     _____               ______                               ._
     `\`/>`\            /`/` /`__________,.'>___      _____   )~\
       /<`\ `\        /`/` /``\ \./------> /|\./\     |\./|  / | \
      /< `\`\ `\    /`/` /`   | | |----\ /  | |\ \    | | |././^\ \
 |\__{o}\--`\`\ `\/`/` /`-----| | |-----`------\`\`\--| | |----^ \ \----.
[\\\\\\\{*}==`>      <`=======| | ==============`\`\`\| | |=====\ \ \==-->
 |/~~{o}/-- /`/  /\ \ `\------| | |---------------`\`\\ | |------\ \ \--'
      \<  /`/` /`  `\`\ `\    | | |_____,.'>| | |   `\`\| | /'    \ \ \
       \< /` /`      `\`\ `\  ,/ /^\------> / |/^\|   \ | |/       \/^\\.
      /`/\>/`           `\`\ `\`~~~~~~~~~~~\ / ~~~~~   )^\,\,      '~~~~~
     `~~~~~`             '~~~~~`            `          ~~~~~~
==========================
XENA: THE MEDIA REVIEW #03
==========================
http://www.teleport.com/~gater/IAXS.html
c/o RIF BBS
P.O. Box 81181, Bakersfield, CA 93308
RIF BBS (805) 588-9349

91 subscribers and growing!
This document has 860 lines.

Xena Media Review (XMR) is an annotated review of mainstream
media reports found in electronic form regarding the syndicated
television show Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-), and the stars of
the show, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor.  For a free e-mail
subscription send "subscribe XMR" to ktaborn@lightspeed.net.

Issue No. 03
Release date: April 12, 1996
2nd edition: 07/10/96
Covering 05/11/95 - 5/15/95
The Pre-production Month

Annotations 018-019q
**[018] NEWSDAY. 05/11/95. Hercules article discussing Xena
  [019a] CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. 05/11/95. RF:BID: some mention
  [019b] POST & COURIER. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019c] INDIANAPOLIS STAR. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019d] HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019e] GANNETT NEWS SERVICE. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019f] SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
**[019g] SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. 05/12/95. RF:BID: OK
  [019h] CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 05/12/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019i] CHARLESTON GAZETTE. 05/13/95. RF:BID: Sparse
**[019j] BALTIMORE SUN. 05/13/95. RF: BID: Negative review
**[019k] WASHINGTON POST. 05/14/95. RF:BID: Best review
  [019l] WASHINGTON POST. 05/14/95. RF:BID: Sparse
**[019m] SEATTLE TIMES. 05/14/95. RF:BID: OK
  [019n] ORLANDO SENTINEL. 05/14/95. RF"BID: Sparse
  [019o] CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. 05/14/95. RF:BID: Sparse
  [019p] CALGARY HERALD. 05/14/95. Sparse 
  [019q] PEOPLE. 05/15/95. Sparse


------------
Introduction:
------------
   It's another ALMOST ALL RENEE issue!  Lucy Lawless and Xena
were covered in only one annotation which consisted of a couple
of paragraphs in an article about Kevin Sorbo and Hercules.  The
rest (16!) concerned the media coverage of "Rockford Files: A
Blessing in Disguise" (RF:BID).  (But don't worry LL fans, in a
few weeks it will become a non-stop Lawless-fest with a few table
scraps from Texas that cover Ms. O'Connor...the plight of the
second banana can be ugly).
   In RF:BID, Rene O'Connor played the significant role of Laura
Sue Dean, an actress who procured the services of Jim Rockford
(James Garner). The reviews ran the gamut: some thought she was
the best thing since sliced bread, while others found it deeply
offensive. 
   In the next XMR, we will finish out the rest of May and boldly
enter Xena: The Production Years.
   In XMR #01 I mentioned I would save my diatribe about the May
1996 "Sci-Fi Universe" for XMR #02.  However, before releasing
XMR #02, I emptied myself of my rant in my other newsletter
"Resistance is Futile" which was released before XMR #02.
Consequently, when XMR #02 came around, I forgot completely about
it.  The RIF rant was adequate to my needs. Life could have still
been good except for several (alright eleven to be exact) readers
of XMR who were personally offended that I did not keep my word. 
So, now follows, a NEW rant especially written for XMR.
   "Sci-Fi Universe" magazine, trying to be the bad-boy
periodical on the science fiction periodical block, was created
several years ago as the SF version of "Film Threat".  
   "Film Threat" is an uneven but horribly fun attempt at movie
criticism.  What set Film Threat apart from the other film mags
was the uncontrolled exuberance of the critics.  You knew that
these people loved every minute of what they were doing.  They
loved being social critics and taking the essence of some grade Z
schlock and painfully extracting both the microcosm and microcosm
of human existence from it. It was good stuff, especially if you
were a college student, away from home, trying to create a cool
environment for your life.  
   Chris Gore was behind Film Threat at that time and he started
to concentrate more and more on science fiction.  Finally the
publishers said, cut the SF stuff and put it in another magazine. 
Thus "Sci-Fi Universe" was born.  SF Universe immediately carved
itself out as the Anti-Starlog.  In fact, if both magazines ever
touch, they destroy each other. Good college fun.
   After awhile, Mark Altman took over the editorial control and
Sci-Fi Universe changed. But that is another story...my story
concerns the most recent issue May 1996.  The "Play it Again PAM"
cover with Ms. Pamela Lee nee Anderson busting out all over.
   On page 37, the article "Babes in Boyland" appears. It is a
scathing (and I mean scathing for SF media) indictment of how SF
TV and movies treat women.  I can mention it here because they
make a passing reference to XWP.  On page 37, column one, Amanda
Finch writes, "Compared with most sci-fi offerings, however, the
women of Trek are dressed like spinster librarians. For every
appropriately attired Agent Scully on The X-Files (who, lacking
the traditional attributes of the TV sexpot, has watched as her
co-star has gotten the lion's share of publicity), female science
fiction fans face seven or eight leather-thonged 'warrior
princesses' (Xena) or Pamela Anderson's cleavage fighting crime
in black leather (Barb Wire)."
   I wish to make three comments.  First, the writer has thrown
XWP into the "bad" column.  One of the problems of generalization
is that it...um...generalizes.  I have seen this complaint from
other reviewers and writers.  They categorically state that Xena
is sexist and exploitive.  Well, it is.  But (there's always a
but!) Xena is a satire of the genre.  The "saving graces" of Xena
are the twists that the producers and writers have added to Xena:
the women are self-sufficient (no regular male character who
rescues them; no regular love interest); Xena competes equally
and usually wins against her foes, male or female, just as
Gabrielle does in her more idealized intellectual way;
relationships between women are explored; and so on.  If XWP was
meant to be a Mynacean Baywatch, they are not playing to the
adolescent male.  They may be getting his interest, but they are
not focusing on it.  
   Second, I was struck by the irony of finding this article in
Sci-Fi Universe.  A simple leaf through of any of the issues show
that SF Universe strongly subscribes to exhibiting women in
various stages of undress (usually concentrating on the bust area
- thus giving us more insight into Mr. Altman's tastes?  For some
reason it reminds me of David Letterman...).  However, this is an
epidemic affliction with most popular media Science Fiction
magazines.  Compared to many others, Sci-Fi Universe is like a
"spinster librarian" (but, whoa, watch out if she gets married
and is exposed to the manly virtues).  If we point the finger at
one, we must point it to all.  It would be facile to blame it on
the fact that 99% of all publishers and editors are men.  But
would it be any more realistic to accept that this type of
"journalism" sells magazines like hotcakes?  That blames the
consumer, who is merely buying what is offered...which is offered
because that's what the consumer supposedly only will buy. 
Catch-22.
   Third, after venting my rant in RIF, I have come to the
conclusion that any type of self-reflection is better than none
at all.  "Sci-Fi Universe" must be applauded for running the
article.  Social change fumbles along at a snail's pace.  At some
point a society reaches critical mass and suddenly can no longer
accept what was done without question in the past.  We see this
happening today in respect to race relations, smoking, and the
balance between men and women in society, to name a few.  
   I like to think that XWP, mired with one foot in the old and
one foot in the new, is merely one of many reflections of a
society in transition.  I like the show, so I think of it as an
advancement, not a step backwards.  Art reflects the society from
which it was made, but art also can transcend the very same
society.  XWP promotes a world where a woman can successfully
make her way in the world depending upon her skills and intellect
and to compete without being subjected to sexual violence,
archaic social limitations, and arbitrary social codes.  If she
has to walk around in leather and in next to nothing, well, I can
live with that. For now.
---editor

-----------
ANNOTATIONS
-----------

[018] 05-11-95
   NEWSDAY. Page B04. 1573 Words. "Kevin Sorbo Didn't Want to 
Play Hercules on TV. Now He's Glad He Reconsidered". By
Diane Werts.
   COMMENTARY:  Only 3 paragraphs about Xena, but I included this
article because it's amusing. 
   EXCERPTS:
   FORGET THE GIANTS, gladiators, half-horse centaurs,
three-headed dogs and other mythological foes who beset actor
Kevin Sorbo weekly in his TV journeys as Hercules.
   Now we know why Sorbo makes so much sense playing a superhuman
half-god for the '90s:
   He survived a bedroom scene with Zsa Zsa Gabor.
   And you thought the mythic hero stuff was tough. See what
kinds of torment actors have to suffer in a guest shot on
"Cybill"?
   But Sorbo's April 10 appearance on the CBS sitcom - as a
Cybill Shepherd co-star who falls for all his leading ladies
(even if, like Zsa Zsa, they're old enough to have starred in the
original '50s Hercules movies) - simply confirmed for other
viewers what the fast-growing audience of his syndicated action
hour, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," already knew. (The
series airs Saturday nights at 8 on WPIX/11.) 
   Sorbo isn't only large (he played football in his native
Minnesota). And built (check those pecs). And cute (with classic,
chiseled midwestern good looks). And warmly charismatic (would
you look at anybody else if this hunk walked into the room?)...
   ...He's also got a cheery, casual sense of humor, suiting the
self-deprecating Hercules envisioned by series producers and cult
movie masters Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert - that fun-loving auteur
team who invest even gore fests like "The Evil Dead" and "Army of
Darkness" with winking panache.
   So if you thought you could never get into a show about
Hercules - well, join the club. Neither did Sorbo.
   "I thought of Steve Reeves [star of 1959's 'Hercules'], I
thought of Lou Ferrigno [1983's 'Hercules'], I thought of Arnold
Schwarzenegger," 1970's "Hercules in New York," plus those
Eighties "Conan" movies. "I thought of all those people that had
done it before, and I wasn't interested," Sorbo said during a
recent Manhattan visit, before heading back to New Zealand to
shoot a new 22-episode season of the Universal Studios "Action
Pack" series. 
   "I'm a big guy [6-foot-3, 220 pounds], but I'm not that size
of a big guy - not the big muscle-body thing - and I wasn't about
to transform my body into something like that."
   Why should he? He was on the brink of stardom as A Normal
Person...
   ...After years of doing ads and commercials (Budweiser, Diet
Coke, Lexus) and dutifully attending acting classes, this
homespun Fabio "had just come off of almost getting the pilot for
'Lois & Clark' - it was down to Dean Cain and [me] for that." He
was getting "pilots and pilots, back to back to back." A Fox hour
called "Aspen" that wasn't picked up. An NBC hour called
"Condition Critical" in which he would've played a doctor, "but
we were three years ahead of the 'ER' and 'Chicago Hope' thing."
Even a CBS concept called "Gumshoes" with Peter Scolari and Ed
Asner, "a sort of a 'Barney Miller' meets 'Police Academy' "
where "my character was sort of a Ted Danson womanizing private
eye but just a total goofball as well."
   So, Hercules? Nah.
   "But my agent said to read the script and worry about it
later, and I read the script, and I liked it," says Sorbo, 36. "I
just felt there was something here that, there was nothing like
it on TV right now."
   You can say that again. When's the last time you saw a series
that combined ancient myths with martial arts action, with babes
in leather, chain mail and fur, with fire-throwing gods and
she-demons who turn men to stone? When's the last time you saw so
many lush locations on TV every week - verdant valleys,
black-sand beaches, mountains, caves - all filled to the brim
with hearty, glowing, pretty people...
   ...And when's the last time you heard a common man reject a
royal woman with "I'd rather sleep in a dungeon with rats than
share satin pillows with a viper"? (Certainly you haven't lately
heard the retort she spat at him: "You insolent pig!")
   Yes, this Herc is a man for all seasons - uh, centuries. Sort
of a regular-dude gentleman-farmer, who says he just wants to
"curl up beside the fire with [wife] Deianeira and the kids." But
just because he's the bastard son of god Zeus and therefore
embodied with powers beyond that of other mortal men; and just
because everybody's heard how his physical prowess once "dropped
a giant like a bad habit" - just because of that, people keep
coming around asking him to drop everything and save them from
winged monsters, cackling slave masters or those capricious gods.
   Mythological fame is a bitch. And so would have been making
this delirious stew palatable if Raimi and Tapert hadn't found a
star with Sorbo's common-sense charm.
   "We were going against the typical vision of what a Hercules
was," says executive producer Tapert. "We were looking for a Joe
Montana type - Hercules as the star quarterback. And Kevin really
filled it. He's got those wonderful blue eyes that come across
onscreen. And he has what I call, being from Detroit, a wonderful
midwestern accessibility factor. He's not a dark and brooding
guy. He's somebody you could invite back into your living room
week after week." 
   He's also somebody who can keep a straight face spouting that
dungeon-with-rats / satin-sheets-with-viper dialogue. Yet, the
show's time-tripping attitude is too much even for him sometimes.
Luckily, "they've given us a lot of creative control - rewriting
on the spot, basically," to make that mad mix of ancient myths
and insouciant '90s slang fly. "There are points where I'm like,
'Hey dudes' in the script, just a little too Nineties for me. I
have my pen when I'm reading the script, and I circle stuff,"
asking the producers for changes. "Nine times out of ten, they
will say, 'Yeah, that makes more sense.' "
   However, he argued over the dungeon line and lost, Sorbo
reports with a chagrined grin. "I find downplaying those lines
makes it work better than really trying to deliver it or get into
it."
   His easygoing style impresses even Bruce Campbell, the
longtime Raimi crony who faced similar challenges starring in
last season's dry-wit Fox western "Brisco County." Campbell flew
down across the dateline earlier this year to make his directing
debut with the recent "Hercules" episode featuring competing
brother and sister warlords...
   ...Sorbo enjoyed the camaraderie, especially when Campbell
told him, "It's funny just watching you do these scenes, because
I read this stuff and I'm goin' 'This is crap. I could never say
this.' " Campbell also noted, " 'I look at you, and I feel like
your voice is dubbed for some reason,' " Sorbo reports with a
laugh, " 'like somebody else is saying those words.' "
   Which only adds to the loopy fun in this gleefully stylish
genre-bender. Herc is a virile comic-book hero one second, a
dutiful mama's boy the next, and a quipster after that. He was
even a loving dad last season. 
   Though Sorbo remains the only single sibling among five
brothers and sisters (he does have an L.A. girlfriend who trooped
to New Zealand 12 times in the last 18 months), he had a nice
fatherly way about him in scenes with Herc's kids, during the
five two-hour movies that launched the "Hercules" franchise in
1994. They introduced his peripatetic heroism, his marriage to
Deianeira (Tawny Kitaen), their three children and his rocky
relationship with dad Zeus (Anthony Quinn, of all people).
   The family warmth was a nice touch among the requisite fantasy
fight scenes, flexing bods and special-effects monsters, but it
was jettisoned when the show went to series in January. Before
the premiere's first commercial break the wife and kids were
torched by evil stepmom Hera, and deadbeat dad Zeus hasn't been
seen since. (At 80, Quinn doesn't want to travel to New Zealand
anymore, says Sorbo.) Hercules' sole companion this season has
been hapless sidekick Iolaus (Michael Hurst), though he's always
sure to visit mom once a month or so...
   ...While Sorbo says he understands the reasoning behind the
producers' decision - "It would not look good for my character to
be circumnavigating the globe and forgetting that I have a family
back home" - he still wishes "they wouldn't have killed off the
children, and I've told them that many times." After all, Herc
could've parked 'em with grandma. Now he's footloose and
family-free, but after that tragedy he's even more determined to
defend the weak and the virtuous. "They're trying to keep the
moral issue big with Hercules, and I'm all for that."
   They're also trying to juice up the sex appeal. Hercules has
recently found himself first bedeviled and then bewitched by the
warrior princess Xena (played by fulsome New Zealand actress Lucy
Lawless, and yes, Sorbo says, that is her real name; he asked
her, first thing). Xena showed up midseason as an evil enemy,
then softened into an ally and love interest in the season-ending
two-parter. (The conclusion airs Saturday at 8 on Ch. 11.) 
   In fact, Xena gets her own hour series this fall to run in
"Action Pack" tandem with "Hercules," which has zoomed from its
original middling national Nielsens to recently toppling
"Baywatch" as the most popular syndicated drama after the durable
"Star Trek" franchise ("Deep Space Nine"). 
   Xena's departure should free up Herc to really play the field,
but Sorbo promises his character won't turn into "Captain Kirk,
where every show he's doing some green woman from some planet
somewhere. I would fight against that, and so far they haven't
really brought that up."
   They haven't brought up having Zsa Zsa as a guest star,
either. 
   Kevin Sorbo must be relieved.
   GRAPHICS: (1) Sorbo, center, teams up with Michael Hurst,
left, Robert Trebor and Lucy Lawless in 'Hercules,' Saturday at 8
on Ch. 11. (2) 'I wasn't about to transform my body,' Sorbo says,
into something like earlier Herculeses: Steve Reeves, Lou
Ferrigno or Arnold Schwarzenegger. (3) Kevin Sorbo


[019] 05/11/95 to 05/15/95
   NOTE:  The next 17 annotations are about "Rockford Files: A
Blessing in Disguise" [working title "Rockford Files; Little
Ezekial"].  Rene O'Connor had a significant role, playing the
actress who hired Jim Rockford.  The reviews ran the gamut of
mere cast listings to substantive criticism.  This TV movie
created the most press coverage outside of XWP in Renee
O'Connor's career to date.  Although it is slim, it is still
better than just cast listings and a graphic here or there.


[019a] 05/11/95
   CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Pg. 51. 523 Words. "It's Garner's
Curmudgeon Against L.A.; Rockford Revival, Part II". By Ginny
Holbert.
   COMMENTARY:  
   This review not only dwelt upon Ms. O'Connor's character
(Laura Dean, an actress), but quoted some of her lines.  A good
sign the reviewer didn't fall asleep during the screening.  Also,
Ms. O'Connor shared the graphic with James Garner.
   EXCERPTS:
   The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise...
   ...In "A Blessing in Disguise," as in "I Love L.A.," the
appeal of the movie is not in big guest stars (Chicago talk show
host Morton Downey Jr. is as big as it gets here), an intricate
plot or a mystery that keeps you guessing. It's in the tasty
juxtaposition of greedy, weird L.A. with the insistently ordinary
private eye who prefers life in the slow lane.
   Even 20 years ago, during the original 1974-80 run of "The
Rockford Files" on NBC, James Garner played Rockford as a bit of
a curmudgeon. He was an affable guy with an old car, a modest
trailer on the beach and no greater ambition than to spend some
time fishing with his father. Now "Jimbo" is older, creakier and
even more bemused by the excesses that surround him...
   ...Rockford gets hooked up to cable for the first time. He is
shocked by the graphic nature of what he sees, but he is even
more shocked when he tunes in to his ex-con buddy Angel (Stuart
Margolin) quoting Scripture and begging for money "to feed the
starving children in Lapland." Angel, it seems, has found himself
a gullible and generous audience in the "Holy Light" church.
   Soon enough, Rockford is embroiled a plot that involves
murder, fraud and show biz when he agrees to protect a sweet but
self-absorbed ingenue.  Actress Laura Deane (Renee O'Connor), a
target of overzealous Holy Light crazies who think her latest
film is offensive to Christianity, adores the dadlike detective.
   "I'm gonna give your number to Shannen Doherty," she tells
Rockford. 
   The film is filled with this kind of pseudo-hip reference.
There's a party at a druggy nightclub that resembles L.A.'s Viper
Room, where actor River Phoenix overdosed. (Maybe it's a
coincidence that this club is called "The Phoenix.") Even so, the
satire is blunt and the movie never really lays claim to the
inside Hollywood status it shoots for...
   ...GRAPHIC: James Garner and Renee O'Connor appear in "The
Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise,"...


[019b] 05-12-95
   THE POST AND COURIER (Charleston, SC). TV,  Pg. 4. 366 Words.
"Angel's Blessing: Righteous Laughs". By Frank Wooten.
   COMMENTARY: More on RF:BID.  This time the movie has the
original title: "Rockford Files: Little Ezekial". Hmmmmm, looks
like the reviewer didn't pay THAT much attention.  Renee O'Connor
got a one line mention. 
   EXCERPTS:
   ...Garner is showing some age at 67 but retains his easy,
breezy charm, carrying the movie well without showing any
particular effort. Original foils Margolin and Joe Santos (as
ever-bumbling police Lt. Dennis Becker) still hit the right
notes. Renee O'Connor does a ditzy turn as young actress Laura
Dean. Morton Downey Jr. is perfectly cast as himself...


[019c] 05-12-95
   THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. Pg. D13; 683 Words. "'Vr.5' Finale
Could Really Turn out to Be Final". By Steve Hall
   COMMENTARY:  Ms. O'Connor once again got a one line mention. 
Instead of ditsy, she's now self-obsessed.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...The Rockford Files 3 1/2 STARS
   James Garner's smart, exasperated private eye returns again in
The Rockford Files: Blessing in Disguise, a new TV movie as
entertaining as it is improbable.  It airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on
WISH (Channel 8).
   Jim Rockford reluctantly gets tangled up with a self-obsessed
actress (Renee O'Connor) and old friend Angel (Stuart Margolin) -
now a rich televangelist, whose parishioners may be willing to
murder to shut down a supposedly blasphemous movie.
   The show takes predictable but still amusing jabs at TV
preachers, Hollywood types and talk shows. (Morton Downey Jr.
plays himself).
   The witty dialogue, by Stephen J. Cannell, is vintage
Rockford. 

[019d] 05-12-95
   THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 170 Words. "A Blessing in Disguise
(CBS) 9 P.M. Sunday". By Irv Letofsky.
   COMMENTARY:  Hollywood's turn. Again, Renee O'Connor got only
a sentence, but this time she's "bubbling".
   REPRINT:
   THE ROCKFORD FILES:
   Creator Stephen Cannell is back blasting his way at the
typewriter and sending Jim Rockford (James Garner) running around
Los Angeles again in this latest private eye adventure -- "The
Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise." 
   This is the second of his two-hour movie missions for CBS, the
first one last November delivering hearty ratings for that
Rockford adventure.   
   But in this project, Cannell, who brings a lot of quirky
material to his scripts, is far too quirky for Rockford's own
good. He expends more juice on creating crispy dialogue in the
episode than on digestible plot. 
   Jim connects with a bubbling young actress (Renee O'Connor)
whose movie is being harassed by religious zanies who are getting
deadly dangerous. 
   They've been fired up by Rockford's buddy and veteran scammer
Angel (Stuart Margolin), who now runs a righteous TV ministry.
   In the past, Angel has always been good for some silly but too
much silly is too much of a good thing and we quickly lose
interest.


[019e] 05-12-95
   GANNETT NEWS SERVICE. May 12, 1995, Friday. 1611 Words.
Headline: Sweeps and More! By Mike Hughes.
   COMMENTARY:  Can I stand the excitement??? USA Today gave
Renee O'Connor TWO sentences. She may be "wide-eyed" but she
leads with "wonderful excesses."
   EXCERPTS:
   Right now, two networks are cranking up the volume...
   ...And the winner is?
   Well ... I vote for "The Rockford Files: A Blessing in
Disguise," at 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS. It's a delight...
   ...Cannell produced the original "Rockford" series, filling it
with strong writing. Then he started doing way too many shows,
from good shows to "A-Team." 
   Now Cannell has written the ideal "Rockford" script.
   That starts with Jim Rockford's pal Angel (Stuart Margolin), a
perpetual scam artist. He's suddenly prospering as a TV
evangelist.
   The trouble is that he's stirred up a protest that endangers a
movie and its wide-eyed young star (Renee O'Connor).
   There are odd people everywhere, led by the wonderful excesses
of Margolin and O'Connor. All revolve around the rock-solid sense
of Rockford (Jim Garner). This is a droll delight...


[019f] 05-12-95
   THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. Pg. C1; 1114 Words. "Place Your
Sunday Bets on 'Rockford Blessing'". By John Carman
   COMMENTARY:  Renee O'Connor did not make the graphic this
time.  Ms. O'Connor got one sentence for herself and another
sentence for her character. Her character was described as
"cherubic".
   XMR 03:019o (Cincinnati Enquirer, see below) ran this article
verbatim on May 14, 1995, but they included a graphic with Renee
O'Connor and James Garner (even though they credited the story to
the San Francisco Chronicle).
   EXCERPTS:
   On this third weekend of the May sweeps, the networks finally
have their armor clanking in unison. It figures to be a big,
bloody Sunday joust, the most combative night of the sweeps.
   ABC is counting on ''The Langoliers,'' another Stephen King
miniseries. NBC goes country with ''Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can
Build a Bridge,'' a miniseries about the singing Judds. CBS
parries with James Garner and ''The Rockford Files: A Blessing in
Disguise.''
   It's not so hard. The best of the three is the new ''Rockford
Files'' movie, with a sparkling script from Stephen Cannell and a
chunky performance by Stuart Margolin as Angel Martin...
   ...Stephen Cannell made his name with ''The Rockford Files,''
and has gone on to produce half the police dramas on television
since the 1970s. When you see a producer whip a sheet of paper
out of a typewriter in the closing credits, that's Cannell.
   His script for Sunday's movie was chiefly for fun. Rockford
takes his lumps as a bodyguard for a cherubic young actress
(Renee O'Connor) -- and Garner is at an age where you can really
feel the ''ouch'' -- but this time comedy prevails. 
   Angel, who thinks he'd like to be called ''His Holiness'' and
who rates himself ''up there with Elizabeth Taylor and Travis
Tritt,'' is leading a raucous boycott of a movie called ''Little
Ezekial.''
   Rockford's client is the novice star of the movie, and Angel's
boycott may be placing her in danger.
   It all leads to ''the miracle of the bowling balls,'' an East
Indian mystic named Sara Lanka, a brawl on a TV show hosted by
Morton Downey Jr., one offscreen murder, and maybe the most
satisfying network movie I've seen in the last five years...


[019g] 05-12-95
   THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Pg. E-9. 642 Words. "Rockford's
Charisma Untarnished by Time". By John Freeman
   COMMENTARY:  Rene O'Connor did not make the graphic but she
did get some actual criticism on her performance (a first folks!)
and not just wry comment upon her character.  The reviewer called
her "just about perfect." The sentences ran two for Ms. O'Connor
and two for her character: an all time high of four!  But then
who's counting?
   EXCERPTS:
   Like Jessica Fletcher, Jim Rockford has been at this detective
game for quite a while.  Why, in Sunday night's latest revival of
the 1970s-vintage character that once bored James Garner enough
to quit, he finds himself with a young female client at a wild
'90s-style "rave."
   His wry face wizened, the hopelessly square Rockford looks and
feels desperately out of place.  "I don't think my reputation can
take much more of this," he tells the woman, a ditsy actress
named Laura Sue Dean (Renee O'Connor)...
   ...As Rockford seeks to retrieve his coat, he's unwittingly
snagged in a demonstration by religious zealots who, at Angel's
urging, are protesting a "blasphemous" movie.  Rockford's car
windshield is smashed and he finds himself in a fistfight. 
Luckily, ol' Rockford can still throw a mean right hook as well
as a wry riposte.
   What happens next is that Rockford turns from doubting
detective to personal bodyguard for Laura Sue, the young actress
who stars in the controversial movie. Her life is now threatened
because the flick includes the "miracle" parting of the waters --
at a YMCA pool...
   ...Renee O'Connor is just about perfect as a cutsey-poo
actress who totes a teddy bear.  And, no surprise, Garner is
perfectly cool, calm and suave as Rockford, a poor man's James
Bond who still lives, after all these years, in a trailer...


[019h] 05-12-95
   CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Tempo; Pg. 1; 1051 Words. "Heavy Air Traffic;
Stephen King, James Garner and the Judds Make for a Big Night of
Television Sunday". By Steve Johnson.
   COMMENTARY: Strangely enough, no reference to Renee O'Connor
was in the body--only a reference to her character; but she did
get in the graphic!  Are you spotting a pattern here?  When she
gets good copy, she gets no graphic. With lousy copy, she gets a
good graphic. Go figure.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...CBS is showing "The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise"
(8 p.m., WBBM-Ch. 2), the second TV movie giving viewers a chance
to hear James Garner's voice on the answering machine again.
Unlike so many revisits to old series, the story of Rockford
protecting a young actress from religious extremists is a
delight, sharply satirical and peppered with fresh dialogue...
   ...GRAPHIC: (1) James Garner reprises his role as Jim Rockford
Sunday night on CBS.  Renee O'Connor portrays an actress Rockford
protects from religious extremists...


[019i] 05-13-95
   THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE. Pg. P4b. 924 Words. "Better to Put on
Judds' Tapes and Skip this Whiny Movie". By Faye Zuckerman.
   COMMENTARY:  Short mention of Renee O'Connor in a weekend
summary article. 
   EXCERPTS:
   ..."The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise" (1995), CBS
Sunday at 9: The network's prayers that this "Rockford" tale will
make a big ratings splash like last November's "The Rockford
Files: I Still Love L.A." just might be answered.
   This movie has much of the flavor of the beloved series,
including the same-old Rockford (James Garner) who has his car
destroyed and gets attacked by thugs.
   All of Rockford's mishaps occur as he tries to protect a young
actress (Renee O'Connor) whose life has been threatened.  Stuart
Margolin reprises his role as Angel Martin, now a successful
televangelist.


[019j] 05-13-95
   THE BALTIMORE SUN. Pg. 3d. 293 Words. "'Rockford' Hasn't a
Prayer". By David Zurawik
   COMMENTARY: A negative review of RF:BID.  The reviewer found
Renee O'Connor's role "sexist" and it made "Gidget look like
Susan Sontag."  I recently saw about 6 Gidget shows with Sally
Fields (I saw them alone, but I viewed episodes with Ms. Fields
playing Gidget), and I must admit that the reviewer was more
correct about Gidget than she was about Ms. O'Connor.
   EXCERPTS:
   ..."A Blessing in Disguise," which airs at 9 tomorrow night on
WJZ (Channel 13), is long on sophomoric satire and very short on
plot.   In fact, you could measure the amount of plot with an egg
timer.
   In a script written by series producer Stephen Cannell, Angel
Martin (Stuart Margolin) plays a bogus TV minister. When Rockford
sees his old buddy on television wearing Rockford's missing
sportscoat, he goes after the coat -- and Angel. Rockford winds
up getting embroiled in a church boycotts -- this one over a
movie that Angel's congregation finds blasphemous. The star of
the movie, a bubble-headed blonde (Renee O'Connor), is getting
death threats. See what I mean about the plot? It's such a sexist
role of empty-headedness that it makes Gidget look like Susan
Sontag.
   I'm a big fan of Garner and "Rockford," but, I hate this film.
It's cartoonish in its broad, obvious swipes at TV evangelists,
self-absorbed actresses and right-wing boycotts. And, in its
pandering for younger demographics, it compromises the great
Rockford character. The script has Rockford going to a rave (a
techno music dance party, for the uninitiated). Please.
   The action sequences appear to have been done without a stunt
coordinator and put together by an editor without any sense of
timing, action or continuity. 
   There are a few nice barbs exchanged between Rockford and
Angel as they go down to the wire with the bad guys and Angel
seems all too ready to sell out Rockford.
   But such moments of badinage are too few and too late in
coming. This time it's not Angel who sells Rockford out but the
awful script by a big-time writer who should know better.


[019k] 05-14-95
   THE WASHINGTON POST. Arts; Pg. G01. 813 Words. "Sweeps
Showdown; Fan Fare for the Common Man: TV to Make You Laugh, Cry
or Tremble in Terror: 'the Rockford Files'". By Tom Shales.
   COMMENTARY: This is the most significant review to date of any
work of Renee O'Connor.  The reviewer called her a "sexier
version of Melissa Gilbert."  He also went as far as to attribute
words by the character Rockford to Laura Dean (that she's
"special in a way that's so rare you only see it occasionally.")
to Renee O'Connor herself.  This was Tom Shales, people. A major
national critic.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...Rockford hooks up with a dizzy, insecure young actress
named Laura Sue Dean, played delightfully by Renee O'Connor (sort
of a sexier version of Melissa Gilbert), and begrudgingly becomes
her bodyguard. Dean is starring in a new movie called "Little
Ezekial," which Angel's group, the Temple of Holy Light, has
targeted for protests over its alleged sacrilegiousness. The
group pickets the film and launches a boycott of it, so naturally
when the movie opens after all that scandalous publicity, it's
bound to be an instant smash hit...
   ...Of Angel's security force, most of them thuggish graduates
of the penal system, Rockford scoffs that they "aren't winning
any Mensa memberships" and "couldn't get a job scraping gum off
theater seats." The actress tells Rockford he's done such a good
job as bodyguard that "I'm going to give your name to Shannen
Doherty," the trouble-prone TV star...
   ...O'Connor is magnificently adorable as Laura Sue Dean, and
she brings out a rueful warmth in Garner and in Rockford too.
Near the end he tells her she's "special in a way that's so rare
you only see it occasionally." Yes, and he could also be talking
about "The Rockford Files" and the Garner Files as well. 
   GRAPHIC: (1) James Garner returns as Jim Rockford and Renee
O'Connor is his fetching client in "The Rockford Files: Little
Ezekial."


[019l] 05-14-96
   THE WASHINGTON POST. TV Week; Pg. Y03; 761 Words. "Trains and
Songs and Science Fiction". 
   COMMENTARY: She didn't make the graphic and just got a
mention.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...ROCKFORD FILES Sunday at 9 on CBS
   James Garner returns as Jim Rockford in "A Blessing in
Disguise,' a story about Angel Martin (Stuart Margolin),
Rockford's ex-con friend, who has become a television evangelist
with a mansion, bodyguards and chauffeur-driven limousine. When
Angel launches a boycott of a movie titled "Little Ezekial,'
claiming that it's immoral, the young star (Renee O'Connor) hires
Rockford to protect her. Robert Desiderio plays her agent,
Richard Romanus is the flashy private eye hired by the movie
producers, and Morton Downey Jr. appears as a talk-show host. 


[019m] 05-14-95
   THE SEATTLE TIMES. TV; Pg. 2. 1712 Words. "'The Langoliers'
Suffers from Poor Script, Acting". By John Voorhees.
   COMMENTARY: Renee O'Connor missed out on the graphic, but she
got some very good copy. A whole paragraph was devoted to Ms.
O'Connor whose "lively performance" is a "delight".
   EXCERPTS:
   ...Stephen J. Cannell wrote the script which has a plum part
for Stuart Margolin as the ever-devious Angel Martin. This time
he's an unlikely TV evangelist involved in a scam that has his
followers picketing movies in order to improve the grosses.
   But the plot, while workable, is mainly a peg upon which to
hang a series of lively performances, especially Renee O'Connor
as a naive young actress who has a starring role in "Little
Ezekial," a character and a movie that both fascinate and astound
Rockford who has never met anyone quite like her. O'Connor is a
delight and it's also a delight that Cannell doesn't try to whip
up some phony romance between the two...


[019n] 05-14-95
   THE ORLANDO SENTINEL. Pg. F1. 1265 Words. "'Rockford' Movie Is
the Main Event; James Garner Is Solid as the Gruff but Likable
Private Eye. Skip Stephen King's 'Langoliers' and the Judds' Life
Story". By Hal Boedeker.
   COMMENTARY: No graphic, and only a one sentence mention. 
However, the mention got "bubbly Renee O'Connor" and "self-
absorbed" in the same sentence.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...The clever script, by Stephen J. Cannell, allows The
Rockford Files to take some well-aimed swipes at Hollywood,
extremists, gutless agents, greedy producers, two-faced
televangelists and pervasive talk shows (Morton Downey Jr. drops
in). Private eye Rockford baby-sits a self-absorbed actress (the
bubbly Renee O'Connor) and trades put-downs with Angel...


[019o] 05-14-96
   THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. Pg. F04. 811 Words. "It's No Mystery:
'Rockford' Best Tv Choice; 'Judds' Engrossing; 'Langoliers'
Crashes". By John Carman.
   COMMENTARY: This was a reprint of XMR 03:019f (San Francisco
Chronicle, see above), however THIS one had a graphic of Renee
O'Connor with James Garner which was not run in the original.
   EXCERPT:
   ...GRAPHIC: James Garner is detective Jim Rockford and Renee
O'Connor is an actress he's protecting in The Rockford Files:
Little Ezekial. 


[019p] 05-14-95
   CALGARY HERALD. Pg. E1. 656 Words. "Today's Best". By Bob
Blakey, Nancy Tousley and David Plotnikoff
   COMMENTARY:  Minor mention.
   EXCERPTS:
   ...* 9 p.m. -- James Garner is back again in The Rockford
Files: A Blessing in Disguise (Ch. 3-4, and on Ch. 12 at 10
p.m.). Jim Rockford agrees to protect an actress (Renee O'Connor)
after she receives death threats from religious fanatics.


[019q] 05-15-95
   PEOPLE. Picks & Pans; Pg. 15. 1001 Words. By David Hiltbrand.
   COMMENTARY: PEOPLE Magazine at last but NO GRAPHIC of Renee
O'Connor! Nothing about her bubbly performance, either. Just a
mention as a cast member.  Her character doesn't get any copy. 
   EXCERPTS:
   ...THE ROCKFORD FILES: A BLESSING IN DISGUISE CBS (Sun., May
14, 9 p.m. ET) 
   For the second time, James Garner returns to the role of
laid-back Los Angeles investigator Jim Rockford as if he were
slipping on a favorite old bathrobe. Jimbo turns on the TV one
day to see his old flimflam friend Angel (Stuart Margolin) raking
it in as a TV evangelist. Angel's church is conducting a
suspicious film boycott.
   Richard Romanus, Joe Santos, Renee O'Connor and Robert
Desiderio provide support. Morton Downey Jr. (remember his
turbulent 15 minutes in the national spotlight?) plays himself: a
brawl-inducing talk show host. 
   The movie is so whimsical, it's almost weightless. But if
Rockford did an infomercial on furniture stripping, I'd probably
watch it. Grade: B- 


-------------
THE BACK PAGE
-------------

Issue #4 will contain annotations #20 through #24e, dated May 26,
1995 to July 15, 1995.  It is scheduled to be released April 19,
1996.

PREFERRED CITATION:  When citing an annotated review, use the
format: XMR:007.  This example means Xena Media Review,
annotation #007 (Issue #01)

DISCLAIMER: XMR (Xena media Review) is a free non-profit
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the material excerpted, reprinted, or referred to (including but
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Reporter, Gannett News Service, San Francisco Chronicle, San
Diego Union-Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Charleston Gazette,
Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Orlando Sentinel,
Cincinnati Enquirer, Calgary Herald, and People Magazine).  This
newsletter is an academic and educational pursuit to archive,
annotate, and study the media response to Xena: Warrior Princess
(a television production from MCA/Universal/Renaissance) and the
actresses Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, especially in the
light of popular culture and the influence of mass media.  XMR
exercises its right to quote, excerpt or reprint as allowed under
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are considered for inclusion. Banner graphic by Colleen Stephan.
Copyright 1996 by Kym Masera Taborn.

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