of the two TV shows, which feature Bronze-Age action and plot lines from Greek mythology.... [ ] 01-13-97 THE DAILY NEWS OF LOS ANGELES. Monday. Page N2. 838 words. "News Lite; Stewart Moving Her Act to CBS" COMMENTARY: Picture of Lucy Lawless at convention. No other text except photo caption. EXCERPT: ...GRAPHIC:...PHOTO:...(2) 'Xena' wows the crowd Lucy Lawless, star of ''Xena, Warrior Princess,'' answers fans' questions at a sold-out Xena convention in Burbank on Sunday. Xena hats, mugs, T-shirts and fan club memberships were also available.... [ ] 01-13-97 MEDIAWEEK. 3477 words. "In syndication, a change is on the air After a year of upheaval, these 5 programming executives are doing business a lot differently" By Betsy Sharkey COMMENTARY: In an article interviewing a variety of TV executives attending NATPE, James McNamara, president of the Universal Television Enterprises syndication unit, was profiled. In the profile MEDIAWEEK observed, "Universal generally has earned high marks for its success with two popular action dramas--Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess--but critics argued that the company's syndie operation was a one-trick pony, with little development or success in other genres. and mention." Later in the article, the producers of the syndicated TV program CONAN: THE ADVENTURER stated, "Broadcasters see the success of the Conan movies, and with the success of Xena and Hercules, they see this show as having hit potential." [ ] 01-14-97 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. Tuesday. Page F1. 1152 words. "Visiting Warriors; XENA and HERCULES Flex Their Muscles at NATPE" By Benjamin Morrison REPRINT: Hercules and Xena walk among us. Just when you thought there weren't any heroes, actors Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless are scheduled to be in town for the next three days. Unfortunately, local fans will see them only if they're lucky. The two international stars are here as part of an expected crowd of 18,500 at the members-only, very-big-deal National Association of Television Program Executives convention. At NATPE, syndication companies try to sell series to local-station program buyers from all over the country. A long time ago, syndicators learned stars, not other businessmen, got programmer attention. Despite good, even mythic connections, Herc and Xena weren't always presumed to get much attention. In 1993, MCA TV syndication company sold a series of packages of TV movies under the collective heading Action Pack. One of the five sets of movies was about Hercules, starring then-unknown Sorbo. Critical and audience reactions to the various shows varied, but Hercules rose to the top. It became a weekly, hour-long series. In fall 1995, following the success of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," a female-counterpart spinoff was spawned, "Xena: Warrior Princess." Together, they are two of the most-seen, biggest-money-making programs on television. The actors and their characters have become role models for younger viewers across the globe - especially Xena, a take-charge woman in a put-upon world. In the land of TV syndication, "Baywatch" has bodies but "Xena"/"Hercules" has muscle. For California-boy Sorbo, whose biggest previous exposure was commercials, "Hercules" has changed his life. "My manager had to tell me, 'You're famous, you're a star,' " the actor said in a phone interview, during a recent visit to his home state. Both programs are filmed on the other side of the world, what Sorbo calls "the glass vacuum of New Zealand." Folks there aren't impressed by celebrity. "I really get a sense of the show's success in the New Zealand airport, when I'm traveling, and the reaction of American tourists." Sorbo says the show is seen in more than 200 markets across 20 countries. "This summer I was doing a (feature) film ("Kull, the Conqueror") in Croatia and Slovakia, and they all knew who I was. "Same in Germany, Italy . . . we're on in Hong Kong." "I have no sense of celebrity," says Lawless, also by phone, this time from New Zealand. "That's fine by me. It can turn your head. "Actually," she continues, "I don't think people recognize me. The flesh is probably a little disappointing. "I don't dress like her or speak like her." In fact, for the interview the New Zealand native dropped her generic TV accent for a cadence that's clearly Down Under. She learned a kind of international English, she says, "before, when I was hired for roles in North American co-productions." Lawless says when she's out in public, especially in the States, "I just walk straight ahead. I don't notice any attention." She comes to the States "three or four times a year, but I only see friends." Sorbo says trips home are so fast and concentrated, "It's like guerrilla warfare. "Don't get me wrong. I'm working and I'm happy. But I miss (American) sports and friends and family." Sorbo never intended to have a life in Auckland. "I was hired to do four two-hour movies over a period of seven months," he recalls. "Halfway through, they added a fifth (movie), and it was nine or 10 months. "In 2 1/2 years, I've spent all but 3 1/2 months down there. Initially we were working six days a week, 15- or 16-hour days. They were killing me. "I'm not complaining. I have friends - George Clooney ("ER") for one - people on series who said the hardest is a one-hour television show." Lawless has the additional responsibility of raising a child, an 8 1/2-year-old daughter, whom she describes as "a pure delight." Lawless says the little girl at first "didn't know how to deal with it and didn't like having her mother on television, as the object of everyone's attention." Lawless herself is "thrilled" with the widespread success of "Xena," adding, "The world just seems ready. "In France, for example, the buyers told us we would never be big. "C'mon, it's the country of Joan of Arc. We debuted with a 50 (percent) share (of the audience), and the numbers stayed." Lawless doubts whether the fearless-female image works against her show in some countries. "But I imagine there are places where the cleavage and the legs could offend." In America, Xena has become this icon for a spectrum of devoted fans that includes mothers and daughters, feminists, lesbians, drag queens . . . "and young boys," says Lawless. "I get reactions from teen-age males on the street even here," in New Zealand. "When their hormones are raging, I guess I'm more recognizable." Lawless and "Xena" entered a very select circle when she was on the cover of "Ms." Says the actress, "I didn't know it was a big deal, and I was totally unprepared for the political nature of the magazine. "It's not like me to get on a soap box unless it's my soap box. And I don't care if the audience belongs to some special political group or not. "It is great, I guess, though, for a society like New Zealand, which is traditionally male-oriented, to get a new perspective." Before anybody starts getting too big for his britches, Sorbo notes, "Hercules gave birth to Xena." As fans probably know, Lawless and her Xena character first appeared in Sorbo's show. And unlike Hercules, Xena has no basis in Greek mythology. She is a totally fabricated Amazon of the '90s, fighting the good fight in the show's peculiar costuming and set decoration that mix past, present and future. Sorbo calls the look "Medieval meets Malibu." He also says the mighty Hercules has evolved, since the show started, to be more sensitive toward women. That stance "developed during the course of the movies," he says, after the character started out "sort of chauvinistic." Early scripts paid homage to the man-saves-woman-in-distress stereotypes until, Sorbo says, the performers got to the set. "We found out in the play between the actors that there was a different way to go." Shifting emphasis included "a humorous side, even a campy side." The evolution of Xena has led to her becoming "a flawed hero who can be wrong," says Lawless. "The only thing she can't be is stupid." Though Lawless finds herself being pushed into the category of role model and hero, she doesn't truck much with such talk. "Growing up," she says, "I looked up to real women. I didn't go in for hero worship and I still don't. "Everybody has feet of clay." ======================================================= #ART: WHERE THE ACTION IS 'Xena: Warrior Princess' airs Tuesdays, 7 p.m., and Saturdays, 6 p.m., Ch. 38. 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' airs Thursdays and Saturdays, 7 p.m., Ch. 38. GRAPHIC GRAPHIC: Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo are 'Xena: Warrior Princess' and 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,' respectively. (Well, obviously he's not the Journeys, but you get the drift.) Lucy Lawless may be a role model, but she says, 'I imagine there are places where the cleavage and the legs could offend.' Seen here in a 'Baywatch'-like beefcake pose, Kevin Sorbo says the look of 'Hercules' is 'Medieval meets Malibu.'