XENA MEDIA REVIEW #30 (04-15-97) Borg 01 of 11 ================= CUT HERE =================== _____ ______ ._ `\`/>`\ /`/` /`__________,.'>___ _____ )~\ /<`\ `\ /`/` /``\ \./------> /|\./\ |\./| / | \ /< `\`\ `\ /`/` /` | | |----\ / | |\ \ | | |././^\ \ |\__{o}\--`\`\ `\/`/` /`-----| | |-----`------\`\`\--| | |----^ \ \----. [\\\\\\\{*}==`> <`=======| | ==============`\`\`\| | |=====\ \ \==--> |/~~{o}/-- /`/ /\ \ `\------| | |---------------`\`\\ | |------\ \ \--' \< /`/` /` `\`\ `\ | | |_____,.'>| | | `\`\| | /' \ \ \ \< /` /` `\`\ `\ ,/ /^\------> / |/^\| \ | |/ \/^\\. /`/\>/` `\`\ `\`~~~~~~~~~~~\ / ~~~~~ )^\,\, '~~~~~ `~~~~~` '~~~~~` ` ~~~~~~ ========================== XENA: THE MEDIA REVIEW #30 ========================== There Can *NEVER* Be Enough Information About XWP! http://xenafan.com/xmr P.O. Box 81181, Bakersfield, CA 93308 Xena Media Review (XMR) is a periodic annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995-2000) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. For a free e-mail subscription send "subscribe XMR" to ktaborn@lightspeed.net either in the subject or body of the e-mail. Copyright, legal, and editorial notices are found at the end of this newsletter. Issue No. 30 Release date: 02/15/98 Covering 10/01/96 - 10/15/96 Annotations 533 to 580 1466 subscribers FROM THE EDITOR: Oops and Hello Again A Slight Change of Plans FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Farewells Are Always Hard GUEST EDITORIAL: The Gimme Factor FEATURES: An Accident Chronology When Fantasy Meets Reality: The Aftermath of Lucy Lawless' Accident ANNOTATIONS LETTERS THE BACK PAGE Xena Media Review Staff Back Issues This Week in Xena News Reprint Policy Solicitations for Future Newsletters Disclaimer =============== FROM THE EDITOR =============== Oops and Hello Again --------------------- Dare I say it? I'm the culprit, the ignoramus who delayed the publication of this issue of Xena Media Review. It's been three months since XMR #29 flew into your mail box. Frankly, the only excuses I can give you are burnout, more burnout and the holidays. Please be assured that XMR is definitely still in business and will continue publishing until we run out of things to say about XENA. (Don't hold your breath on that one.) I hope you'll agree with me that the delay has been worth it. XMR #30 covers the beginning of one of the most interesting, frightening and important periods in Xenadom -- the period just before and immediately after Lucy Lawless' fateful non-appearance on The Jay Leno show on October 8, 1996. As most folks know, Lawless' participation in a Jay Leno skit landed her in the hospital with a fractured pelvis. This issue of XMR includes news coverage through the period of Lawless' stay in the hospital. The accident had a profound effect on the show and provided some fascinating evidence about the way the Internet is changing society. In this issue of XMR, we will tell you what happened and some of what it means. We will also provide a chronology of events, reprints of the posts XenaStaff made to the Internet during this period, and provide never-before released information about what happened behind the scenes. This information comes to us from Robert Mellette, a former Xena staffer who posted as "Xenastaff" and "VCU" on the NetForum. Many thanks, VCU! This issue also includes another first -- a guest editorial. Written by Catherine Wilson, the first version of "The Gimme Factor" appeared on several Xena mailing lists. When I read it, I was immediately struck by Wilson's insights into fan-star interaction. Her post was extremely controversial on the lists, and I expect this updated version may generate more controversy. Whether you agree or disagree with Wilson, it is clear that her topic of fan expectations is an important one for all of us to consider. Also in this issue are Producer Liz Friedman's longest interview with extensive comments on subtext, Kym Taborn and Tricia Heintz's incredible discussion of REMEMBER NOTHING, and critic Weldon Jones' love letter to XWP in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Today more than a year later, Jones' article still stands as one of the clearest explanations of why XWP isn't just another cheesy action hour. A Slight Change of Plans ------------------------ It is with the heaviest of hearts that I announce my departure from XMR. Alas, the demands of my off-line life are forcing me to give up my work on this marvelous publication. I am forever indebted to Kym Taborn for handing her baby, XMR, over to me and then leaving me alone while I fumbled around looking for meaning in the media and the Internet. I am also indebted to Kym for her hard work and her friendship. I would also like to thank XMR's core of hardy subscribers for patiently waiting for every issue and then patiently reading them as they got longer and longer and longer. As always, I remain a hardcore, half-insane fan of Xena, and I will remain online. See you all around the Xenaverse! Diane Silver January 12, 1998 Lawrence, Kansas dswriter@idir.net ======================== FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ======================== Farewells Are Always Hard ------------------------- I have a few quick things to mention here before letting this large issue go. First, this is easily the most emotional, intense, and most significant XMR that we have ever put together. It was completed under the hard work and dedication of editor, Diane Silver. She went above and beyond the call of duty for this one. This issue covers the Lucy Lawless accident of October 8, 1996, and covers it in gut-wrenching detail. It attempts to make sense of what happened and it does a most amazing job. Diane Silver uses her journalistic skills to our benefit and although it is an incredibly large issue, it does extreme justice to the topic at hand. Second, in the bask of Diane Silver's greatest glory with XMR, I have the task of anouncing that Ms. Silver will be leaving XMR staff. We have enjoyed having her and she has made an indelible mark on this publication. We will miss her and I will miss her. We wish her luck on her pursuit of happiness and professional satisfaction. Third, this is an incredibly large issue. I apologize, but this covers the media scene as it was from October 1st to 15th, 1996. This point in time covers the great leap that XWP made in terms of media exposure. From this point on, the media game changed drastically. Basically XWP became a contender and Lucy Lawless started on the road to being a major media personality. In the near future, I am anticipating going back to covering just a week at a time ineach issue of XMR. It was fun to cover a month over two issue, but the media coverage is just getting too large at this point. Fourth, yeah THREE MONTHS LATE -- I CAN COUNT! XMR is a great labor of love on my part. Any sane person would have stopped doing it by now, but I can't. I am compelled. I have to do it. I am extremely grateful for all the subscribers to this newsletter. This newsletter is one of the most anal, obsessive, and pig-headed things I have done in my life. I have to be honest, I am scared at my obsessiveness and inability just to say enough already and move on. But I am more shocked by how many people subscribe to this thing. I didn't realize that so many Xenites were into living history and following bizarre attempts at making sure the record is straight. The Xena record of all things!!! Yet, I always come back to my obsession. Thanks for sharing with me this abnormal behavior. It makes me feel loved. Fifth, I am so insane in not only keeping XMR going, but I really want to revive THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS, but I know I will need help in that! If anyone has any free time they would like to donate to the TWXN news cause, write me (ktaborn@lightspeed.net), and you too can join the exciting world of media Xena sightings (and citings). Sixth, I think that's it! Enjoy the issue. This is a very unique one and intense one with lots of information, journalistic analysis, and some historical ponderings. Again I apologize for the size but it could not be helped. This thing is weighing in at over 140 pages. I promise after this one, no more marathon sizes. We will go to weeklong-coverage. Yeah, that's the ticket! ================== Guest Editorial ================== The Gimme Factor ------------------ By Catherine M. Wilson cmwilson@wildestdreams.org Copyright 1998 by author I have been wondering for a while what kind of opinion Lucy Lawless must have of her fans. We fly all over the country to see her make a personal appearance on a TV show, at a theme park or on Broadway. We sit in the front rows at Grease or The David Letterman Show or The View, sporting black t-shirts with her face on them. We carp about the fact that she won't send an autographed picture to everyone who requests one. We complain that she is not signing autographs at the Burbank Convention. I was one of the fans who flew cross-country to see Grease, and I will admit to having some second thoughts when Lucy came out of the theater after knocking herself out, giving us a great show, only to be mobbed by folks at the stage door who wanted more. We wanted autographs. We wanted her to talk to us. We wanted her to notice us. We wanted her to recognize us. I have begun to call this phenomenon The Gimme Factor. No matter how much Lucy gives us, we want more. Why? I believe the answer is that, whatever it is we want, she doesn't have it to give us. She's an actor. She is, I believe, one of those rare actors who brings a character to life in such a unique and powerful way that we may mistake the actor for the character she plays. We love Xena as Lucy brings her to us on the screen, but Lucy isn't Xena, and whatever it is that we take from Lucy's portrayal of Xena, we're not going to get the same thing from Lucy, and we're mistaken to try because we are doomed to fail. We will only find Xena on TV and within ourselves. That's where we should be looking. It's easy to allow our love for Xena, our admiration for her, and our fantasies about her to spill over onto Lucy, but I think we do ourselves a disservice if we fail to try to understand the nature of our own feelings and what we can do about them. No matter how many times we worship at Lucy's feet, it will never be enough. Lucy has awakened something wonderful in each of us, but it is within ourselves that we will find the key to the significance XWP has for us. But there's a catch. This requires personal growth, and personal growth requires a lot of hard work. It's much easier to try to get those good feelings from the show, from Lucy, from going to the cons, from something or someone outside ourselves. The problem is that when doing that fails to satisfy us in any deep and fulfilling way, we may grow angry at the person who has failed to give us what we want, what we feel we need, what we feel only that person can give us. This is the same principle that applies when we are dependent on a relationship with a lover or spouse to make us feel OK. We may turn on those we say we love when they fail to make us feel the way we want them to make us feel. We may turn on a lover. We may turn on Lucy. This is why the fan phenomenon is so scary, and so dangerous. So what are we to do? First, let me suggest that we just give the matter a little thought. What is it that we want from Lucy? Are our expectations realistic? What does she have that we want her to give us? Does she have it to give? Can we get those things in a more legitimate and healthy way? Can we use whatever it is that we see in the show as an aid to our own personal growth? Can we stop expecting somebody else to give us what we should be learning how to give ourselves? I have given some thought to these things for myself and for my own mental health, and I have come up with what I think is, for me, the healthiest attitude that I can take toward Lucy. First, I am immensely grateful to Lucy, both for bringing Xena to life and for treating her fans, especially her lesbian fans, with such kindness and respect. Second, I admire her talent, and I wish her well in her career. I'm glad I saw her in Grease. I'm glad I supported her performance, and I'm glad I didn't crowd the stage door or ask her for her autograph. Third, Lucy has given me so much that, instead of asking her for more, I would like to try to give her something back. I already have her autograph. I got it at the first Burbank Con, but I went through the autograph line, not for the autograph, but because I wanted to thank her for giving us Xena. I'm glad I have the autograph, primarily because it reminds me of my encounter with her, but I don't need another one. If she ever again signs autographs at a convention (which is unlikely), I will go through the autograph line, not to get her autograph (Rest your arm, Lucy.), but to thank her again. What else can I give to Lucy? Her privacy and her private life, for one thing. And I can try to put myself in her place and act in a way that she would not find offensive or intrusive or excessively or embarrassingly adoring. I can refrain from making demands on her time, which I'm sure she has little enough of as it is, and I can wish her well. Probably the greatest gift I can give to Lucy is not to ask her for anything more. I wonder if Lucy's reluctance to sign autographs at the next convention has to do with her experience at Grease, where she was constantly mobbed by fans and asked for autographs, and she can't have failed to notice that no matter how much she did for her fans, they were never satisfied. What if the following scenario had happened when Lucy was doing Grease? She comes out the stage door after a show. No photo flashes go off in her face. No one shoves anything at her for an autograph. No one crowds the barricades. No one shouts her name. No one throws anything at her. Instead, a quiet crowd of respectful fans applauds her performance. Instead of the harried expression I saw on her face, she might treat us to one of her gorgeous smiles and let us all go home with something in our hearts that we will find far more satisfying than a scribbled autograph. It is, of course, too late to do this after a performance of Grease, but perhaps it might be something to remember the next time Lucy spares some of her precious time for us. ======== Feature ======== An Accident Chronology ------------------------------------ by Diane Silver dswriter@idir.net Copyright 1998 by author This detailed of a chronology might seem excessive even for a fan publication. However, I decided to do it after seeing one media report after another make outrageous errors about the simplest facts. I hope this will help set the record straight. OCTOBER 8 *About 3 pm Pacific Time While filming a Jay Leno skit, Lucy Lawless is injured when the horse she is riding slips. Several fans witness the accident, which occurs in the parking lot of the NBC Studios in Burbank, California. *About 5:30 pm Pacific Time Jay Leno tells the audience of his show that Lawless will not appear, but gives little detail except to say that she was injured while filming a skit and that she will recover. *About 6:30 pm Pacific Time Executive Producer Rob Tapert and Co-Executive Producer R.J. Stewart along with other Xena staff members visit fans at a Burbank restaurant. Tapert says that Lawless' pelvis is fractured and that she will recover fully. They say the recovery will take time, but they do not specify how long. *About 11 pm Pacific Time Robert Mellette posts the first notice from a staff member on the NetForum. Because MCA/Universal has forbidden staff to post to the NetForum, Mellette says he risks his job to update fans on Lawless' condition. Meanwhile, fans who were at the restaurant post reports of Tapert's comments on the NetForum and mailing lists. Fans also post their eyewitness accounts of the accident. *Throughout the Day Friends of a NetForum regular nicknamed "Roo" post the news that Roo has been injured in a car accident and is in a coma. OCTOBER 9 *Supervising Producer Steve Sears (Tyldus) posts to the XenaVerse mailing list about his visit with Lawless in the hospital. His post is then relayed by fans to other Xena lists and to the NetForum. Xena Editor Rob Field (Avicus) also posts and provides fans with a place to send get-well wishes. *MCA/Universal issues the first press release on the accident. The release provides few details and does little more than repeat Jay Leno's statement. *Fan accounts of the accident circulate online, while the regular news media generally ignore it. The first news reports come from the Entertainment Tonight TV show, which are far less detailed than the reports from fans on the Internet. *Throughout the day and for the next week, fans on the NetForum post prayers for Lawless and Roo. The prayers come from many faiths, including Christian, Native American and Wiccan. Within days, Roo awakens from the coma. Later, Lawless talks to Roo on the telephone. OCTOBER 16 *Lawless is released from the hospital and goes to recuperate in an undisclosed location in the Los Angeles area. OCTOBER 21 *Lawless thanks fans for their support via a message posted to the Internet by Sears. The statement is never released to the news media. OCTOBER 30 *Lawless appears on THE JAY LENO SHOW. NOVEMBER 1 (approximately) *Lawless flies home to New Zealand WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25 *Lawless returns to work to shoot THE QUEST. When Fantasy Meets Reality: The Aftermath of Lucy Lawless' Accident ---------------------------------------------- Diane Silver Copyright 1998 by author This isn't one story. Instead, it is a series of stories that are linked by one event: Lucy Lawless' October 1996 accident. One of those stories, of course, is Lawless' own tale of pain and recovery from a fractured pelvis, yet that is one story I wouldn't tell even if I had the information. Being a celebrity doesn't take away a person's right to privacy, although some media act as if it does. The part of Lawless' story, though, that is important to tell is its happy ending: She has recovered completely from the accident. Even without telling that one story, there are a host of others to tell: the story of fans who suddenly found their safe fantasy world confronted with reality, glimpses of what was happening behind the scenes, an illustration of the power of the Internet and the changes it is creating in society, and a look at media power and mistakes. THE FANS For one group of fans, the story is very personal because they saw the accident happen. They are among the 40-50 fans who traveled to Burbank to be in the TONIGHT SHOW audience. They had to stand in line to get tickets. Many were standing next to the parking lot, watching the filming of the skit, when the accident occurred. Some fans like Robbie (robbie@gte.net) were surprised by their reactions. "After seeing the horse fall and knowing that Lucy was not getting up, I got a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach," Robbie said. "I didn't eat for three days. That night, by the time I got back to my hotel, I couldn't sleep...I had trouble sleeping for a couple of weeks. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Lucy on the horse, ride down the driveway, stop, turn the horse, smile that beautiful smile of hers, wave and then turn the horse some more and urge it back up the driveway. As the horse turned, it slipped and down she went." One fan told me privately that the first few hours after the accident were very tense. Immediately after the horse fell, security guards moved fans away from the parking lot and closed a security gate, making it impossible for fans to see what was happening. The fans had no information about Lawless' condition until two hours later when they gathered for dinner at the Acapulco Restaurant across the street from the NBC Studios. Their dinner at the Acapulco had been arranged via the Internet. Soon after fans arrived, Executive Producer Rob Tapert and Co-Executive Producer R.J. Stewart along with other staff members joined them. Tapert said that Lawless had suffered a bump on the head and four to five pelvic fractures. He said she would recover fully, although the recovery would take time. He added that Lawless had insisted that he go to the restaurant to tell fans she was all right. After talking briefly about what fans might expect in future XWP episodes, Tapert left with Stewart. Their visit lasted about 20 minutes. "I thought it was exceedingly kind of Rob to come to talk to us," said DarkMuse (darkmuse@earthlink.net), "and the fact that it was at the apparent insistence of Lucy touched all of us more than I think most people can understand. It was obvious from every (Xena) staffer there that they truly cared about Lucy, that they, too, were fans." For other Xenites, their experience of this day was based solely on what happened online. By 11 p.m. Pacific Time on the day of the accident, eyewitness accounts were being posted o the Internet, Production Assistant Robert Mellette had posted to the NetForum under his handle of "Xenastaff," and fans were posting their accounts of Tapert's comments at the restaurant. Mellette talked about what online Xenadom was like that evening in an unpublished article he wrote about public relations and the Internet. "By 11 p.m. in Los Angeles when I first got to a computer to check the NetForum, THE TONIGHT SHOW had already aired throughout most of the country," Mellette said. "Fans from the east coast were staying up late to watch the NetForum for news. By the time I logged on, a fan had posted Tapert's announcement, but without any details, just that Lucy had a broken pelvis. "The rumors started. Many people thought this meant a crippling injury. They thought the horse had actually fallen on Lucy. And worst of all, they thought Leno was making fun of the accident. A 'flame war' (directed at Leno) via email and snail mail was in danger of kicking up." Over the next few days, online Xenadom was churning. Cloudcat (cloudcat@aol.com) described the range of reactions to the news. "There were fans who thought Lucy's injury was sad and wished her a speedy recovery," Cloudcat said. "There were fans who thought Lucy's injury was the most tragic event in the world. There were fans who were wondering what hospital to stake out to see if they could see Lucy, and there were fans speculating on who they would get to replace Lucy as Xena." For other fans, the period was doubly difficult because a well-known Xena fan had also been injured in an accident that was announced online that day. The fan, known by her nickname "Roo," would awaken from her coma in a few days. "The worst part was personal," said JulieCal2 (juliecal2@aol.com). Almost simultaneously we got the devastating post from Visitor that CToups (Roo) was in a serious auto accident. Roo was my very first and closest Xenite friend on the net. Her last email to me was only an hour or two before her accident. To learn that Roo had suffered severe head and injuries and was comatose crushed me to the core. The bulletins on the NetForum about both Lucy and Roo were running neck and neck. Will I ever forget that dreadful day? Never!" BEHIND THE SCENES Little is known publicly about what happened behind the scenes at Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal during this period, but glimpses can be seen in Mellette's unpublished article. Leno's announcement on the night of the accident was actually written by Leah Krantzler of The Lippin Group (XWP and HTLJ's public relation's agency) and Dan Filie of MCA/Universal TV. The announcement was coordinated with NBC. Krantzler and Filie wrote it in the hospital emergency room. "At the time the announcement was being put together, the diagnosis at the hospital was a bruised pelvis and a bump on the head," Mellette said. "About the time Leno was saying 'we hear she'll be fine' on the air, we learned at the hospital that her pelvis was fractured -- not crushed, not crippling, but certainly more than a bruise." At the time, RP (Renaissance Pictures) was told that it would take three months for Lawless to return to work, but that information was not cleared by MCA/Universal for public release. Mellette said one of RP's fears was that fans would take out their anger on Jay Leno and NBC by starting a hate-mail campaign. "Forget that sending hate mail to THE TONIGHT SHOW isn't a real good public relations move, and forget that we were going to have to go into delicate million-dollar insurance negotiations with NBC over having to shoot around our star for the next eight weeks; the fact is that Jay Leno and his staff were terrific. Some of the Xenites on the Leno staff felt terrible as they had begged to get her on the show." ================= CUT HERE =================== XENA MEDIA REVIEW #30 (04-15-97) Borg 01 of 11