XENA MEDIA REVIEW #25 (08-18-97) Part 4 of 4 =================== CUT HERE =============== [408] 07-29-96 IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE. Episode no. 24. First release. Season 1, episode 24 (124). GUEST STARS: Danielle Cormack (Ephiny), Ray Woolf ( Marmax . CAST: Tony Billy ( Mitoan Warrior), Andrew Binns (Hippocrates), Harriet Crampton (Hysterical Woman), Simon Farthing ( Democritus ), Geoff Houtman (Gangrene Man), Paul McLaren (POW Leader), Adam Middleton (Blind Soldier), Charles Pierard ( Thessalian Guard), Ron Smith (Galen), Deane Vipond (Head Wound Man). CREDITS: Written by Patricia Manney , Directed by T.J. Scott. TV GUIDE DESCRIPTION. Caught in the middle of a fierce war, Xena and Gabrielle aid the wounded inhabitants of a healing temple, then try to mediate talks between the warring factions. Hippocrates: Arthur Binns . Ephiny: Danielle Cormack . AIRING AND RATING INFORMATION. 1st RELEASE: 07-29-96. An AA average of 4.0. Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas: (1) HERCULES with 4.5; (2) XENA with 4.0; (3) STAR TREK: DS9 with 3.9. 2nd RELEASE: 09-16-96. An AA average of 4.3. Competition from Syndicated Action Dramas: (1) STDS9 ranked 12th with 4.5; (2) XENA, HERCULES, and BAYWATCH tied at 13th with 4.3. SYNOPSIS: This synopsis is brought to you by guest synopser , Bluesong @ aol.com . Xena and Gabrielle walk through a forest where a civil war is taking place. Gabrielle suggests they take the southern route, which is safer, because not even Xena can stop a war (oops! Gabrielle says she needs to learn when to shut up!) However, X&G come across Ephiny (from the Amazon tribe in HOOVES AND HARLOTS, episode #10), who is with child from Phantes , the centaur, also from HOOVES!). Phantes has been killed. Xena goes ahead to find a safe place for Ephiny to have her baby; she sees a soldier on a horse go after a foot soldier, pulls out her chakram, and saves the foot soldier. The guy on the horse goes down; Xena takes him and Ephiny to a "healing temple" where Hippocrates is learning to heal from an old man named Galen. Xena turns the temple into a triage unit; Gabrielle plays nurse. At one point Galen tries to have Xena taken away because she's desecrating his temple. Xena saves several people using her healing skills; two men come in at once, and she loses one of them. A soldier comes in, sees Gabrielle and says his little boy is still outside the temple. Gabrielle goes out of the temple to get him; then we see Gabrielle and a soldier brought in. Gabrielle has wounded the soldier who hurt her, but not mortally; Gabrielle, however, is wounded badly and is having a lot of trouble breathing. To complicate matters, the fighting descends upon the temple, and the walking-wounded are evacuated. Ephiny finally gives birth -- a breech, and Xena delivers a little centaur (strange looking creature!). At the same time, Gabrielle starts having convulsions, and then she stops breathing. Xena says no! No! NO! and says she can't die, and then she says maybe Gabrielle needs some air. Hippocrates tries to tell Xena to let Gabrielle go, and Xena says she won't, and she starts beating on Gabrielle's chest, screaming "Don't you leave me!" and she's sobbing (yes, sobbing!), and then Gabrielle gasps and she's back, and Xena pulls her into her arms and kisses her on the forehead. The show ends with Xena and Gabrielle walking away, Gabrielle looking rather unsteady. COMMENTARY: A show held back because of its violence! A show by a purveyor of cartoon violence which attempted to make a statement that was "Yes, war is indeed hell"! A show filled with great aspirations and many failures! Yes! A normal XWP episode. XWP is nothing if it doesn't take the moral high ground and when it does let itself go, you get some of the best preachy hokiness this side of the television screen. From its grainy cinema verite techniques (later used to even more jarring affect by director TJ Scott in the next season's GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN) to its high melodrama at the contrived death and revival of Gabrielle, DOCTOR is a trip not to be taken lightly. The show was until the airing of A DAY IN THE LIFE (#39) the most popular fan episode. Although only released twice, it was being constantly shown at XenaFests and XenaGatherings across the world. The show had some mythos attached to it as well. Lucy Lawless referred to the filming of this episode in her legendary first e-mail to her internet fans. It was written on her birthday on March 29. 1996 and it is reproduced below in its entirety: "Thanks very much you guys for your letters and best wishes, especially all you hard core nutballs who've been around since the dawn of time. I'm afraid I can't write back personally to anyone, but I do get your notes eventually and I am personally going to demand my own furking Pez dispenser when I'm a star and my own Winebago [sic] (which is kind of a joke where I come from - like "I'm ready for my close-up Mr. Demille "). I am especially fond of our internet troll who, despite being an egomaniacal misogynist, serves to keep my feet firmly on the ground. So don't get your knickers in a twist over negative comments, okay? "I've just finished the single most intensive and fulfilling week's filming of my career. The episode is "Is there a Doctor?" and I dedicate my efforts in it to all you regular Xenites - with special thanks to Renee O'Conner [sic], my brilliant acting mate and a truly amazing woman, as well as TJ Scott our marvelous director whose star is going to go supernova in feature films before too long. "Lucy "P.S. - I am having a terrific birthday, thank you all, and I can honestly say I have never been happier in my life." Another stand out moment of this episode revolves around the scene where Xena invents CPR in her desperation to revive the dead Gabrielle. On January 30, 1996, in the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Robert Tapert leaked this about the infamous scene when he was asked about exactly what was going on between Xena and Gabrielle. The pertinent part of the article is quoted below: "'All I can say about that,' says Tapert, 'is that Gabrielle satisfies her every whim.' And this bombshell is sure to have Xena- philes glued to their sets: In a coming episode, Xena gives Gabrielle mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. 'We haven't even told the studio yet,' he said." [The whim part was an allusion to the WARRIOR...PRINCESS (#15) ending when Gabrielle asks Xena, "You had people waiting on you hand and foot, fulfilling your every whim" and Xena continues, "Hey, that's what you're here for."] This leak inspired debates and heated conversations on the internet and other electronic chat areas once it was published. RETURN OF EPHINY. We find out that Ephiny did more than just help save Phantes life, but married him and bore his child as well. Tough luck that Phantes was brutally murdered on the way to find a more tolerant city to raise his family. Since the Centaur and Amazons story line have been used as a parable on race relations, it looks like the writers took the logical step and stepped up the social tension by making it out in the open that there is interspecial sex being pursued in the Xenaverse and that babies can be made from it. This mimics casually and accelerates the social process that inter-racial and inter-ethnic assimilation takes in some neighborhoods. First the "outsiders" move in. If they are lucky, they are eventually accepted -- just as long as they are not having any sex with the "insiders". Then, inter-dating starts to happen. Slowly it is accepted as well, just as long as they don't start having children (most of us have heard the great advice "Don't have kids, it would be cruel to them to live in this society"). Finally, the last process is where the insider/outsider union has produced a family and it becomes apparent to the neighborhood that that family is not that much different from any other family in the area. It is then that assimilation enters its last stage. The Amazons and Centaurs are at the beginning of this stage when Velasca represents the last wave of rejection to the inevitable assimilation of Centaurs into the Amazon culture. Ephiny represents the pro-assimilation forces looking to the future, while Velasca represents the conservative, separatist force attempting to return to the past. HIPPOCRATES AND GALEN. This week we get two young male thangs to liven up the show. Democriticus gets to be the token male who is attracted to Gabrielle and then gets it and Hippocrates gets to have an "intellectual" relationship with Xena. Galen, a respected medical scholar, gets shafted big time by being represented as the "old fogey" DIRECTOR TJ SCOTT. TJ , TJ , oh TJ . What a guy. TJ Scott has only directed four episodes for XWP, yet his corpus of work has made an indelible mark on the Xenaverse. Scott's first direction for XWP was BEWARE GREEKS BEARING GIFTS (#12). Extremely conservative compared to his later episodes, GREEKS did introduce the new and improved Martin Guerre, oops, I mean Perdicus. GREEKS had the distinction of being the highest rated XWP episode until toppled by INTIMATE STRANGER (#31) some nine months later. DOCTOR was Scott's sophomore effort. He began to demonstrate his playful nature with cinematography and camera movement. Grainier than usual and using cinema verite techniques, Scott achieved a very focused and yet surreal picture of a pre- Mycenaean M*A*S*H unit. Joining and leaving his scenes mid-action and having the camera follow the characters around gave the feel of the audience watching something off the evening news. GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN (#28) was Scott's crowning achievement. He went overboard with the camera technique but it was a silly episode about a silly subject, so we can over look his failures and concentrate on that fact that although the episode was heavy-handed and too much like the final project for a film-school class on blurring and arty editing, it at least tried to do something different. Only really three shows stand out from a cinematographical /editing viewpoint in XWP: ALTARED STATES (#19), DOCTOR, and GIRLS; the latter two of which are pure T.J. Scott directions. RETURN OF CALLISTO (#29) saw the return of Scott to a less annoying and less intrusive camera technique. This was clearly following his more sedate and controlled GREEKS style of direction. And is it any wonder? It is the swansong of Martin Guerre, oops, I mean Perdicus. VIOLENCE AND MORE VIOLENCE. DOCTOR was held back because it was considered too violent. It was cut for violence and then was not released until July 29, 1997, way into the doldrums of summer re-run season. This easily was the reason for the poor showing that the episode made in the ratings. The first season of XWP had two extra episodes. The holding back of DOCTOR may have attributed to the airing of two episodes which may have been originally planned for the 2nd season. This is karmically balanced by the fact that two episodes filmed in anticipation of being shown in the 2nd season have been held back to air in the third season (THE FURIES and BEEN THERE, DONE THAT). HIGHLIGHTS: Xena's methodical discovery of modern CPR techniques. Xena's skill at caesarian deliveries of centaur babies! Lots of blood! THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR: At the end of the episode when Gabrielle has recovered somewhat, she sits up to look at Ephiny's spanking new centaur son. When she sits up, her hair spills along her back. Then there is a shot that shows the baby centaur in the distance testing his legs and shows part of Gabrielle's body - her hair is now lying down her chest. When they show a full body shot of Gabrielle again that hair is once again spilling down her back. She sure flips that hair often!! Spot the thin gold chain around Xena's wrist that slips from under her gauntlet during the revival scene with Gabrielle! DISCLAIMER: Being that war is hell, lots of people were harmed during the production of this motion picture (but since television is a dramatic medium of make believe, all casualties removed their prosthetic make-up and went home unscathed). [409] 07-31-96 to 08/27/96 NOTE: The German RTL/MCA deal. [409a] 07-31-96 DAILY VARIETY. Page 1. 756 words. "Titanic Teutonic TV; Dual Deals with Kirch, RTL worth $ 2.5 bil to MCA" By Elizabeth Guider and Erik Kirschbaum COMMENTARY: Brief mention of XWP in article regarding the latest deal between MCA and two German TV distributors which were worth $2.5 billion dollars. XWP broadcast rights were included in a free TV output arrangement called RTL which broadcasts in all German-speaking areas. [KT] REPRINT: MCA Inc. has inked separate TV deals in Germany that together are worth a staggering $ 2.5 billion, the latest in a series of megabuck accords struck by Hollywood majors in Europe's hottest media market. The two deals -- a free TV output arrangement with top-rated commercial station RTL and a newfangled digital alliance with that station's bitter rival, the Kirch Group -- are the most eloquent testimony yet that the international TV business is opening a new round of expansion and competition. The two accords also call for a more complex commitment between the partners: MCA and RTL will be co-funding up to 25 U.S. series over the next decade; MCA will hoist two program channels onto Kirch's fledgling digital platform. Analysts suggested Tuesday that the $ 3 billion the Hollywood majors raked in from international TV in 1995 will spurt to almost $ 4 billion by the end of 1997 if, as expected, other Euro territories follow Germany's lead with digital platforms of their own. Daily Variety estimates that the seven Hollywood majors will pocket upwards of $ 7.5 billion over the next decade from the free and pay TV deals that they have recently signed or are about to sign in Germany alone. The two MCA deals in Germany are the single largest revenue-generating agreement reached by MCA since the installment of a new management team under the 14-month-old Seagram ownership. Hence, high-ranking MCA execs -- from chairman/CEO Frank Biondi Jr. and president/COO Ron Meyer to the heads of the free and pay TV divisions, James McNamara and Blair Westlake, respectively -- were trotted out to the press to outline the details of the deal. "There is no doubt that foreign growth in TV is a top priority for us," Biondi told Daily Variety. Heand Meyer stressed that the deals were "a testimony to the depth and skill" of the new management teams in place on the free and pay TV sides of the company. "I did not have to fly to Europe" to close these deals, Biondi cracked, referring to a jaunt made by his former boss at Viacom, Sumner Redstone. The latter jetted to Europe several months ago to meet directly with Kirch Group founder Leo Kirch to further that company's 10-year, $ 2 billion deal with the German media kingpin. Meyer suggested that MCA's deals in Germany were remarkable because the company managed to close agreements with two bitter rivals -- and keep them both as "valued clients." On the free TV side, the $ 1.5 billion, 10-year deal covers all new and existing product distributed by MCA TV Intl. to RTL in all German-speaking territories. Everything from "Miami Vice" and "Murder, She Wrote" to "Hercules" and "Xena" is included. McNamara, president of worldwide distribution for the MCA TV Group, estimated that free TV rights to TV series in Germany are worth "three to five times" what they were in 1990. "Germany is the laboratory, a sort of blueprint for the rest of Europe. While the dynamics of each market are different, we expect there to be similar, proportionate growth in other territories," McNamara added. On the co-financing front, the MCA execs opined that the injection of cash from RTL into 25 series over 10 years will essentially mean that MCA will be at break-even on those shows in their first year of production. The $ 1 billion, 10-year pay TV deal with Kirch consists of a long-term output arrangement and an agreement to carry two MCA-programmed entertainment channels on the digital platform. Westlake told Daily Variety that one channel would be action-oriented and the other a classic movie channel. Minority partners may be sought. MCA may also take a stake in the Kirch digital platform. In Germany the two bitter rivals were putting their own optimistic spins on the news. RTL said it had gotten the better deal, but the Kirch Group was saying the MCA content would give its fledgling digital TV network DF1 an enormous boost. "We now have deals with just about every Hollywood major and clearly have our nose ahead in the race," RTL spokesman Richard Mahkorn said. Aside from MCA, he said RTL has various output deals with Disney, Warner and Columbia. He said an extension for Warner was now being negotiated and should be completed in August. That could fetch well over $ 1 billion as well, industry sources say. When asked if the company was disappointed about not obtaining the free TV rights, Kirch Group spokeswoman Michaela Niemeyer said, "We are delighted to obtain the pay TV rights. They are a very important enrichment for digital TV." [409b] 08-05-96 VARIETY. Page 25. 976 words. "MCA seals $ 2.5 bil pact with Kirch, RTL" By Elizabeth Guider and Eric Kirschbaum. COMMENTARY: Basic re-hash of XMR395a with more detail. [409c] 08-12-96 BROADCASTING & CABLE. Vol. 126; No. 34; Page 48. "RTL deal shapes MCA's future; television program development and distribution contract between German broadcast network RTL and MCA Inc. by Stephen McClellan. COMMENTARY: More RTL news. REPRINT: Investment in dramas will allow company to 'take risks' on comedies MCA's $ 1.5 billion deal of two weeks ago that gives German broadcaster RTL exclusive rights to much of the studio's library and future programs underscores the appeal of U.S. programming abroad. But executives at the studio say the deal also will help shape MCA's television program production strategy for the next decade or so. As part of the deal, during the next 10 years RTL will pony up roughly 50% of the cost of producing 25 drama series targeted initially to U.S. networks and first-run syndication. In exchange, RTL gets exclusive exhibition rights to the programs in its home market and a percentage (significantly less than its 50% contribution to the production budget, MCA officials say) of the overall profit from the programs. The deal is said to be the most extensive series co-financing agreement between a studio and an international partner. And with RTL pumping hundreds of millions into MCA's production budget for drama series, the studio will be able to focus more on its comedy business, which has always been underdeveloped compared with its output of hit dramas. "The deal helps us increase our production by substantial amounts on both the hour and half-hour sides," says Greg Meidel, chairman, MCA Television Group. "It relieves an enormous amount of pressure on the hour side that lets us spend more aggressively on the half-hour side." Adult comedy will be the focus of the studio's future television program development: "We need to balance our portfolio," Meidel says. With the start of the new season, MCA will have five hour dramas on the networks (Law & Order, NBC; New York Undercover, Sliders, Fox; The Burning Zone, UPN, and EZ Streets, CBS), two action hours in syndication (Hercules, Xena) and four network sitcoms (Mr. Rhodes, Something So Right, NBC; Coach, ABC, and Weird Science, USA). In addition, MCA is doing several two-hour Murder, She Wrote and Rockford Files movies for CBS and has midseason orders for dramas Feds and One L. The goal is to have on the air at least as many sitcoms--"the backbone of our domestic business," Meidel says-- as dramas. As a rule, comedies generate the highest profits in syndication of any program form. The RTL investment will enable MCA to go after more top talents in the adult sitcom business, like its recent alliance with Brillstein-Grey. "We will take risks in the comedy area we haven't taken in years," Meidel says. But overseas, and in Germany in particular, U.S. action dramas are "solid gold," says Jim McNamara, president, worldwide Television Distribution, MCA TV Group, who was instrumental in putting together the RTL deal. RTL is investing in action dramas that will be developed and produced by MCA programmers first and foremost for the American audience. But unlike comedies, which do not translate well in foreign markets, U.S. dramas are some of the highest-rated shows in Europe. Miami Vice and Simon & Simon, for it is in production. While comedies continue to provide better overall profit returns for producers, "the drama business has improved dramatically," Meidel says. Just a few years ago, if a drama brought in $ 250,000 per episode "it was a home run," he says. But with increasing demand in the U.S. in both first-run and cable, coupled with continued demand in international markets, hours are starting to generate returns of $ 700,000 to $ 1 million per episode-- results not seen since the early 1980s, when shows like MCA's Magnum PI were generating huge profits. MCA has valued the RTL deal at $ 1.5 billion, but Meidel says it could be worth much more if several of the series and theatrical films emerge as hits. Program budgets for the co-financed dramas are expected to be $ 1.3 million-$ 1.5 million per episode. McNamara is working on similar deals in other international markets. Although he expects they will be lucrative, they probably won't reach the dollar amounts of the German deal given the dramatic growth and fierce competition in that market, he says. GRAPHIC: Photograph [409d] 08-27-96 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 679 words. "Pours on German accent" By Eric Hansen COMMENTARY: A mention that Germany's RTL Television had acquired XWP, and that it may or may not be broadcast during the primetime. EXCERPT: Although RTL Television aims to extend its German TV output deal with the Walt Disney Co. through new co-productions, it is also planning on needing fewer U.S. TV series for primetime, according to the chief of Europe's biggest network.... ...Other series acquired from U.S. distributors though not all will be aired in primetime include "Thunder in Paradise," "Xena: Warrior Princess," "The Burning Zone," "Sliders," "Nowhere Man" and "Fortune Hunter." Past hits like "SeaQuest DSV" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" will be continued. "Not too much has changed in the new season," said Thoma. "But what is there to change? We're already No. 1." [410] 07-31-96 CAPITAL TIMES. Wednesday. Page 1C. 768 words. "Getting Tots to Tune in to 'Good' TV the Problem (First Edition) TV; Execs Don't like Mandates from D.C. (Second Edition)" By Mike Ivey COMMENTARY: In a critique on the lack of proper programming for children, Mr. Ivey quoted Jill Sommers, the program director at WISC-TV/Channel 3, who used XWP as an example of what kids were watching instead of educational shows. "'There are plenty of educational shows out there but kids aren't watching them,' says Sommers. To make a point, she ticked off the four most popular shows among young viewers -- 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,' 'Home Improvement,' 'Xena: Warrior Princess' and 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."" [KT] EXCERPT: New federal rules requiring television stations to air three hours of "educational" children's programming weekly is fine and good, say local TV executives. All four of Madison's commercial stations, in fact, contend they are already meeting the requirements. As might be expected, however, nobody in the local television business has much patience for mandates coming down from Washington. "I've got a real problem with government getting involved with editorial control, especially when it's such hard and fast rules," said David Traubert, general manager at WMTV/Channel 15 in Madison. "My question is how does somebody in Washington know what is going to work in this market?" says Jill Sommers, program director at WISC-TV/Channel 3. But a bigger challenge may be getting kids to actually tune in to the good stuff, for when it comes to television viewing, children are no different from adults: they'd rather be entertained than educated. "There are plenty of educational shows out there but kids aren't watching them," says Sommers. To make a point, she ticked off the four most popular shows among young viewers -- "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Home Improvement," "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."... ============= THE BACK PAGE ============= ERRATA: Clarification for XMR #24 (387) 7-13-96, MCA XENA NETFORUM. Post from Lucy Lawless. Lucy Lawless made reference to "Lillian" for collating her letters. Lillian is also known on-line as "Brette". She put together two Anthologies for Ms. Lawless and Ms. O'Connor last year, which consisted of letters from her fans. Jetthead sent them to Ms. Lawless. Lillian is not Jetthead. Brenda Cox (Jetthead) is President of the International Xenite Club and Newsletter, and Lillian M. Varrassi (Brette) is Vice President and Editor. XENA MEDIA REVIEW STAFF: Living to serve Xena fandom since March 1996! Kym Masera Taborn (KT), editor-in-chief ktaborn@lightspeed.net Diane Silver (DS), editor (even issues) dswriter@idir.net Maria Erb (MBE), editor (odd issues) maria@erb.mv.com Barbara Johnson, circulation xenatwo@aol.com Lydia M. Woods (LM), assist. to the editor-in-chief woodsl@erol.com Thomas Simpson, mascot thomas@xenafan.com BACK ISSUES: Back issues of XMR are available at the XMR Archive on the XMR web page: http://xenafan.com/xmr THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS: TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR. Since XMR offers indepth analysis of media coverage, the issues are distanced in order to gain perspective and insight into how the media report affected the future or was affected by its peers. TWXN is a commentary-lite review of excerpts to be used in future XMRs as they are processed for the XMR database. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia!), the MCA NetForum (when they are accepting posts!), the Xenite Message Center (whenever I can find them!), and alt.tv.xena. REPRINT POLICY: Permission to use, copy and distribute Xena Media Review (XMR), or parts thereof, by electronic means for any non-profit purpose is hereby granted, provided that both the below copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the newsletter itself, and that proper credit is given for any excerpts. Any other format or purpose for distribution requires permission of the author. Reproducing XMR or parts thereof by any means implies full agreement to the below non-profit use clause. SOLICITATIONS FOR FUTURE NEWSLETTERS: Send cites, references, articles, annotations, and/or submissions to ktaborn@lightspeed.net, I will love you for it. XMR is a non-profit fan publication. The editors retain editorial control and reprint privileges over the submitted materials and reserve the right to use the material in whatever way they deem appropriate. Submitted materials will not be returned to the sender. DISCLAIMER: XMR (Xena Media Review) is a free non- profit informational release. XMR in no way intends to challenge, disregard or profit from any of the original copyright holders of the material excerpted, reprinted, or referred to (including but not limited to MCA, Universal, Renaissance Pictures, and any other rightful and legal copyright holder). This newsletter is an academic and educational pursuit to archive, annotate, and study the media response to Xena: Warrior Princess (a television production from MCA/Universal/ Renaissance) and the actresses Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, especially in the light of popular culture and the influence of mass media. XMR exercises its right to quote, excerpt or reprint as allowed under the law in order to review and discuss the media reports cited and annotated herein. XMR is distributed free of charge via electronic media. Banner graphic by Colleen Stephan. This is an Obsessive But Benign Publication. Copyright 1996, 1997 by Kym Masera Taborn. =================== CUT HERE =============== XENA MEDIA REVIEW #25 (08-18-97) Part 4 of 4 Finis