THIS WEEK IN THE XENA NEWS....
TWXN #18
08/19/96


Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (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's whine: XMR (Xena Media Review) will rise
again. Just be patient please. Instead of being weekly
though, XMR hitherforth shall be "when the mood hits
Kym". Unfortunately, before I start on XMR #17, I want
to get caught up on the TWXN, go through the XMR mail,
and then write about the XenaFest and my various
revelations during my sojourn. Want to hear good news? 
I wrote a whole paragraph of the editorial during
lunch. Can you wait? I hope so. Lots of good stuff
coming up in XMR. So puh-lease...stay tuned. Thanks.  


[Tentative 335c] 07-22-96
   VARIETY. Page 26. 196 words. "Nielsen Syndication
Ratings"
   COMMENTARY:  Mortal Beloved, 07/01/96; second
release [original release 2/12/96, 5.5 rating]; HTLJ
was ranked 1st action hour, overall 7th with 5.3;
ST:DS9 ranked 2nd, overall 9th with 5.1; and XWP ranked
3rd, overall tied 10th with Entertainment Tonight with
4.9. No other action hours ranked in the top twenty.


[Tentative 338f]  07-26-96
   THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Friday. TV Notes. Page 4. 601
words. "Astrodome lauded as GOP's '92 site" By Ann
Hodges and Mike McDANIEL
   COMMENTARY: Short blurb on the USA Network deal
which allows USA to start showing XWP on weekdays
starting September 1998.


[   ] 07-22-96
   PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. Vol. 243. No. 30. Page 206. 6605
words. "Sneak previews: Spring 1997 children's books.
Bibliography" By Alison Stone.
   COMMENTARY: In a listing of children's books
scheduled for Spring 1997 release, Ru Emerson's "Xena:
Warrior Princess, with The Huntress and the Sphinx" was
mentioned under the Berkley/ Boulevard publishers. 


[   ] 07-22-96
   PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. Vol. 243. No. 30. Page 158. 50238
words. "Children's books for fall. Includes profiles of
selected books; Cover Story Bibliography" By Sally
Lodge and Shannon Maughan.    
   COMMENTARY: In a listing of children's books
scheduled for Fall 1996 release, Ru Emerson's "The
Empty Throne" was mentioned under the Berkley/
Boulevard publishers and priced at $5.99 and stated
that it was geared for ages 13 and up.
   Also mentioned was Random House's XWP Picturebacks
paperback series with Kerry Milliron's adaptations of
"Queen of the Amazons" and "Princess in Peril", both
listed at $ 3.25 each, and geared towards the ages 4-6.


[   ] 07-22-96
   DRUG TOPICS. Vol. 140. No. 14. Page 30. 543 words.
"What's a professional duty? Pharmacists' nonprofes-
sional tasks" By Jim Plagakis
   COMMENTARY: In an exposee about the abuse of
pharmacists, the author referred to a woman who was
considered quite brave in insisting upon taking two
nine-minute breaks a day. The author wrote: "She has
set her feet with courage. I want to call her Xena the
Warrior Princess, but I think she is settling for
scraps."


[Tentative 340a] 07-26-96
   THE TAMPA TRIBUNE. Friday. Baylife. Page 2. 405
words. "Someone strong" By Mike O'Neill.
   COMMENTARY: Extended mention of the XWP appearance
on Ms. Magazine's cover and magazine (tentaive XMR322).
Mentioned highlights of magazine article: most faithful
viewers 18 to 34; lots of young girl fans; Lawless does
not consider self a feminist even though feminists
identify with her character. Graphic was of Lucy
Lawless.


[Tentative 340b] 07-26-96
   ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS. Friday. Page 21H. 334 words.
"Kneel Down, Bookworm; Browser" By Bruce Barcott.
   COMMENTARY: Extended summary of the article about
XWP found in the August/September Ms. Magazine
(tentative XMR332).  


[   ] 07-26-96
   STAR TRIBUNE. Page 19A. 734 words. "Obviously, Being
a Nielsen Household Is an Incredible Responsibility;
It's Too Important for Us to Record the Shows We Really
Watch" By Mark DePaolis
   COMMENTARY: A "Nielsen household" viewer 'fessed up
about his phobia of being a XWP watcher. Mr. DePaolis
stated, "Obviously, being a Nielsen household is an
incredible responsibility, much too important for us to
record the shows we really watch. I don't want the TV
people to know that we watch "Xena, Warrior Princess"
every time it comes on, which, thanks to cable, is 17
times a week."
   His next explicit mention was, "Actually, except for
'Xena,' we didn't watch much TV this week, especially
since we never watch the Olympics (I would, however,
have watched every minute of 'Xena at the Olympics')."  
  

[   ] 09-01-96
   MAD. No. 349. September 1996. Page 33. --- words.
"Jerkules & Zima" By Angelo Torres and Dick Debartolo.
   COMMENTARY: Had I read this before the Cracked
Monster Party parody "Eczema: Wearisome Princess"
(tentative XMR295, 06-01-96), I would have accused MAD
of being puerile and insipid. However, since "Jerkules
& Zina" appeared afterwards, the MAD parody came off
rather erudite and subtle. 
   The piece was chockfull of jokes such as "I am Zima,
the mighty princess warrior who uses all of my power
and courage to really stuff a bra! Like Jerkules, I'm
strong, quick to fight and slow to register any sort of
emotion or acting talent! But who really cares? My
Amazon legs are famous for letting me flip in the hair
and getting horny viewers to flip to whatever channel
I'm flashing on!"; and "I'm Zima's side-kick, Grabby! I
help her battle the demons from the dark and deep
depths and take on the armies of evildoers! But my most
important job is to help her handle sentences of more
than five words."
  The parody continued in the same vein, until a high
point was reached: the gang, while looking for Mazola,
the husband of Jergens, Queen of Moisturizers, located
Crisco and Pam first. 
  The low point was no doubt where Zima smited a highly
appreciative warrior with her breasts.
   Interestingly enough, all the gay jokes (and there
were quite a few of them) were aimed at Hercules and
Iolaus and not Xena and Gabrielle. 


Until next time,

Kym