THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS....
TWXN 53
12/22/96

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 RAMBLINGS:
   1. TWXN NEWS: I am still behind (this is news?), but
I am anticipating catching up before the new year. Wish
me luck!
   2. WEBSITE MOVE: New place for the XMR and TWXN
archives!!! Visit http://xenafan.com/xmr and peruse our
back issues. Thanks Tom!
   3. XMR NEWS: XMR #20 may be done before the end of
the year. It seems all my e-mail buddies have left
their computers at home while holiday visiting and I
seem to have all this time suddenly on my hands. 
   4. IAXS NEWS: WHOOSH #4 will be released on-line
January 1, 1997, at this site:
http://www.thirdstory.com/whoosh. Be there or be
square.
   5. CONVENTION UPDATE: All my great plans have been
scrapped! No convention web page while the con is going
on (I decided, heck, I am going to run around and be
silly at the convention, not actually DO ANY WORK!!!)
HOWEVER, I am planning on making WHOOSH #5 the official
WHOOSH Convention Souvenir edition. Everything about
the convention will be covered in excruciating
detail!!! So, if you are going to the con and need to
get in a paper or have always wondered what it would be
like to be a member of fifth estate, contact me and get
your official XMR/WHOOSH press credentials and sign up
for what you want to cover.
   6. CONVENTION PARTY NEWS: Open house at my hotel
room 6-10pm on Friday and Sunday nights. We will have
non-stop videos of XWP and interviews. Bring your own
drink and something to pass around. Drop by and say,
"My name is ---, and I am a Xenamaniac!" Friday is the
Welcome to the Madhouse night and Sunday will be the
IAXS/XMR "Meet the Board" night. 
   7. Remember, if you respond to anything by me on a
mailing list, please also send it to my address
(ktaborn@lightspeed.net). That way I will know you
wrote. Thanks.


And now...what was in the news:

[   m] 12-08-96
   THE WASHINGTON POST. Sunday. Page F01. 948 words.
"Actionable Figures" By Tony Kornheiser
   COMMENTARY: This article supports Rev. Rose's annual
list of unsuitable toys.
   EXCERPT:
   The other day I heard on the radio that some
preacher from New England was flogging his list of the
10 most morally unsavory Christmas toys. The Rev.
Christopher L. Rose apparently does this every year,
identifying toys he considers mean, violent, sexist or
otherwise harmful.
   I thought to myself: Here is yet other
sanctimonious, self-appointed custodian of public
morality who is going to tell us we must ban all
Slinkys because they remind children of the evil
serpent from the Garden of Eden, or that Road Runner
cartoons will induce children to run headlong into
canyon walls. Listen, I am basically for free trade and
free expression. If it were not for free expression, I
could not write that Ralph Reed is a weird little
weenie who looks like Pee-wee Herman and appears to
need an enema real bad, now could I? 
   Anyway, I figured the Rev. Christopher L. Rose was
going to be a Ralph Reed sort of character, but when he
listed his bad toys I realized the man has a point....
   ...Then, there is Xena II, from Toy Biz's "Hercules,
the Legendary Journeys" toy series. ("Hercules, the
Legendary Journeys": That sounds like a greatest-hits
album. Sort of like "Sinatra, My Sleaziest Saloons.")
Xena is a voluptuous doll, but that is not the Rev.
Rose's problem with her. Lord knows, I am in favor of
voluptuous dolls. Xena, though, includes instructions
on how to remove her bra. (I wonder if they advise you
to buy her a couple of drinks first.) No change of
clothing is supplied, Rose says. Unsnapping her bra is
the only "action" recommended for this action figure.
   I never had a toy that advised me to disrobe it. The
package containing G.I. Joe didn't say, "Remove Joe's
skivvies." Most of us got G.I. Joe to see him fight the
Nazis, not turn to the side and cough...


[   ] 12-08-96
   THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Sunday. Page K08. 2010
words. ""the Web: Adding Depth to Sites" By Stephen
Lynch
   COMMENTARY: In an interview with the president of
Mustang Software about chat programs currently used on
the web and the software Mustang is developing, the
observation was made that most of what was on the web
were "computerized billboards, vacant and hardly
interactive" and that "most Web sites make 'Xena:
Warrior Princess' look like quality programming."


[   ] 12-09-96
    VARIETY. Page 37. 671 words. "'Oprah' reigns,
'Rosie' gains in syndie sweeps" By Jenny Hontz
   COMMENTARY: November 1996 sweeps results!
   EXCERPT:
   ...during the four weeks overlapping its first
November sweep...
   ...Among the weeklies, Par's "Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine" took the top spot at 6.6, off 10% from last year.
MCA TV's "Hercules" (5.9) also fell 5%, but "Xena"
(5.7) was up 6%, and it hit an all-time high of 6.3 in
the latest week. All American's "Sinbad" (3.1) led the
new weeklies, trailed by Rysher's "FX The Series" (3.0)
and MTM's "The Cape" (2.7)...


[    ] 12-09-97
   LOS ANGELES TIMES. Monday. Page F4. 562 words. "The
Reverend's Special Sets a Network Asunder. CBS' Ratings
Are Especially Hard Hit as Affiliates Around the Nation
Preempt Regular Series to Show Billy Graham's 'A Season
for Peace.' By Brian Lowry
   COMMENTARY: In an article about how the seasonal
Billy Graham specials mess up network ratings across
the nation, the article reported that "Locally, the
initial special was shown Saturday on KTLA-TV Channel
5, preempting the popular syndicated program 'Xena:
Warrior Princess.'"


[    ] 12-09-96
   ELECTRONIC MEDIA. Page 6. 520 words. "Distributors
Find Cable Fruitful." By Greg Spring  
   COMMENTARY: In an article how "distributors are now
using cable outlets to place first-run programming and
to develop programming for national syndication", XWP
was mentioned in passing in context with MCA's planned
syndicated release of 'Escape from Atlantis' as a pilot
in late 1997. The pilot will first be released by
Starz!/Encore cable outlets first in March 1997. "While
MCA has regularly launched syndicated action series
such as 'Xena: Warrior Princess' after a two-hour movie
pilot proved successful in syndication, this is the
first time the pilot will get a cable window first."
   The humor of this is that XWP was never launched as
a two-hour movie pilot. Xena, the character, was
introduced in one episode of HTLJ titled WARRIOR
PRINCESS, and then followed a month or so later by a
two-parter titled THE GAUNTLET and UNCHAINED HEART. The
exists no two-hour episodes of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.
There are some episodes which are clearly presented as
a set, but even those sport different names and can
stand alone as drama.
