THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS....
TWXN 32
10/09/96

Brought to you by Xena: Media Review (XMR):
http://www.teleport.com/~gater/IAXS/IAXS.html

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:
  Whew! I had to take another day off after yesterday. I attended
the Jay Leno taping and the subsequent party at Acapulco and it
was a day of incredible ups and downs. I have been requested to
do a report on it for XMR #18 which is still in production hell.
I am anticipating an optimistic release date for XMR #18 sometime
next week. 
  On-line Whoosh! #2 (accessible from the IAXS page) will be
released in a week on 10/17/96. The articles include, but are not
limited to: law and economics in XWP, Gabrielle as the true hero
of XWP, and whether Xena was really ever THAT evil (not to
mention the Annotated Warrior Princess Guide and The Battle of
Corinth Part 2!). 
   Sorry about the length of this one, but the Littlefield
article deserved attention.
   Anything else? I hope not. I am going back to bed!
--Kym


[   ] 09-30-96
   ELECTRONIC MEDIA. Page 3. 707 words. "'Rosie' Rules
as Summer First-run"
   COMMENTARY: According to Nielsen Media Research's
Cassandra Ranking Report for July 1996, the action
line-up ranked as follows: ST:DS9 (4.0/5, No. 16); HTLJ
(3.9/6, tie for No. 17); XWP (3.8/6, No. 20); and
Baywatch (3.4/6, tie for No. 27). 
   The July book is generally considered the least
relevant of the year because of (1) reruns, (2) lower
television viewership and, at least this summer, (3)
the unusual competition of the Olympic Games. 


[   a] 10-03-96
   DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. Page 3. 1000 words. "No
Ratings Payoff for New Syndie Gamers. Talk Losing
Streak. New Syndies Fail to Make Dent in Nielsens" By
Jenny Hontz
   COMMENTARY: IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (#24),
2nd release, 09/16/96. Ranked as the third action hour
with a 4.3 rating. (HTLJ took 1st place with a 5.2 and
ST:DS9 took 2nd with a 5.1. Other action hours: FX: The
Series earned 2.5; Two earned 2.4; Bounty Hunters
earned 1.4; TV.Com earned 1.2; The Cape was
reprocessed.). [DOCTOR's 1st release (07/29/96)
ratings: HTLJ took 1st with a 4.5; XWP took 2nd with a
4.0; and ST:DS9 took 3rd with a 3.9.] 


[   a] 10-03-96
   THE BALTIMORE SUN. Thursday. Page 3E. 486 words.
"Suddenly, 'Susan' Feels like We've Seen it Before" By
Chris Kaltenbach
   COMMENTARY: "Myth and mirth" was used to describe
XWP and HTLJ. Short description of season opener: "Xena
has a pleasant reunion with her son, who has sworn to
kill her."


[   b] 10-04-96
   NEWSDAY. Friday. Page B52. 182 words. "TV this
Weekend"
   COMMENTARY: After offering the date and channel for
XWP in New York (Saturday, WPIX/11 at 9 p.m.), the
paper noted that HTLJ and XWP were "two of the most
successful syndicated action-adventure hours".


[   c] 10-04-96
   STAR TRIBUNE. Page 1E. 647 words. "On tap: Movies"
   COMMENTARY: Passing mention of the new season.



[   ] 10-04-96
   THE VANCOUVER SUN. Friday. Page C3. 377 words. "Bound to
titillate a few" By Peter Birnie
   COMMENTARY: In a review of the movie "Bound", starring
Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, the reviewer wrote: "Larry and
Andy Wachowski write and direct Gershon's character with less
femininity than Xena, leading to the suspicion that this slick
mix of female skin and glistening guns is less for lesbians than
men in need of a little fantasy." 
   He also compared the Gershon character to Xena: "Jennifer
Tilly has never been in stronger hands as Gershon's muscles, tank
top and plumbing skills make her the warrior to free the fair,
breathy maiden next door."
   The reviewer not only used Xena as a yardstick whether the
film was intended for a lesbian or a male heterosexual audience,
but he also attempted to compare the screen relationship to that
of the Xena-Gabrielle relationship in XWP.      
   This is an example of a sophisticated allusion which is now
beginning to be seen more commonly in the media. This evidences
not only a journalist who is familiar with the nuances of the
show, but also exhibits an anticipation that the audience shares
the same with them. 


[    ] 10-04-96
   THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Friday. Page F11. 1190 words. "The
Adventure Continues for 'Xena'; Profile: Lucy Lawless, Who Plays
the Terminator-in-a-bustier Heroine, Dishes the New Season" By
Kinney Littlefield
   COMMENTARY:   In a very compact interview while in Universal
City (home office of Renaissance Pictures, the production team
behind XWP), Lucy Lawless spilled the beans about the next season
and offered her views on fan-opinings about the show.  Although a
very action-packed interview, Kenney Littlefield did not delve
into any analysis or offer anything with more depth than spoilers
and cute quotes from Lawless. 
   Ms. Littlefield is a good example of the new type of reporter
who not only reports on XWP, but obviously watches and enjoys it
too. This is clear through her previous articles. Her previous
articles included (1) an interview with Kevin Sorbo (XMR092: 12-
03-95, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, "'Hercules' star Sorbo plays it
cool"), (2) positive mentionings of XWP (XMR112: 12-24-95, ORANGE
COUNTY REGISTER, "A Look Back at '95 Television; One Trying Year;
1995"; XMR271: 05-04-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, and "We're Outta
Here"; 09-01-96, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "Critical Choices; So
much TV, so little time."), (3) her weird fantasy about Chuck
Norris and Lucy Lawless hosting the Oscars (XMR208: 03-24-96,
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, "Oscar program as it really should be
done") and (4) her casual reference to XWP in describing people
in other reviews (Tentative XMR326: 07-04-96, ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER, "Summer on the Set"). 
   Littlefield described XWP as "part sexy action show, part sly
pop-culture parody", and evidenced the show's rising popularity
by listing all the TV parodies of the show this season so far: 
"Something So Right" and "Almost Perfect".
   Littlefield also brought up the issue of Xena and Gabrielle's
relationship and reported that this "season the
are-they-or-aren't-they? adventures continue."
   Also discussed was the great moral shift of Xena, the humor
latent in the show, the moment Ms. Lawless' decided to pursue
acting, her brief career as a miner, her break into professional
acting, her daughter Daisy, why she was currently reading
psychology books, and some spoilers about the second season of
XWP and a guy named Julius.
   More detailed spoilers were given about:
   "Xena Scrolls," "a parody of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'
Lawless and O'Connor play the descendants of Xena and Gabrielle
in the 1940s.  Here O'Connor is the hero, the Indiana Jones
character popularized by Harrison Ford, and Lawless is the
sidekick, a ditzy Southern belle."
   "Orphan of War" "the season premiere...Xena trounces evil
marauders and re-encounters her son Solan, 9,  shades of her
daughter, Daisy,  whom she left with Centaurs for his protection
shortly after birth." [editor's note, Solan was left with
centaurs, not Lawless' real daughter, Daisy]
   "Remember Nothing," "Xena rules again what else? and is
granted a fateful wish that will change the course of her life."
   Also Littlefield promoted Lawless' ill-fated Jay Leno
appearance: "On Tuesday she is slated to appear on NBC's 'The
Tonight Show With Jay Leno.' Watch for a silly Xena skit." That
silly skit was where Ms. Lawless fractured her pelvis after
falling off a horse causing her an extended stay in the States
and to miss the resumption of filming in New Zealand (can you say
ATHENS CITY AND THE PRODIGAL, PART DEUX?).
   Lawless quotes: 
   "Xena is so completely unlike me, I think she's a hoot"
   "I'm notoriously hard to hear." (discussing her lack of
projection).
   "I know, I know...I don't know how to deal with that.  People
keep coming up to me and saying, 'I thought you were bigger.'
They may think Xena is real, but she is not reality to me.  I use
just a sliver of myself to play her.  She is just so dour and
humorless, so ironical. But I'm not going to fight it.  I guess I
just have to run with it now.  I, Lucy Lawless, am going to be
held up as some sort of role model, along with Xena herself. "
   "Well, apropos of the special relationship between Xena and
Gabrielle, Gabrielle gets married. As Gabrielle is saying
goodbye, Xena kisses her and Gabrielle hands over the bouquet 
and Xena goes, 'Ha, ha.' That was my idea, that one which is
probably why I think it's so d**n funny. It's just part of
broadening people's horizons. You know, the show has been
embraced by a lot of political groups with its biracial angle and
its feminist angle, although I've never had any political
pretensions."
   "There is a huge lesbian community that's right behind us and
we certainly don't want to lock anybody out from our show,
either. Renee went home (to Texas) and said, 'You know, there's
all this talk about the lesbian element,' and people said, 'What
are you talking about?' That just made Renee and I howl with
laughter.  So if you don't want to see it, you probably won't. 
If you do, you possibly will.  Maybe we like to give our
audiences what they didn't know they wanted.  Then again, just
when they think they've got us pegged, aha!"
   "I went to Catholic school, where at 8 or 9 I discovered how
cool it was to be a dunce, because you could get away with so
much by just pretending to be a dummy.  The next year, I
discovered acting when we did a dramatized version of the story
of the prodigal son.  I was the woman who met him on the road and
stiffed him out of his coins and clothes, that felt really good.
And now I happen to be working with people (executive producers
Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi) who also have that twisted humor."
   "...taking dirt samples, jumping over lizards and snakes and
pushing ore through a diamond saw" (describing her previous
career)
   "...to see what makes people tick and me, too." (explaining
why she's reading psychology books now)
   "Xena's got a very wide universe, but Lucy doesn't really at
all. If you saw Xena when she first emerged in 'Hercules,' she'd
really use her sexuality.  She was far more of a vixen.  We go
back and explore that.  We meet her when she was merely
imperialistic, prior to her going really off the deep end.  We go
back and meet the guy who really sent her over the edge  whose
name is Julius.  I'm not telling you his surname."
   "We get all these flashbacks about how all this was supposed
to happen.  And they only burn Renee's character up, driving a
wedge between them." (discussing the episode "Xena Scrolls")
   "That's another thing that will be happening this season 
there's a schism in their relationship, between Xena and
Gabrielle." 



[   ] 10-08-96
   JAY LENO SHOW. NBC. 11:35pm. TV Show.
   COMMENTARY: Scheduled to be interviewed by Jay Leno with at
least 40 fans in attendence, Lucy Lawless injured herself while
filming a skit at a little before 3pm of the day of the taping.
Some fans were witnesses to the injury. Jay Leno mentioned the
injury on his show and expressed hope that Ms. Lawless would be
able appear again on the show in the future. After the taping,
Rob Tappert and R.J. Stewart, executive producers of XWP, assured
fans that it was not a serious set-back, and that the fans had
some heavy Gabrielle episodes to look forward to around Jan-Feb
of 1997.
