THIS WEEK IN XENA  NEWS...  
TWXN 113
09/30/97


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. Laura Sue Dean has a spanking new "News Gossip
Rumor" up. Check it out at
http://www.thirdstory.com/whoosh/ngr/ngr07.html and do
not forget that WHOOSH #13 premieres tomorrow. It's the
rather large first anniversary edition. Yup, WHOOSH has
been around for over a year's worth of issues -- and
THEY thought it would never fly (or fry or somehting
like that).

2. All the recent positions adverstised for in recent
TWXNs have been filled. Thanks to all those who
applied. I appreciate it. 

3. XMR #28 is in preparation. It should come out
hopefully within a week or so. XMR #27 was released
09/23/97. If you missed it, I encourage you to check it
out at http://xenafancom/xmr and either save it or read
it on-line. The features include an essay pondering
what we did before before we had XWP, and another one
about Renee O'Connor. MEdia articles annotated
included: the first Rosie O show; several LL
interviews;andan interview with Liz Friedman.


And now, the stuff!


[    ]  05-11-97
   THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Sunday. Page F06. 1110
words. "Prime-time TV still a boys club" by Kinney
Littlefield, The Orange County Register
   COMMENTARY: This article is a tad schitzo-phrenic
(but then who isn't?). First it asks sadly "where are
the fledgling 'Xena' fans of tomorrow?" in context of
the dearth of programming available for girls; and yet
it turns around and accuses XENA of role modeling an
"adult-appealing Fantasy Female". In a way, this
dichotomy illustrates an important point of Ms.
Littlefield's article. 
   EXCERPT:
   Girls Not Welcome.
   That sign hangs over most of prime-time broadcast
television these days  and it's a shame.  Check your
weekly schedule and you'll see there are pitifully few
peer characters in prime time for girls 12-17 to
identify with, beyond magical Sabrina (Melissa Joan
Hart) on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," strong-minded
Moesha (Brandy Norwood) on "Moesha," and rather more
wishy-washy Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell (twins Tia
and Tamera Mowry) on "Sister, Sister. "
   And there are few changes in sight for fall.
   That's bad enough.  More unsettling are the results
of a recent media study called "Reflections of Girls in
the Media," sponsored by Oakland-based policy and
advocacy organization Children Now and the Kaiser
Family Foundation. 
   "Girls in the Media" shows that the image of women
on television needs serious help.  The salient finding:
Female characters, although frequently shown as strong,
intelligent, independent and honest, are far too likely
to be motivated by romance, shopping and their
appearance.
   And female characters are under-represented in prime
time...
   ...It's good to see the guys are iconoclastic enough
to appreciate bratty Bart and slobby Homer.  But where
are the fledgling "Xena" fans of tomorrow?
   FEW GIRL HEROES
   So kids are kids, teens are teens  and little girls 
who legendarily mature earlier than boys  soon become
bigger girls with boys on their mind.
   But it's sad that teen-age girls don't have better
examples to choose from, on TV anyway.
   Sure, you get occasional girl characters as fillers
and joke fodder on sophisticated sitcoms such as NBC's
"Something So Right. " There are the standard
dad-with-rebellious-daughter complications on "High
Incident," "Moloney" and "Nash Bridges"  always serving
the character development of Dad.
   And the industry does like cartoon girls  Lisa
Simpson on "The Simpsons" and Daria on edgy new "Beavis
and Butt-Head" spinoff "Daria" on MTV.
   But mostly girls stay in the background or become
adult-appealing Fantasy Females.  Skimpily dressed,
karate-kicking Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) on "Buffy
the Vampire Slayer" taps the same fantasy vein that
Lucy Lawless does on "Xena."
   Today there is no equivalent to searching,
thoughtful 15-year-old character Angela Chase (Claire
Danes) on late, lamented 1994-95 family drama "My
So-Called Life. "
   "Roseanne's" wonderfully annoying teen-ager Darlene
(Sara Gilbert) is now all grown up.  And "Roseanne"
airs its last episode May 20.
   Today when girls look for someone in prime time to
emulate, their choices are mostly adult, usually
sexually sophisticated and perhaps inappropriate. 
There are few comrades-in-hormones-and-homework to be
seen....


[    ] 05-11-97
   THE NEW YORK TIMES. Sunday. Section 2. Page 23. 1832
words. "Film. Now in a More Nuanced Role, Jason
Alexander as Anti-George" By BRUCE NEWMAN 
   COMMENTARY: A cultural reference regarding the lack
of clothing in XWP!
   EXCERPT:
   IT WOULD BE EASIER, OF COURSE, if he were a lesbian.
At the precise historic moment when lesbians have
become the very definition of outre hip in Hollywood,
Jason Alexander has chosen to out himself as a serious
actor in the film "Love! Valour! Compassion!" Replacing
the formidable Nathan Lane, who appeared on Broadway as
the screaming musical comedy queen Buzz, Mr. Alexander
is, however, one of America's most emphatically self-
declared non-lesbian, not-even-gay-if-you-must-know
actors. (He is also non-tall, non-thin and has a
nonexistent hairline, violating some of Hollywood's
truly sacred taboos.)...
   ...On television, Mr. Alexander has wielded his body
like a comic foil, rarely making it through a season of
"Seinfeld" without removing more of his clothing than
Xena, Warrior Princess. "I would love to drop 25 pounds
and buff up, though I don't know if that would help my
career at this point," he said. "I have fun with the
idea of being bald, being short and being chunky. I
guess if I thought of myself as funny-looking, I might
be more stigmatized by it. But I know where my
sexuality is, and I know where my attractiveness is. So
when I want to bend it toward the funny side, I have no
problem with that."...


[    ] 05-11-97
   THE BOSTON HERALD. Sunday. Page 006. 892 words. "TV
Plus. The look of prime time. How do TV's top stars
rate on our experts' fashion meter?" By Mark A.
Perigard
   COMMENTARY: It is May, so fashion news is supreme!
   EXCERPT:
   Trailblazer or dead-end?
   Fashion find or fashion victim?
   Which TV belong at the end of the runway -- and
which ones look like they just got off the expressway?
   The Herald recently convened a crack team of Boston
fashion, hair and make-up experts to rate the look of
TV's top stars. The panel considered the styles of cop
shows, teen dramas, nighttime soaps, sitcoms and
adventure series. They examined dozens of pictures of
leading ladies, heroic men and randy teens to determine
who's worthy of a beauty sash and who needs to be
rushed into the nearest operating room for corrective
image surgery....
   ...And in the battle of the mythic heroes, there
could only be one winner: Lucy Lawless' "Xena: Warrior
Princess" knocked Kevin Sorbo's "Hercules" right into
fashion rehab.
   "Her heavy bangs bring out her checkbones,"
Hovermale said. "You can't wear bangs like that if you
have an ounce of fat on you. They accentuate the angles
of her face and her body."
   Sorbo, meanwhile, comes across as too soft for the
half-god he was supposed to be playing -- a
Fabio-wanna-be in tunic and leather trousers. Maybe,
Connor commented, "he's getting in touch with his
feminine side. He's the Hercules of the '90s."


[    ] 05-12-97
   ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Monday. Page 1D. 489 words.
"The Cat on the Hat" By Pamela Davis
   COMMENTARY: A prom dress from Hell.
   EXCERPT:
   ...Xena's warrior prom dress 
    Who would be more proud of this one - Martha
Stewart or Bob Vila?
   Elizabeth R. Frey, 17, of Red Lion, Pa., combined
fashion sense with  common sense when she created her
prom dress.
   Instead of making a dress from fabric scraps, the
high school junior welded  together scrap metal to form
a mighty attractive prom night armor.
   Looking a lot like Xena, TV's warrior princess, Frey
might have had to pump a little iron before her prom;
the dress weighs 5 pounds.
   Unlike most prom frocks, this one has endless
recycling potential.
   She could play the Tin Man in her school's
production of The Wizard of Oz. She could turn the
dress into hundreds of earrings.
   Or, she could go back to the metal shop and fashion
a bunch of cookie cutters. Martha Stewart would be so
proud....
   ...GRAPHIC:...
   ...Elizabeth R. Frey wears the prom dress she
created by welding scrap metal together into a
Zena-type armor....
 

[  h] 05-12-97
   THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. Page C6. 450 words.
"Top of the Sixth" By Tom FitzGerald
   COMMENTARY: More on the Red Wings game. I am sure
this will make YOUR day.
   EXCERPT:
   ...LAWLESS-NESS STEALS THE SHOW: Lucy Lawless, who
portrays Xena, Warrior Princess, on the TV show, sang
the national anthem at an NHL playoff game last week in
Anaheim. She was wearing a tight bustier and when she
finished singing, she threw her arms up in exuberance.
Suddenly she was topless -- for one brief,
shining moment -- in front of thousands of fans. Says
Jay Leno: ''Even Eddie Murphy could tell she was a
woman.''



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! 

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 (thanks Tim
Smith!). 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". 


