THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... TWXN 111 09/23/97 Tuesday The advance sheet of XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. From the editor: 1. I need MORE volunteers! This is news? I could use help in posting TWXN on the NetForum, Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. If anyone who frequents any of these places would be so kind as to post TWXN for me, I would be greatly appreciative!!! If you want to join the family here at Bill Gates, oops, I mean, Kym Taborn Labors of Love (I would prefer the Satellite of Love, but we all know HOW THOSE things go), then e-mail me at...where else... ktaborn@lightspeed.net and tell me that YOU want to help me in my quest for total world domination. 2. I am still puttering around with XMR #27 but it looks like it has a great chance of going out either today or tomorrow (or I might opt to take out some time to eat and then it may go out Thursday...). WHOOSH #13 will be released on October 1st. Big week: the beginning of the new XWP season, Renee O'Connor's first convention appearance, and WHOOSH's first year anniversary issue. Be still my heart. 3. WARNING: We begin coverage of the Red Wings incident. And now here's the news: [ ] 05-08-97 THE TIMES UNION (Albany, NY). Thursday. Page D1. 1060 words. "Telejoke Inside jokes have been around for years, but only the true teleliterate get them" By Rob Owen. TV/Radio writer COMMENTARY: This is actually a fascinating book and Bianculli is onto something here. It sure helps is understanding why XWP seems so dumb and so hip at the same time. EXCERPT: Sometimes art imitates life imitating art. Take tonight's ''Seinfeld,'' for instance. Kramer leads a bus tour of sites mentioned in the autobiography of catalog guru J. Peterman the fictional J. Peterman, not the real one. The storyline is a parody of Kenny Kramer the real Kramer, not the fictional one who gives tours of ''Seinfeld'' sites in Manhattan. Confused yet? Although it's not necessary to know that this ''Seinfeld'' (9 p.m. on WNYT, Ch. 13) spoofs the guy who inspired one of its characters, being aware of the background adds to the fun. Understanding such jokes is a sign of ''teleliteracy,'' according to New York Daily News TV critic David Bianculli, author of the 1992 book ''Teleliteracy'' ($ 12, Touchstone) and ''Dictionary of Teleliteracy'' ($ 29.95, Continuum), published last year. Bianculli contends that inside jokes, recurring characters and humor involving multiple levels of reality make TV more enjoyable for both viewers and a show's writers. Bianculli said such elements are present in shows ranging from ''The Simpsons'' to ''Chicago Hope'' to ''Xena: Warrior Princess.'' [ ] 05-08-97 THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Thursday. Sports. Page D13. 734 words. "Hebert likely to sit out at least one more game to get healthy. Ducks Notes: The All-Star goaltender is optimistic, but Coach Wilson said he won't play until Game 5 at the earliest" By Cammy Clark; Earl Bloom, The Orange County Register COMMENTARY: A unique article in that it does not mention Ms. Lawless' unfortunate incident. EXCERPT: ...Wilson was obviously unfamiliar with Lucy Lawless, who sang the national anthem Tuesday night at The Pond. "I thought it was Wonder Woman," Wilson said of the actress who plays Xena Warrior Princess on television.... [ b] 05-08-97 THE DETROIT NEWS. Thursday. Sports. Page F3. 569 words. "NHL Insider" by John Niyo & Cynthia Lambert COMMENTARY: But, the Detroit news noticed! EXCERPT: ...There were other celebrity sightings -- not the least of which was Lucy Lawless (a.k.a. Xena, the Warrior Princess), who provided an accidental striptease during an awful rendition of the national anthem... [ c] 05-08-97 THE DETROIT NEWS. Thursday. Page C1. 317 words. "Lawless wakes with realization she had flashed a TV audience" By Tim Kiska. Detroit News Television Writer COMMENTARY: REPRINT: Lucy Lawless stars in "Xena Warrior Princess." She bared a breast as she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the Red Wings playoff game Tuesday night. By Tim Kiska Detroit News Television Writer Last week, Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet. This week, Lucy Lawless -- star of TV's campy Xena: Warrior Princess -- came out of her costume. The star had been tapped to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" at Tuesday night's Detroit Red Wings-Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey playoff game, which was televised locally on Channel 50 (WKBD). Lawless was almost finished when her top popped out of her gaudy, tight-fitting, flag-striped costume, which she described to WOMC-FM (104.3) radio host Dick Purtan Thursday morning as "Uncle Sam meets Hugh Hefner." Channel 50 viewers apparently took the incident in stride (the station got only one complaint call, and 10 from folks wanting a rebroadcast). But producers were stunned as Lawless' breast waved in the air while she concluded with "... home of the brave." "Coronary failure," was how Toby Cunningham, in charge of Wings' broadcasts for Channel 50, described his feelings in the control booth in Anaheim. "I saw my career pass before me. I was stunned, to tell you the truth. "I've never seen anything like this at a sporting event," Cunningham, who has been involved in televising hockey for 20 years, added in a phone call. He quickly ordered cameras shifted to a less revealing angle. The event came full circle on Purtan's show Wednesday. WOMC sports director Mark Andrews had approached the Wings last December about getting a guest national anthem shot for Lawless, whom he knows through his wife, Amy. Mark Andrews then got Lawless on the telephone with Purtan to talk about the breast incident. As Lawless told Purtan: "I'm just waking up with the shocking news that I've been flashing on national television." [ d] 05-08-97 DAILY NEWS (New York). Thursday. Page 114. 787 words. "early look at what peacock is hatching for its fall Sked" COMMENTARY: EXCERPT: ...Tube topper Yes, sports fans, that was "Xena" beauty Lucy Lawless popping out of her top on last night's WNBC/Ch. 4 sportscasts... The leggy Lawless was on the ice Tuesday night to sing the national anthem before the Detroit-Anaheim NHL playoff game. Lawless, wearing a bustier-type outfit, raised her hands to hit a high note, and, whoops. Ch. 4 aired the clip during the sports segment with a black bar across her bosom.... [ ] 05-08-97 DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. 1592 words. "TV creatures gang up on film monsters" By Simon Bacal. COMMENTARY: Some interesting side comments about special effects production for XWP. REPRINT: When it comes to today's film and TV monsters, Hollywood's growing group of creature creators is using a wide variety of techniques to conjure up some challenging, imaginative and gut-wrenching fright sights... ...Equally challenging are television's expanding plethora of digital devils --- even though there are major differences between their conception and that of feature film effects... ..."TV and feature work are on opposite sides of the spectrum," says Kevin Kutchaver, who with partners Kevin O'Neill and Doug Beswick heads Flat Earth Prods., a company that uses Macintosh and Carrera Alpha systems and such software as Newtek's Lightwave 3-D to invoke the digital creatures seen in the fantasy shows "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." "When we receive the script, we often have about five weeks to deliver the final render --- about half the schedule of some feature films," says Kutchaver, whose budget can reach $ 130,000 within a single episode. "On the bigscreen, a flying skeleton --- one of our many creatures --- would probably reach down and grab an actor in one shot, but in a TV show that skeleton can only fly down and take a swipe at somebody --- thanks to tighter time constraints."... ... [ e] 05-09-97 THE TORONTO SUN. Friday. Sports. Page 126. 783 words. "the Last Word" By Bill Lankhof, Toronto Sun COMMENTARY: The last of today's Red Wings games coverage. EXCERPT: ...BREAST OF MIGHTY DUCK: The Red Wings-Ducks series gets a Triple X-rating. First we have sexcapades in the back rows of Joe Louis Arena. Prior to Game 3, as Lucy Lawless, star of Xena: Warrior Princess, finished the national anthem with a wave, she became, ahem ... Lucy Braless. She fell out of her top. Oh say, can you see? ... Too much! Detroit's Channel 50 got a TV lens full of breast. "I've never seen anything like this at a sporting event,'' said production manager Toby Cunningham. Actually, some of us have never seen anything like this anywhere. The station got one complaint. Oh, and 10 viewers wanted a replay... ...NOTES: Oh baby, local gal getting graphic in a BIG way ... Xena star has... NOTICES: All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at (http://xenafan.com/xmr). We herein give praise and thanks to Tom Simpson for the space he has graciously donated from his spectacular, TOM'S XENA PAGE (http://xenafan.com). If you have never been there, you are **not** a xenafan! And congrats on Tom finding the woman of his dreams. I wish them all the happiness in the world and look forward to the wedding of the decade. TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR, an 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. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted regularly on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia! I am greatly indebted to you), the MCA NetForum, the Xenite Message Center, and alt.tv.xena. I also would like to thank sirvin@law.wfu.edu for assistance in collecting the newstories. For a free e-mail subscription to XMR subscribe by e-mail to ktaborn@lightspeed.net by stating somewhere in the subject or text "sub xmr".