THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS.... TWXN 60 01/03/96 Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR): http://xenafan.com/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. Editor Stuff: 1. Tom of Tom's Page (http://xenafan.com) has been taken prisoner by Betsy of the WHOOSH Page (http://www.thirdstory.com/whoosh); not only proving the superiority of WHOOSH over Tom's Page and the even greater one of women over men, but also causing a time lag for uploads to the XMR Archive at http://xenafan.com/whoosh. Please be patient. XMR #20 and all the little recent TWXNs' will get there eventually! 2. One week until the convention. Just in case no one is keeping a count down. [ ] 12-29-96 MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. Sunday. Page C1. 567 words. "Hey, Look-back-arena! The Shocking! The Predictable! The Unpredictable! The Wonderful! The Shameful! It's All Right Here In Our Wacky Recap of 1996. Read on . . ." COMMENTARY: In an article listing the events of 1996, we find another bizarre reference presenting SINBAD as being the equal of HTLJ and XWP. The MidWest seems to be currently hallucinating en masse. EXCERPT: ...COMEBACK KIDS Hercules, Sinbad, Xena: New life as TV gods... [ ] 12-29-96 USA WEEKEND. Sunday. Page 02. 1050 words."Who's news" By Lorrie Lynch COMMENTARY: A Q&A. EXCERPT: ...I'm a fan of the striking Lucy Lawless, whose syndicated action show, Xena: Warrior Princess, seems to get more popular all the time. Has Lawless recovered from the awful spill she took not long ago while taping a skit on horseback for Jay Leno's Tonight Show? L.G. Fitzpatrick, Newark, Del. Lawless, whose pelvis was fractured in four places, says doctors are astounded at her progress. And though she looked terrific when she made a post-accident appearance on Leno's show, she tells us she was in pain: "I had to lie down afterwards." Leno "was so nice to me," and his staff was "bloody fantastic" about handling medical insurance questions and such. Now at home in New Zealand, she swims as therapy. "My life has been on 'go slow.' I've had time to put my life in order, appreciate my mobility." Thousands of fans' get-well wishes have helped to cheer her. "I'm not an athlete," says Lawless, who nonetheless does most of Xena's stunts. "I was - till this job - uncoordinated."... [ a] 12-30-96 DAILY NEWS (New York). Monday. Page 14. 889 words. "Funny Business: Tales of Rockers and the Company They Keep" By George Rush and Joanna Molloy with Baird Jones COMMENTARY: The People On-Line Poll makes the print media!!! EXCERPT: ...We have seen the future, and the future is not Madonna, nor is it O.J. Simpson. Along with Barney, Simpson and the "Evita" star were voted the three "least intriguing" characters of 1996 by 6.7 million web-surfers polled by People Online. Most intriguing to the netheads was David ("X-Files") Duchovny and sci-fi stars Lucy ("Xena") Lawless and Adrian ("Highlander") Paul ... [ ] 01-01-97 LOS ANGELES TIMES. Wednesday. Page D2. 601 words. "Heard on the Beat / Travel & Tourism; California; 1996-97: Review and Outlook; Invasion of the Free-spenders; Southern California's Tourism Industry Enjoyed a Banner Year" By Nancy Rivera Brooks COMMENTARY: XWP show to be added to Universal Studios Theme Park in Hollywood in March. To bad it won't be open during the convention. EXCERPT: ...Universal Studios Hollywood in March will open an attraction tied to the Nickelodeon cable channel, add a stop on the tram tour based on the upcoming "Dante's Peak" volcano movie, and launch a Hercules and Xena show.... [ b] 01-01-97 THE BOSTON GLOBE. Wednesday. Page C2. 927 words. "HAL's time has come; Names & Faces" By Susan Bickelhaupt and Maureen Dezell COMMENTARY: More on the People On-Line Poll. Yes, we did "vote early and often", didn't we? EXCERPT: ...What do O.J. and Barney have in common? The editors of People selected the "25 Most Intriguing People of 1996," published their list in the issue now on newstands, then asked on-line users to name those they found most and least intriguing. Close to 7 million votes were cast during the two-week poll. Fans of the syndicated TV shows "Highlander" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" voted early and often for their heroes, and Adrian Paul ("Highlander") and Lucy Lawless ("Xena") topped the list. Fewer people bothered casting ballots for the "least intriguing" people of the year, but O.J. Simpson beat his competition handily, with 485,000 votes. TV's purple dinosaur, Barney, took second with 243,000.... [ ] 01-02-97 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 460 words. "Pedal push for foreign car ads" By Steve Brennan COMMENTARY: NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) mania is starting!!! The convention will run in New Orleans Jan 13-16. Lucy Lawless will be appearing along with Kevin Sorbo immediately after their weekend appearances at the Burbank Convention. This article focused on MCA's plan to woo foreign car manufacturers to buying ads for their shows, which include HTLJ and XWP. [ ] 01-02-97 CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Thursday. Page 6. 598 words. "Sorbo Looking to Stretch Beyond 'Hercules' Role" By Ian Spelling COMMENTARY: In article about Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless was mentioned in a promo of the upcoming convention: "Creation at the Airport Hilton in Burbank, Calif., featuring Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless; call 818-409-0960." [ ] 01-02-97 THE PLAIN DEALER. Thursday. Page 1E. 682 words. "Close the Door on '96 with Look at New Trends" By Janet McCue COMMENTARY: In an "Out and In" list for 1996, Ms. McCue wrote: "Susan Powter....Xena: Warrior Princess" [ ] 01-02-97. THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Thursday. Page C01, 842 words. "Upstart WNDY angles for bigger piece of pie" By Steve Hall COMMENTARY: The positive turn-around of a local non- network television station was credited to XWP and HTLJ: "In the last three months, viewership has grown from ratings of 1 and 2 to 3 and 4 for individual shows, bolstered by such syndicated programming as Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess."