      _____               ______                               ._
     `\`/>`\            /`/` /`__________,.'>___      _____   )~\
       /<`\ `\        /`/` /``\ \./------> /|\./\     |\./|  / | \
      /< `\`\ `\    /`/` /`   | | |----\ /  | |\ \    | | |././^\ \
 |\__{o}\--`\`\ `\/`/` /`-----| | |-----`------\`\`\--| | |----^ \ \----.
[\\\\\\\{*}==`>      <`=======| | ==============`\`\`\| | |=====\ \ \==-->
 |/~~{o}/-- /`/  /\ \ `\------| | |---------------`\`\\ | |------\ \ \--'
      \<  /`/` /`  `\`\ `\    | | |_____,.'>| | |   `\`\| | /'    \ \ \
       \< /` /`      `\`\ `\  ,/ /^\------> / |/^\|   \ | |/       \/^\\.
      /`/\>/`           `\`\ `\`~~~~~~~~~~~\ / ~~~~~   )^\,\,      '~~~~~
     `~~~~~`             '~~~~~`            `          ~~~~~~

==========================
XENA: THE MEDIA REVIEW #24
==========================
An Obessive But Benign Publication
http://xenafan.com/xmr
P.O. Box 81181, Bakersfield, CA 93308

Xena Media Review (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. Copyright,
legal, and editorial notices are found at the end of
this newsletter.


Issue No. 24
Release date: August 11, 1997
Covering 07/01/96 - 07/15/96
Annotations 362 to 389


FROM THE EDITOR: Lucy Lawless Said What!?
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Foaming at the Mouth
"The Xena Fan Fic Experience"
"That Thing You Do"
ANNOTATIONS
   [362] 07-01-96. VIDEO MAGAZINE. Cultural reference
   [363] 07-01-96. MS. MAGAZINE. Seminal article
   [364] 07-01-96. "Queen of the Amazons" child's book
   [365] 07-01-96. "Princess in Peril" child's book
   [366] 07-01-96. THE EVENING POST. XWP promotion
   [367] 07-01-96. THE DOMINION. Brief review
   [368] 07-01-96. ESCAPE. web editorialoid
   [369] 07-01-96. MORTAL BELOVED. Second release.
   [370] 07-02-96. THE VANCOUVER SUN. The Nielsens!
   [371] 07-02-96. THE BUFFALO NEWS. Channel woes
   [372] 07-03-96 to 07-25-96. Production charts 07/96
   [373] 07-04-96. ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Cultural ref 
   [374] 07-04-96. OVER THE HEDGE. comic strip
   [375] 07-05-96. THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL. Recommending  
   [376] 07-05-96. XENA MEDIA REVIEW. No. 14. 
   [377] 07-07-96. THE SUNDAY STAR-TIMES. Simon Prast 
   [378] 07-07-96. THE NEW YORK TIMES. What he tapes
   [379] 07-08-96. HARTFORD COURANT. CampGonetotheDogs
   [380] 07-08-96. ELECTRONIC MEDIA. May 1996 ratings
   [381] 07-08-96. PROMETHEUS (#08). Third release. 
   [382] 07-09-96. PR NEWSWIRE. ST mention
   [383] 07-11-96. BOSTON PHOENIX. coverage of a phenom
   [384] 07-12-96. Promotion of Arthur Smith
   [385] 07-12-96. ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS. Cultural ref 
   [386] 07-12-96. XENA MEDIA REVIEW. No. 15. 
   [387] 07-13-96. MCA XENA NETFORUM. Lucy Lawless post
   [388] 07-13-97 to 07-17-97. Change time NZ for XWP
   [389] 07-15-96. CHARIOTS OF WAR (#02). 3rd release.
THE BACK PAGE
   Xena Media Review Staff
   Errata
   Back Issues
   This Week in Xena News
   Reprint Policy
   Solicitations for Future Newsletters
   Disclaimer


===============
FROM THE EDITOR
===============

Lucy Lawless Said What!?
A Perspective on the Wonderful World of Interviews
--------------------------------------------------

Today we continue our trip in the WayBack Machine to
that marvelous time 13 months ago when Xenites were
struggling through the re-run doldrums between the
first and second seasons (at least, in the United  
States.) Among this issue's many highlights are the
landmark Ms. Magazine article, which provided an early
look at the possible cultural significance of XWP. The
article also prompted Lucy Lawless in two later 
interviews to talk about the ever-exciting subject of
being interviewed.

Actually, I don't think that is an exciting subject for
many folks, except for us poor saps who have been
interviewed. Yup, that's right. I've been there and
done that. Confession time here: I used to be one of
those cruel reporter types who did the interviewing,
then I turned into a public relations flack and became
the Interviewee. At that time, my job was to represent
the opinions of my boss. However, two weeks ago I did
something I have rarely done -- I talked for myself.
The situation was intimidating, a live radio interview,
and it was with the legendary BBC for heaven's sake!
(To say that my stomach was in knots would be an
understatement.) The subject was XWP. Of course, I
thought I would be just fine. After all, I was supposed
to be a pro at this interviewing thing. Hah!

Before the show aired, I talked to the show's producer.
We chatted about subtext and XWP in general and ended
our conversation with her asking me how I should be
introduced. She suggested a list of my Xena-related
activities and a comment about where I live. Like a
fool, I agreed. It sounded reasonable at the time, but
when the show aired, I heard myself introduced as a fan
from Kansas who was involved in what sounded like a
long list of Xena activities. To my ears, it sounded
like I was a yokel from a small town who spent all her
waking hours on XWP. No mention of being a mother,
working full time for a non-profit foundation or any of
the zillions of non-Xena things I do in my life. To
quote Lucy Lawless, "I sound(ed) like a iiiiii-diot." 
(For the record, my town includes two universities and
is known for its abundance of artists and writers,
including my neighbor, the recently departed William
Burroughs.)

What was the first question the BBC asked me? "Diane,
you're obsessed, aren't you ?" (As in: You're nuts,
aren't you?) My response was to sputter and stammer
(sounding, of course, more like an iiiii-diot), and to
finally choke out that no, I wasn't obsessed. At that
moment, I believe I heard the echo of thousands
(millions?) of English voices muttering: Who is she
kidding? After that moment of brilliance, I got out
about three sentences (maybe four) before we ran out of
time.

Frankly, I'm not terribly worried about my reputation
among BBC listeners. I now wish I'd had the presence of
mind to answer that first absurd question by replying,
"You bet I'm obsessed, and loving every moment of it."
I don't even blame the BBC because I didn't give the
producer the information she needed to do a different
introduction.

However, what has come out of this experience is a new
appreciation for the trials and tribulations that Ms.
Lawless, Renee O'Connor and the rest of the Renaissance
Pictures crew go through when they are interviewed.
Everything said in the BBC interview was true, but it
was mightily skewed because it only gave one tiny
sliver of who I am. It left out a heck of a lot of
context. Listening to the interview later, I also
realized that I hadn't said what I meant to say, and
that much of what I said could have been misconstrued. 

How often does this happen to our favorite stars and
producers and writers? How much of what we read about
Ms. Lawless and Ms. O'Connor, for example, is
completely true yet totally false? How much lies by
omission? How much is exactly what they said, but not
what they meant? How much is the attitude they once
had, but not what they now believe?

I'm going to react differently the next time I see
something upsetting in an interview with Ms. Lawless.
Next time my reaction will be to scratch my head and
ask: I wonder what she really meant to say? 

Diane Silver
from beautiful and exotic Lawrence, Kansas
August 7, 1997
dswriter@idir.net


========================
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
========================

Foaming at the Mouth
--------------------

Yes, TPTB have chosen the first season episode to be
repeated before the beginning of the third season. I
jokingly predicted it would be THE TITANS, running for
its boffo fifth time -- BUT, hey, I was almost right.
The Universal/MCA wonks have picked THE PATH NOT
TAKEN!!! Yup, PATH now joins TITANS in that exclusive
4th run club. PATH NOT TAKEN is the Marcus episode with
no consummation (you have to wait until MORTAL BELOVED
and he is dead as a door whatever when they become
"friends" again). I really thought they'd re-release
THE RECKONING while I was hoping they would do
DREAMWORKER, but nooooo, we get PATH NOT TAKEN.

So far 12 first season shows -- THAT IS HALF OF THE
SEASON, PLATO -- have been aired only twice: [dates in
parentheses are the last time they aired] DREAMWORKER
(12/11/95), THE RECKONING (01/01/96), DEATH IN CHAINS 
(03/18/96), THE BLACK WOLF (04/01/96), ATHENS CITY
ACADEMY (04/15/96), MORTAL BELOVED (07/01/96), PRODIGAL
(06/10/97), ALTARED STATES (08/19/96), TIES THAT BIND
(08/12/96), GREATER GOOD (09/02/96), DEATH MASK
(08/26/96), and IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
(09/16/96). These episodes are HOT on the Xena black
market.

The ETERNAL QUESTION is why air an episode for the
fourth time when you have such a tremendous backlog of
excellent first season episodes that haven't appeared
even for the third time? DUH????????

Perhaps I should not take these things soooooo
personally but still, it has been a long hot summer.
Our last new episode of the first season was 07/29/96,
while the last episode of season two was
05/12/97...THAT IS A TWO PLUS MONTH DIFFERENCE. No
wonder the fans are going bonkers. And how does
Universal/MCA exercise their crowd control in this
matter????? By airing THE PATH NOT TAKEN for the 4th
time. Can you say clueless?????????????????? Can you
say CRUEL AND UNUSUAL?????????????????? Can you say
AAARRRRGGGGGHHH?        

Okay, I will retire back to my cage.

Kym "Mad Dog" Taborn
Bakersfield, CA
August 9, 1997


===========================
THE XENA FAN FIC EXPERIENCE
===========================
By Lunacy 
(lunacy@dc.seflin.org)

Bat Morda, Wishes, Word Warrior, Hobbes - if you've
been involved online in the Xenaverse for any length of
time chances are good these names are as familiar to
you as Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Anne Rice or Tom
Clancy - such is the impact Xena fan fiction and the
bards that write it have had on fans.

Fan fiction, as the term implies, generally refers to
works of fiction written by viewers of a particular
film or television series and featuring the same
characters, often the same settings and circumstances
but in story lines which are the original creation of
the fans. Fans have probably been writing these stories
since television and the movies first began. 

The first fan fiction to become popular was STAR TREK
fan fic based on the original series. Since then, fans
of science fiction and fantasy series have been among
the most prolific writers which is not surprising
considering they tend to be among the most avid of
fans. In today's electronic age where the Internet has
become the perfect medium through which to share fan
fic, science fiction/fantasy series remain the most
popular sources in large part because this is what
computer users like to watch.

XWP fan fiction started appearing on the Net shortly
after the show's debut in September 1995. In those
early days, works were primarily posted on the
MCA/Universal Xena NetForum with a few also appearing
in the existing XWP mailing lists and the alt.tv.xena
USENET group.

Despite seeing only one or two new stories a week, fans
of the show instantly developed a liking for fan
fiction, demanding more and more stories and poems. 
Soon a growing number of XWP web sites began hosting
fan fiction as the number of works and bards grew. In
the last year, an ever-growing demand and the increase
in popularity of the show has led to an unprecedented
explosion in XWP fan fic. Along with that has come a
blossoming of new genres, new types of plots and new
writers, known as bards in Xenadom.

The number of new works is incredible. Some 225 works
were linked to Xenos' XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS FAN
FICTION INDEX (http://www.xenafiction.com/) when it
premiered in January 1997. Seven months later, Xenos
listed links to 881 works written by 327 different
bards -- an increase of close to 400% in the number of
stories offered. In the beginning, fans could expect to
see four to ten new stories per month. Today we
regularly see 100 new stories a month.

XWP fan fiction is available in many different formats,
including short stories, parodies, poems, vignettes,
skits and even full-length screenplays and novels
hundreds of pages long. The works cover different
genres from adventure, mystery and humor to drama and
romance. Drama and romance are the most popular with
bards and readers alike.

Two major audience categories exist - general fiction
and alternative or alt. fiction. Alternative (alt.)
fiction consists of stories in which the main
characters are depicted as more than friends. A
romantic relationship is either implied or clearly
depicted. Other types of fandom in the past have
produced alternative fan fiction, including STAR TREK
fandom, which possibly gave birth to the genre in the
form of slash fiction. The term slash developed out of
the use of slashes to indicate what characters were
involved in a romantic relationship (i.e. K/S would
indicate a Kirk/Spock alt. or slash story). 

With XWP fan fiction the inclusion of subtext in the TV
series hinting at the possibility of Xena and Gabrielle
being more than friends, has prompted a growing number
of bards to represent the characters as being
romantically involved. The alt. stories run the gamut
from very graphic erotic tales to ones in which the
romance is barely implied. Few in number when XWP fan
fiction first started appearing, alt. stories now
regularly make up half or more of the new fan fic
posted on the Web every month.

XWP stories can also be categorized by plot elements. 
Hurt/comfort stories make up a large percentage of the
available fiction and are among the most popular
stories with fans. In hurt/comfort tales one of the
main characters, either Xena or Gabrielle, is injured
while the other provides comfort. Hurt/comfort
situations are popular because they make the characters
vulnerable prompting emotional revelations that would
be unlikely otherwise.

Warlord/slave stories have also become very popular
with fans.  In the warlord/slave scenario, amnesia,
time travel or the gods are usually responsible for
causing Xena to revert to her warlord personality - a
development which tends to set up very dramatic
confrontations with a Gabrielle who suddenly means
nothing to her.

XWP fan fic, like most other types of fan fiction,
includes crossover stories. These are tales which in
addition to the characters from XWP also include
characters and situations from other TV shows and/or
films. Examples include Rachel2's THE DEMON which pits
the Warrior Princess against the deadly monster from
the film PREDATOR and Brant Forseng's TIMES a
XWP/X-Files crossover which has Callisto meeting those
intrepid FBI agents Mulder and Scully.

A new type of story that is growing in popularity is
what is called the "Uber-Xena" story. "Uber" is a 
German term that literally means "over," but which is
used in academia to refer to the fundamental essence of
a concept or an idea or a character. An Uber-Xena story
is one which takes the essence of the characters in XWP
and places these in another time, another place,
another reality.

The TV series itself provided us with its own Uber-Xena
episode in the XENA SCROLLS. A story involving the
characters of Mel and Janice *is* an Uber-Xena story
because these characters retain essential qualities of
the original Xena and Gabrielle while existing in
another time (1940's).  In an Uber-Xena story, the
characters do not have to be mirror images of the
originals they are based on. Both physically and
spiritually there can be differences but again, the
essence of the originals must be there. For example,
Mel is very different from Xena as is Janice from
Gabrielle but three things define them as Uber
representations. First, Mel and Janice look exactly
like their ancestors. They also are identified as being
descendants of the warrior and bard, and they share the
same type of bond.

The Xena and Gab representations in an Uber-Xena story
generally resemble the originals, although they don't
have to look exactly like them. In most Uber-Xena
stories they are presented as either descendants of the
warrior and bard or reincarnations but again these
aren't prerequisites. Suffice it to say that if you're
a fan of the TV series, the characters in an Uber-Xena
story will be familiar to you even if they aren't
exactly Xena and/or Gabrielle.

Fans of the TV series are often unaware of the
existence of fan fiction when they first go online but
are immediately hooked once they discover it. So what
is it about fan fiction that makes it so popular?

For one thing, fan fiction does not have the
restrictions TV has. Bards can include in their stories
whatever they want without having to answer to censors
or adhere to the continuity of the series itself. Fan
fiction is not restricted either to a one-hour time
format. Among the most popular XWP stories on the Net
are the novels by Melissa Good (A WARRIOR BY ANY OTHER
NAME, AT A DISTANCE, HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS) which
are all close to 200 pages in text format, and M.
Parnell's as yet unfinished ORIGINS already well past
200 pages in length.

Although bards generally try to stay true to the TV
series in terms of the history and characterizations,
they are also free to alter these at will to suit their
stories. A particularly interesting development of XWP
fan fiction is that it has actually added to the
mythology of XWP. Ask any reader of the fan fic about
Xena and Gabrielle and you will likely hear that the
bard likes to eat a lot, that she helps Xena with her
nightmares and that the Warrior Princess, ever
cautious, prefers to sit at the back of taverns in a
dark spot. These are things that you see time and time
again in the fan fiction, but which have never been
part of the characterizations in the TV series. 

Although the show has made it clear that Gabrielle
likes certain types of food -- nutbread for one -- it
has never shown her eating  "a lot" or made references
to this. In the TV series the bard has never been shown
helping Xena with her nightmares. The one episode in
which Gabrielle wakes Xena from a nightmare is INTIMATE
STRANGERS (#31), but as it turned out - that in itself
was part of Xena's nightmare. When the warrior actually
wakes up, Gabrielle is sleeping like a log. As to
Xena's supposed affinity for dark corners at the back
of taverns, in just about every episode where Xena ---
visits a tavern, CRADLE OF HOPE (#04), CALLISTO (#22),
and MORTAL BELOVED (#16) among others, she sits right
in the middle of the room or at the bar.

The bards of the Xenaverse range in writing experience
from amateur writers to professional authors who have
had non-XWP works published. For some, writing XWP fan
fic is simply a hobby they have fun with. For others
it's a very serious creative endeavor. They spend hours
on their stories, and they crave feedback. 

Both the bards and their readers are serious about fan
fic. For example, the use of nicknames has been a hot
topic in the past. Bards and readers have discussed
whether Xena would ever REALLY call her companion
"Gabby" or "Gab". Whether the two main characters
should ever be depicted as "giggling" was another hot
issue. It seems some fans are fine with Xena
"chuckling" or "laughing" but have serious reservations
about her "giggling." One discussion was over the term
"big dumb warrior" first coined by the XWP bard
Oversoul in her story FOREIGN INFLUENCES. The term,
used affectionately, has proven so popular among bards
that it has popped up again and again in other stories
but it too is has spurred discussions as to whether
Xena should really be referred to as a big dumb
warrior.

For many online fans, the fiction has become a crucial
part of the Xena experience. In fact, there are even
people who became fans first of the fiction and then of
the TV series itself. The fan fiction adds to the
enjoyment of the show by allowing fans to explore
situations and themes the TV series does not. In fan
fiction anything is possible. If fans hate a character
on the TV series, short of complaining to the powers
that be, there is nothing they can do. As bards,
however, they can write a story in which the character
is killed, or they can ignore the character all
together. For fans of the subtext in XWP, alternative
fan fiction offers a way in which they can fully
explore the romantic possibilities of the relationship.

Some people say they are surprised that the creators of
television series like XWP allow fans to use their
copyrighted characters in unauthorized fiction.
However, fan fiction poses little threat to Renaissance
Pictures or Universal because the fan fic writers never
make a profit from the stories and almost always make
it clear in disclaimers that the characters are not
their own creations. Moreover, as XWP has proven, fan
fic can serve to increase and maintain interest in the
series and the characters. During those long summer
months of reruns when fans are deep in the throes of
XWS (Xena Withdrawal Syndrome) nothing serves to dull
the pain as well as a nicely written fan fic story
about the warrior and the bard. 

Today the number of Web sites hosting XWP fan fic
continues to grow as does the number of stories and the
number of bards. Fans have organized their own fan fic
contests and are now giving awards to favorite stories.
Reviews of new fiction are available as are hard copy
magazines devoted to the stories. XWP fan fiction also
is beginning to appear in languages other than English.
At conventions and Xenafests, discussions of fan
fiction are commonplace. Guest speakers and bards host
writing workshops. The bards and the Webmasters who
host the popular fan fic sites have become celebrities
in their own right. Today fans who attend conventions
looking forward to meeting names like B.L. Miller, Tim
Wellman, L.N. James, Dax and others almost as much as
they want to see Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor.       

XWP is a television series that has touched the
imagination and the hearts of its viewers as few other
shows have in recent years. The characters and the
overall story have a depth to them that inspires
viewer's creativity. That has resulted in some of the
cleverest and most well-written fan fiction available
today. Beyond the talent of the people who bring us the
television series, XWP fan fiction is a true gift for
the fans. Like the show itself, fan fiction just keeps
getting better and better!

----------------------------------------------
Lunacy's Fan Fiction Reports are available at:
http://xenite.simplenet.com/lunacy/index.html
----------------------------------------------

Special thanks to Xenos for providing the statistics
used in this article, to Kym Masera Taborn for a very
detailed explanation of the Uber-Xena concept, and to
all the bards and fellow readers in the Xenaverse who
have shared with me in the past year their thoughts and
observations regarding fan fiction.

XWP GENERAL & ALTERNATIVE FAN FICTION SITES:

Tom's Xena Page - Fan Fiction
http://www.xenafan.com

Xena: Warrior Princess - The Lost Scrolls (Zander's
site)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/5038/index.html

Xena: Warrior Princess Information Page
http://xenite.simplenet.com/fanfic.html

Lynka's Xena Alternative Fiction:
http://lynka.simplenet.com/

Callisto's Tales
http://www.mnsi.net/~tower/callistopage.htm

Wakar's Xena:Warrior Princess Page
http://www.sonic.net/LightStreams/Xena.html

Baermer's Xena: Warrior Princess FanFic
http://www.telepath.com/baermer/

Literatura de Ficcion (XWP fan fiction in Spanish)
http://www.la-concha.com/xena/ficcion.htm

Absolutely Xenacrazed
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/3290/index.h
tml

Mad Dog's Fan Fiction (Mel/Janice Fan Fiction)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7045/madfic.html

The Arts of the Clan MacGab
http://xena.cosom.co.nz/takaro/macgab/gablit.htm

Tendre's Tablet (temporarily down)
http://www.rio.com/~crazymax/tendre.html

Snoop's Fan Fiction
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/1305/fanfic
.html

The Amazon Press
http://melissa.simplenet.com/fanfiction.html

Adventures (Mel/Janice Fan Fic)
http://www.sonic.net/LightStreams/AAfanfic.html

Fanfic of the Xenaverse
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/4806/fanfic.html

XWP GENERAL FAN FICTION SITES:

Sci-Fi Central Fan Fiction Archives
http://www.scificentral.simplenet.com/fiction/mythology
_fiction.html

The Right Stuff
http://www.gruenewald.com/

Gabbygab's Look at XWP
http://gab.simplenet.com/xena/

Wendy's Fan Fiction Page
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3932/fiction.h
tml

Xena Warrior Princess
http://www.bejay.com/xena.htm

Cathbad's Xena Page
http://ansa.simplenet.com/cathbad/cathxena.html

Rebekah's Cave of Choirs
http://www.bejay.com/rebekah/

Xena: Warrior Princess
http://www.bejay.com/xena.htm

Starwarrior's Xena: Warrior Princess Page
http://nj5.injersey.com/~wgf/Xena/xena.html

CJ's Xena Fiction
http://www.cjcs.com/fan_scribe/

Kiva Sulderus' Fan Fiction
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/8606/fanfic.ht
ml

The Men of Xena
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/8351/xenamen.htm
l

Woz's Stories Page:
(No longer updated)
http://www.concentric.net/~jwoznack/stories/


XWP ALTERNATIVE FAN FICTION SITES:

Miss Gabrielle's Home for Wandering Bards:
http://members.aol.com/xenasbard/index.html

LJ's Xenerotica:
http://members.aol.com/labrysxena/xenerotica.htm

Obsession's Home Page:
http://members.aol.com/QMelosa/XR2/index.htm

Tim's XWP Alternative Fan Fiction Page:
http://xwp-altfic.simplenet.com/index.html

Oylmpus:
http://members.aol.com/tennstats/stories.htm

Halcyon
http://members.aol.com/athemis/halcyon/halcyon.htm

Jester's Bard Pavillion
http://members.aol.com/Psy456/Bard.html

The Scroll Society - Alternative Fan Fiction
http://208.200.38.2:80/swordnstaff/Fan%20Fiction/altern
at.htm

Xena Fan Fiction by Themiscrya
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/5665/fic
tion.html

D. Joan Leib's Xena Stuff
http://www.channel1.com/users/pisces/writings/xena/

Katrina's Fan Fiction Site
http://bearblue.simplenet.com/xenafic.html

Calliope's Library
http://members.aol.com/REDMSTHING/index.html


XWP FAN FICTION INDEXES:

Xena: Warrior Princess Fan Fiction Index
http://www.xenafiction.com/

Xena: Warrior Princess Fan Fiction Library
http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~horus/syco/lib.htm


XWP CONTEST WEB SITES:

First Xenite Bard Contest
http://web.mountain.net/~lruble/xena.htm

Second Xenite Bard Contest (temporarily down)
http://www.xenite.com/bard/winners.htm


=================
THAT THING YOU DO
=================
By Bret Rudnick 
(brudnick@head-cfa.harvard.edu)

Brought to you by Make Your Own Darn Music Videos, Inc.

[Fade up, insert relevant clips]

Xena:  "Show me that thing you do." (DESTINY)

Sung to the tune of "That Thing You Do", (65 second
sample version from the official home page at
http://www.thatthingyoudo.com/) with profuse and abject
apologies to "The Wonders" [Or do you mean Oneeeders?]

     You-oo-oo... doin' that pinch you do-oo-oo,
     Stoppin' the flow of blood right to my brain
        cells,
     Like you always do-oo-oo.

     And you-oo-oo, don't mean to be cruel,
     You only want to get the information,
     That I won't tell you-oo-oo.

     Well I've tried and tried not to tell you girl,
     But it's just so hard to do,
     And I can't resist you're doin' that thing,
     Every day just doin' that thing,
     I can't take you doin' that thing you do-oo-oooo.


Gabrielle: (just before getting whacked in the head
by a fish) "Hey, she *likes* what I do." (A DAY IN THE
LIFE)

     [fade to black]



===========
ANNOTATIONS
===========

[362]  07-01-96
   VIDEO MAGAZINE. Vol. 20. No. 1. July 1996. Page 43.
1490 words. "Sony KV-35V35 Television, color
Evaluation" By Kevin Miller.
   COMMENTARY:  If you look very carefully at this
article about a new Sony product, you will find two
words about XWP. So, why does that qualify this excerpt
for XMR? Obviously, we are obsessive about including
every single Xena mention in XMR, but there is actually
more to it than just our neuroses. Those two words are
more proof that even a year ago Xena was already
putting a dent in popular culture. The words appear in
the third paragraph. When noting the imposing weight of
a new TV set, the writer adds that folks shouldn't "try
hefting this baby by yourself unless you're pumped like
Hercules (or Xena)."
   Not only does the writer assume that the shows are
so popular that his readers will know what he's talking
about, but he also equates Xena's strength with
Hercules' In other words, this statement equates a
woman's strength with that of THE myth that has
symbolized strength in western culture for thousands of
years. In the past, the writer would have only
mentioned Hercules. Absolutely mind boggling. Is XWP
changing attitudes about women or is it simply
reflecting a little-discussed change that has already
occurred? [DS]
   REPRINT:
   Sony's first 35-inch TV makes a serious splash.
   They say that all of life's great mysteries will be
revealed in time. And time's up on one great mystery
that Sony has figuratively climbed the Himalayas to
solve: After several years of maintaining that 35-inch
direct-view TV tubes weren't capable of producing
high-quality images, one of the best TV makers in the
world has finally launched their first 35-inch set. The
wait was worth it.
   Sony's KV-35V35 ($ 1,799; shown with the SU-35A
optional stand/cabinet, $ 170) is a mid-level
35-incher, pulling back on some technical and
convenience features in order to sustain a relatively
modest price. It's one of two 35-inch V-Series sets;
the sibling KV-35V75 ($ 2,199) weighs in a little
heavier in terms of features. The V-Series 35-inchers
are also the precursor to 35-inch sets using Sony's
vaunted XBR tube, which are promised for early next
year.
   The 35V35 is a table-top model housed in a standard
matte-gray plastic cabinet. It measures about 30 x 37.6
x 26.25 inches (h/w/d) and weighs a bit under 200
pounds - don't try hefting this baby by yourself unless
you're pumped like Hercules (or Xena). The front-facing
speakers are powered by an internal amp that's rated to
deliver 5 watts per channel....


[363] 07-01-96
   MS. MAGAZINE. Vol 7. No. 1. July/August 1996. 2510
words. Page 74. "Xena" She's Big, Tall, Strong--and
Popular." By Donna Minkowitz.
   COMMENTARY:  Continuing with a socio-psychological
approach only attempted thus far by the VILLAGE VOICE,
Ms. Minkowitz attempted to understand why XWP had (has)
such a large and loyal female demographic. Exploring
the theme of the underlying inherent scariness of a
feminist hero who could simultaneously be accepted as a
sex symbol to men, the article touched on the issues of
feminism, violence, ambiguous sexual orientation,
interracial relationships, politics, and fan reaction
(just to name a few). This article, along with Stacey
D'Erasmo's piece in the VILLAGE VOICE of 12/26/95
(XMR115), represented to date the most significant
sociological analysis of XWP. [KT]
   To my very biased eyes, this article *gets it.*
FINALLY! Ms. Minkowitz was particularly good at
exploring the seriousness underneath the humor in XWP
when most other writers continued to view XWP as
nothing more than a live-action cartoon. That Camp and
Cleavage School of Critique, which could also be called
the Xena-Is-Baywatch School, continues to flourish
today. While Ms. Minkowitz acknowledged the campiness,
she was able to look deeper. She explored the
stereotype-breaking feminist components of XWP,
including descriptions of some of my favorite moments
of the show. These include a tavern scene where Xena
responds to the sexual advances of several men by
artfully decking them. (All right, let's see a show of
hands. Are there any women in the audience who haven't
been hassled by men when they walked into a bar
"alone," meaning without a male? Are there any women in
the audience who haven't wanted to back fist a few
fellas in the face?)
   However, Ms. Minkowitz did not stick with a strictly
feminist analysis. She also talked about a seldom-noted
phenomenon -- XWP's psychologically realistic portrayal
of the roots of violence and the struggle to end it. 
   As a drama junkie, I love this aspect of the show.
In its dramatic scenes, XWP often transcends its genre
and presents more psychological realism than
practically any other show on TV today. XWP also
presents the revolutionary idea that a person can be
flawed and make mistakes and still be a hero. To date
Minkowitz's piece may be the only article to note this.
   The Ms. article also marked another milestone. It
prompted Ms. Lawless to comment on the story itself.
(This may be the first and only time that she has
talked about a story.) Judging by her comments, she was
not pleased.
   Ms. Lawless apparently made two comments about the
Ms. article shortly after it was published. In these
two quotes, she said she was upset about how her quotes
were handled. She also appeared to contradict herself
on her attitude about feminism and provided some
insight into what it is like to be interviewed.
   The first comment came in a question-and-answer
interview with the New York Times, published on Aug.
11, 1996. In response to a question that mentioned the
Ms. article and asked if she liked being a feminist
icon, Ms. Lawless said, "That Ms. thing riled me. I was
just so shocked to be asked if I consider myself a
feminist. Where I come from, women are just bloody
strong, you know? I've met many women from other
cultures in the last year and I'm aghast at how
unnecessarily repressed they seem. Here in New Zealand,
women say, 'I want this and I'm going to work and get
it.' Nobody refuses me anything because I'm a woman.
Nobody gives me lip because I'm a woman.'"
   Her second quote in an on-line ULTIMATE TV story
sounded more conciliatory and occurred in an interview
conducted on Aug. 16, 1996, the day she appeared on The
Rosie O'Donnell Show. It is impossible to say whether:
(a) Ms. Lawless' attitude changed from the time she was
interviewed by the New York Times to the time she was
interviewed by ULTIMATE TV or (b) she realized that she
had not said what she meant in the New York Times
article or   something was taken out of context. The
ULTIMATE TV writer asked, "What happened with Ms.
magazine?"
   Ms. Lawless said, "What happened there was, the
problem with phone interviews. They're often too
unreliable. When you see it in print, I sound like a
iiiiii-diot. When I said I was shocked to be called a
feminist, I didn't mean I was shocked and disgusted. I
was shocked because it never occurred to me that [Xena]
was a political show. [The interviewer] said: Are you
political? What do you mean, political? My father was a
politician. What do you mean? My mother was a
suffragette. Do I vote? Do I want to stay out of
politics? It means such different things. 
   "Another reason that [interview] came across so
poorly, I have been terrified of this whole role model
thing. It's one thing for Xena to be it but another for
Lucy Lawless to be somebody's role model, and I thought
that was too heavy a burden. It's a bit intimidating.
Since I've been here [in NYC] this week, I have met a
heap of women that seem to be incredibly inspired by
the show and not inspired to be like Xena but inspired
to be themselves. They use the word empowered. It feels
kind of new-agey to me. But it's a great word, and it's
a perfect expression for what they're feeling. A woman
goes out and buys a Harley because she's always wanted
to, that's great. As long as she doesn't kill herself."
   Finally, a few bits of trivia from this landmark
article. -- An early and very tantalizing clue on the
are they/aren't they lovers debate in a Rob Tapert
quote. ( "Early on, the studio came down on me, because
they wanted to make sure no one perceived Xena and
Gabrielle as lesbians.")
   -- Several errors, including naming THE PRODIGAL (# 
)as the last episode of the first season. [IS THERE A
DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (# 24) was in that spot], and
reporting that Gabrielle learned to fight "under Xena's
tutaledge" (Nope, 'twas the Amazons who taught
Gabrielle). [DS]
   On the cover: Xena with sword and text "Xena-Mania.
Why Is TV's Warrior Princess A Hit With Women?"
   TRANSCRIPTION: Stacy Van Stipdonk
   REPRINT:
[Throughout article there is the same picture of Xena
holding her sword high.]
   A six-foot-tall woman dressed like a warrior walks
into an ancient "bar" filled with men.  When one pats
her ass, she knocks him across the room.  After that,
every man in the bar is polite to her and her woman
companion.
   * Three children stare gratefully at the fighter who
has saved their village from an invading army.  "Did
you see the way she finished off those guys?" one boy
chirps.  "Zing! Pow!"
   * In successive weeks, a mortal woman rescues
Prometheus, defeats the war god Ares, enters the
underworld and returns from it.  In between, she saves
poor farmers from enslavement and defends women from a
roving band of rapists.  "You like shoving women around
so much?" she says to one.  "Try me!"
   ***
   Many feminists have been dreaming of mass-culture
moments like this since feminism came into being.  But
we've almost never seen these fantasies realized.  The
Bionic Woman smiled too much. Even Cagney and Lacey
worried about looking "over-masculine."  No woman
television character has exhibited the confidence and
strength of the male heroes of archetype and fantasy --
or if she did, she was a one-episode fluke, and her
anomalous presence could reassure viewers that next
week all the regular women characters would be back,
nervous and self-questioning as ever.
   Until now.  Each week since September 1995, Xena:
Warrior Princess has begun with these words: "In a time
of ancient gods, warlords, and kings, a land in turmoil
cried out for a hero.  She was Xena, a mighty princess
forged in the heat of battle."  The grim warrior,
played by Lucy Lawless, wanders through the ancient
world, protecting the powerless -- chiefly women,
children, and poor people.  Xena, an "ancient Greek"
hero invented out of whole cloth by the series'
producers, doesn't apologize for being a better fighter
than almost every man on earth.  And she doesn't smile
at men unless she really, really likes them -- which is
seldom.
   Xena is a spin-off of the popular Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys, itself a feminist and progressive
retelling of Greek myth.  But its female protagonist
was initially conceived as an evil figure.  Executive
producer Rob Tapert says he based Xena on the "evil
warrior princesses" portrayed by Hong Kong cult film
star Lin Ching Hsia in movies like The Bride with White
Hair and The Swordsman II and III.
   When Xena first appeared as a guest character on
Hercules, she pillaged the countryside at the head of a
rapacious army and murdered thousands.  She delighted
only in profit and cruelty. Xena, who came from a
family of farmers like the ones whose homes she burned,
was eventually called "princess" because she was such a
powerful warlord. 
   MCA TV, the studio to which Tapert proposed the
spin-off, and which now syndicates the show, was not
pleased with the character's image.  "The Studio said,
'Can you get her turned around so that she's good?'" 
Tapert remembers.  "I said, 'I guess, but it won't be
as much fun.'"  After initial misgivings, I, for one,
am glad about the change.  Xena's writers have used
their hero's evolution as the backdrop for a
sophisticated discussion of morality.  Xena isn't good
because of innate virtue.  She has genuinely struggled
with questions of ethics, and has finally chosen to act
on her moral impulses. In fact, the show's greatest
innovation may not be the toughness of its female lead,
but her deep awareness of her own desire to exploit and
intimidate others.
   Xena continually confronts the parts of herself that
are least likable.  She keeps meeting people who are
terrified of her because of the atrocities they've seen
her commit.  And though she's reformed, Xena is one
hero whose ethical struggles are never over.  In one
episode, after a prolonged period of imprisonment and
beatings, Xena slugs her best friend, Gabrielle. The
punch is presented as stemming from the imperfections
that are a part of us all -- even feminist superheroes.
   In just one season, Xena has become the most
successful new action series in syndication, and has
ranked as high as number 11 overall, beating out
Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Many local
station masters initially refused to air the show
because "they thought no one would want to see a woman
hitting men," says executive producer Tapert, "but they
were wrong." Tapert and co-executive producer Sam Raimi
had built their careers with male fantasy thrillers and
cult movies like Darkman, but Tapert was eager to try
his hand at a fantasy story with a female hero.  "I
believe, in the basest and crassest of ways, that
there's a formula to stories about heroes," Tapert
says, "and no one had ever tried to do it before with a
woman hero. Or if they did, they made excuses for her
being a woman." 
   Fighting men and refusing to smile aren't the only
ways that Xena breaks the rules.  There's also sex:
   *  The warrior princess doesn't have a boyfriend.
Xena has taken a number of male lovers, including, on
occasion, Hercules, but never settled down with any of
them.  "That will never happen," promises Tapert.
   *  Xena is one of the first white women in TV
history to passionately kiss a black man on screen. 
Several times, in fact. She was in love with this
character, a warrior named Marcus, who reappeared in
several episodes.
   *  In our interview, Tapert spontaneously brings up
the possibility that Xena also has love relationships
with women. "People ask me frequently about Xena's
sexual orientation," he informs me, "especially about
her relationship with Gabrielle.  I tell them that she
has had a string of lovers in her life and that now she
is trying to get control of her emotions." It's hard to
imagine a more ambiguous statement, but it's certainly
not an utter denial.  Indeed, Tapert proudly tells me
that the show "has become a favorite with gay women"
and that some lesbian bars have special Xena-viewing
nights.  (So do a number of women's prisons.)  "Early
on, the studio came down on me, because they wanted to
make sure no one perceived Xena and Gabrielle as
lesbians," the producer says.  He doesn't seem to be
trying very hard to accede to their demands. 
   On the show's Web site, male and female viewers
allude supportively to Xena's perceived sexual
relationship with Gabrielle, whom Xena rescued from a
forced marriage in the opening episode.  Ever since
then, the pair have been inseparable.  Gabrielle, a
girlish storyteller with lots of pluck but not much
combat skill, functions as a feminine foil for her
kick-boxing friend.  (As the season has progressed,
Gabrielle has gradually learned how to defend herself
under Xena's tutelage. In the season's final episode,
Gabrielle led the people of her home village in a
successful stand against an imperialist army.)
   The Xena-Gabrielle friendship is a deeply committed
one.  The women risk their lives for each other, refuse
to leave each other for men, even work on "issues" in
their relationship, such as Xena's reluctance to
include Gabrielle in situations that might become
dangerous.  Despite the innuendo, the two women are
never overtly sexual with each other, as they are with
men (although Gabrielle, fascinatingly, is a virgin, a
status depicted as neither superior nor inferior to
Xena's status as sexually active).  If they are lovers,
it is mostly in the covert Batman and Robin way.
   Whether Xena is gay or straight is ultimately beside
the point -- but it is disturbing that in a show set in
ancient Greece, not one of the characters has an
identifiable gay or lesbian relationship.  "I've
proposed that to the writing staff, but I have to tread
very carefully," Tapert says.  "We don't want to
alienate people.  We don't want to alienate kids."
   While Xena is breaking new ground in its treatment
of sex, it doesn't ignore the old standby of adventure
films -- violence. But even here, there's a progressive
gloss on the mayhem.  Unlike some feminist fantasy
figures -- say, Hothead Paisan -- the warrior princess
and her sometime co-star Hercules never attack out of
vengeance.  They nurse their enemies' wounds after a
battle.  And they kill only to defend themselves. 
   Still, Xena isn't primarily a political vehicle, but
a delightfully cheesy schlock drama that often looks
like Spartacus, American Gladiators, and Mad Max rolled
into one.  It wouldn't be entirely truthful to say that
the show doesn't romanticize violence.  Half its thrill
comes from the blows our hero administers to exploiters
and rapists.  So much time and love are devoted to
combat scenes that we might well see the ecstatic Pow!
and Zap! titles they used on the sixties Batman TV
series.  It's probably impossible to completely
separate fantasies of ethical resistance from fantasies
of breaking heads and making people crawl.  But for
what it's worth, Xena and her creators try hard to do
just that.
   All these surprises, plus the campy story lines, add
up to a program that is extremely popular with young
adults of both sexes.  According to Tapert, Xena's most
faithful viewers are women and men ages 18 to 34. 
That's almost identical to Hercules' demographics,
except the strongman pulls in more kids. "Hercules has
a much bigger audience among girls and boys ages four
to six, the toy-buying demographic," Tapert says.
"Xena's audience is older and probably a little
hipper." Tapert will not speculate as to why this is. 
Are little boys unwilling to watch a woman warrior? 
The conventional wisdom among producers of children's
television is that boys won't watch shows with female
leads, but girls will watch shows with female or male
leads.  If that's right, why aren't girls watching Xena
by themselves?  Is it possible that parents object to
Xena's feminist content?
   Though they apparently aren't watching the show
enough to make a dent in the demographics, young girls
do write fan letters by the hundreds to Lucy Lawless. 
"I'm thrilled," she tells me in a phone interview from
her native Auckland, New Zealand. "They write about how
encouraging it is to see someone who's so strong.
Mostly very young girls.  I have all these photos of
little girls with Xena costumes on."  Tapert says
Lawless got a letter from a pair of five- and
six-year-old sisters who refused to use their proper
names.  "They just wanted to be called Xena."
   But Lawless seems defensive when asked if she thinks
Xena is a feminist show.  "No, I don't!  Well ... yes,
it is. But it is not anti-men!  I suppose it could be
called feminist in that it's about women who do not see
themselves as at all limited by their femininity. 
Personally, I never believed in glass ceilings or in
being handicapped because of being a woman, but if
women draw strength from the show, that could be called
feminism. Though we're not male-bashing in any way!"
   Lawless says she is not a feminist, though she does
allow that "feminists might identify with me because
I'm unapologetic in what they think is a male-dominated
world ... no, I guess, what is a male-dominated world,
but in my microcosm [New Zealand], women are not
disadvantaged, except by their own fear." Lawless says
that as a child she never longed to see a woman
superhero like Xena, because "I never saw it lacking
from my life."  Good thing she's a good actor.
   Lawless also differs from Xena in her approach to
athletics: she's not in the least delighted with the
physical training she's had to endure for the role. 
"I've been trained and bullied into some level of
proficiency.  When I started, my coordination was
hopeless."  In fact, her grueling schedule of weight
training gave her a back injury, Lawless says.  As for
her costume, a sort of sleeveless leather-breastplated
jumpsuit that, nicely enough, doesn't emphasize her
breasts, Lawless describes it as "hellish to wear."  In
Auckland, where the series is filmed, "in winter it's
utter cold, and you're running along some cliff with
the wind whipping at you, in this costume that leaves
your lungs bare, and it's tight.  Being in constant
discomfort can make you cry, especially if you're doing
bloody kung fu." 
   I suppose a worker-friendly environment and a
politicized star would be too much to ask from a show
that has already favorably portrayed the Amazons
(Gabrielle became an honorary Amazon after a mysterious
bonding ceremony with the Amazon Queen) and created a
feminist ending for The Iliad (Xena to Helen of Troy:
"What do you want to do?"  Helen: "No one's ever asked
me that before!").
   Sex appeal is surely another reason that people
watch the show.  "Everything about the show is sexy,"
Lawless offers, "because it has this energy --
charisma, self-confidence.  We want to take people out
of the humdrum."  But a friend of mine took one look at
Xena's long legs and tight leather breastplate and
decided that the warrior princess was just another R.
Crumb drawing in the guise of a feminist hero.
   Is Xena sexually objectified by the show?  If so,
does it matter?  The answer probably depends on your
definition of objectification.  On the Internet, Tapert
says, there are arguments between men and women as to
whose hero Xena is: "whether she's a hero for women, or
a hero and a sex symbol for men."
   Although having men treat a feminist hero as a sex
object might make many of us uncomfortable, I can
remember only one occasion on which Xena's sex appeal
was depicted offensively -- a commercial for the show
in which a male character stared up at the warrior and
sighed, "Those boots!  That leather! Those legs!"  It's
worth noting that Hercules' star, Kevin Sorbo, displays
his body just as much as Lawless does.  "We've gotten a
lot of feedback, from both straights and gays, that
people really like it when Kevin takes his shirt off,"
Tapert says. It's important to consider, too, that men
who are Xena fans may be motivated by factors other
than sex appeal.  Many women fans somehow manage to
bring together an appreciation for Xena's feminism with
an appreciation for her body.  Why is it so difficult
to imagine men doing the same?
   Finally, if straight men find Xena erotic, it may be
a sign that their eroticism is changing.  Both Hercules
and Xena make occasional, coded references to women
dominating men sexually ("You're cute when you're
nervous," Atalanta, Greek mythology's powerful runner,
told Hercules in one episode, lifting the blushing hero
high in the air).  Then again, some men who watch the
show may simply be excited by a woman who refuses to be
subservient.  Or by a woman of tremendous physical
strength and courage.  "She doesn't fall into this
svelte, silicone image," Tapert says.  "She's a big
woman with big shoulders, big hipbones, and big
thighs."
   And a bloodcurdling battle cry.
   Donna Minkowitz is writing a book about the
religious right and the gay movement for the Free
Press.


[364] 07-01-96
   "Queen of the Amazons" XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.
Random House. New York. 1996. By Kerry Milliron.
Adapted from the episode "Hooves and Harlots," teleplay
by Steven L. Sears.
   COMMENTARY: Issued in a beginning reading series for
children (ages 4-6), and printed in softcover, this
booklet used pictures from the episode HOOVES & HARLOTS
with a simplified text. [KT]


[365] 07-01-96
   "Princess in Peril" XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. Random
House. New York. 1996. By Kerry Milliron. Adapted from
the episode "The Path Not Taken," teleplay by Julie
Sherman.
   COMMENTARY: Another beginning reading series book
from Random House. The pictures were taken from the
episodes WARRIOR... PRINCESS, PROMETHEUS, and THE PATH
NOT TAKEN. Marcus was surgically removed from THE PATH
NOT TAKEN selections. Guess who is NOT coming to
dinner. [KT]


[366] 07-01-96
   THE EVENING POST (Wellington). Page 3. 89 words.
"Xena doll winners"
   COMMENTARY: The winners of a contest which promoted
XWP in NZ were announced. Their prize? Xena action
figures! [KT]
   REPRINT:
   CONGRATULATIONS to the 10 TV Week readers who will
soon be proud new owners of 15cm tall Xena action
dolls. They correctly named Gabrielle as Xena's
sidekick and will receive the dolls in the mail
shortly.
   The winners are: Paula Wilkinson, Elsdon, Porirua;
Rayna Gates, Paremata; Lee Robinson, Mornington,
Wellington; Tracey Edwards, Plimmerton; Terina Thorne
and Sarah Parton, Stokes Valley; Abby Bennett,
Korokoro, Lower Hutt; C Richardson, Petone; Philippa
Cuthbert, Lower Hutt; and Elizabeth Hoffman, Newtown,
Wellington.


[367] 07-01-96
   THE DOMINION (Wellington). Page 23. 863 words.
"Letterman likely to keep you up late" by Erin Kennedy
   COMMENTARY: This is yet another in a long line of
articles from writers of the Camp and Cleavage School
of Xena Thought. To be fair, we have to remember that
this writer may be handicapped by only seeing a few
episodes of the first season. I wonder if this critic
watched the episode mentioned here, DREAMWORKER (#03),
and if her attitude changed after that? 
   I view XWP as a kind of magic show. The usual
television drivel is all flash and no substance.
However, XWP slips in realistic portrayals of
relationships, intimacy, grief and a host of other
dramatic subjects at the same time that it makes it all
seem innocuous by distracting the wary with campy humor
and goofy Hong Kong style action. [DS] 
   EXCERPT:
   ...WEDNESDAY...
   ...Okay, it might be tacky, but Xena: The Warrior
Princess (TV3, 8.30 p.m.) is fun, and judging by the
effect it has on some youngsters of my acquaintance, is
a great way of promoting self-defense for women. It's
also good to see a local girl (Lucy Lawless as Xena)
making good, and managing to keep smiling as she gets
to chuck baddies all over the place. This week Xena
must enter the magical realm of the Dreamscape to
rescue Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) after she is
kidnapped and betrothed to Morpheus, the god of
sleep...


[368] 07-01-96
   ESCAPE. The Digital Journal of Speculative
Fiction. 292 words. "Editorial" by Marie Loughin,
editor. http://www.interink.com/escape/volume_1/
number_5/1.html
   COMMENTARY: This delightful article is yet another
in a series of Xena-inspired flights of fancy in the
media. The most recent example is in the August 1997
Esquire where the writer reports watching a XWP episode
with three graduate students (gender unknown) and
discovering that all of them have the same sexual
fantasy about Ms. Lawless. Over time it seems that
folks have either fantasized about being Xena or being
in lust with her or Ms. Lawless. Could it be that XWP
is tapping into something that has been suppressed by
society for a long time? Wonder what that says about
our culture? [DS]
   REPRINT:
   I want to be Xena, Warrior Princess. Perhaps I am
influenced by the semi-hypnotic quality of the show.
Hey, any television is hypnotic when watched in a
near-comatose state at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday night. I
told my husband, Tom, that I like being able to slide
off the couch and into bed to dream of striding about
with a great big sword, lopping off the heads of
oversized bullies. Tom said, That's okay. I like going
to bed dreaming I'm married to Xena. 
   Since this obsession began, Sunday has become my
favorite day of the week. For one, it's the only day I
get to sleep past 7:00 a.m. The rest of the week, I
arise with my 3-year-old. (Lucy Lawless has a kid --
why should motherhood stop me from being Xena?)
   On Sundays I awaken slowly, basking in the glow of
vague dreams of glory and major b***-kicking. I bound
through the house on spring-loaded legs, startling the
cat with war cries of: hieeieeieeieeieee before
launching myself at last night's dinner dishes. Every
graceful move I make is accompanied by the sharp
hhhhwit of air crashing inward to fill the vacuum
created by my swift movements.
   Even the roaches tremble in fear at my passing.
   But, as the day wears on, the dreams fade and harsh
20th-century reality sets in. Things like telephones,
cars, electricity, hygiene, and even the television
from whence the fantasy has sprung, creep into my
pre-civilized dreamworld until I am, at last, Marie,
Mundane Mother, ready for Monday to begin. At least
until next Saturday night.
   Ever helpful and sympathetic, Tom says I will never
truly meld with my persona as Xena, Warrior
Princess...not until I wear her outfits.


[369] 07-01-96
   MORTAL BELOVED. Episode no. 16. Second release.
Guest stars: Bobby Hosea (Marcus) and Paul Willis
(Atyminius). Written by R.J. Stewart. Directed by Garth
Maxwell.
   COMMENTARY: See XMR161.5 for synopsis and
commentary.


[370] 07-02-96
   THE VANCOUVER SUN. Page C11. 1079 words. "TV and the
Ratings Game: News sells is just one of the signposts
indicating U.S. viewer trends in the high-tech Nielsen
surveys.: Dysfunctional Voyager manages a fall return"
By Alex Strachan.
   COMMENTARY: A Canadian perspective of the US Nielsen
game. This article reported the final ratings for the
1995-96 television season in the U.S. Overall a
fascinating article about how an outsider interpreted
the data, Mr. Strachan reported that XWP was ranked
14th, while HTLJ earned an 11th rating and STAR TREK:
DEEP SPACE NINE ranked 8th. [KT]
   REPRINT:
   Looking at the final Nielsen ratings for the 1995-96
television season in the U.S. is like following a road
map through the collective consciousness of America's
pop-culture heartland.
   Digging deeper for insight into why people watch
what they do is more difficult, but not impossible.
   ER, the most popular show of the past decade,
averaging 32 million viewers each week, is part soap
opera, part nerve- wracking drama. It's one of the few
shows with the ability to make viewers cry as well as
laugh.
   Seinfeld (31.6 million viewers weekly) is a
situation comedy about nothing in particular -- which
millions of viewers can relate to; the secret, of
course, is that it is funny.
   Friends (28 million viewers weekly) taps into
20-something angst and has a wry but gentle take on
dating in the '90s.
   Viewers still have a hard time working the remote
control: Five of the six most-watched programs in the
U.S. air on Thursdays, on NBC, but only three of the
five are actually worth watching. ER and Seinfeld are
givens. It is easy to guess why Friends has hit such a
popular nerve, though I have never been as taken with
it as some of my own friends. The Single Guy (6th, 24.8
million viewers weekly) and Caroline in the City (4th,
25.9 million weekly) are "time slot hits," popular only
because they are nestled comfortably between ER and
Friends. This fall, Caroline in the City moves to
Tuesday nights at 9:30, and its popularity should move
accordingly.
   Deeper down on the list, things get interesting.
   The eroding medium of broadcast TV has seen the U.S.
networks' combined share of the viewing audience drop
to 65 per cent, from 69 per cent the previous year. Pay
cable (in Canada, the equivalent of the specialty
channels) gained five per cent, to nearly a third of
all viewers. The remaining audience is divided between
independent stations like KVOS and small, public-access
stations like Rogers Cable-4 and public television.
   A handful of established series made dramatic gains,
from the good (The X-Files, which jumped from 61st to
40th, with 15.5 million viewers weekly) to the bad
(Coach, a quantum leap from 52nd to 15th) and the just
plain ugly (Walker, Texas Ranger, from 33rd to an
inexplicable 12th, with 19.4 million viewers weekly).
   At the other end of the spectrum, once-popular shows
that fell out of favor with viewers included Grace
Under Fire (14th, after finishing 4th last year),
Roseanne (slipping to 19th from 9th), Ellen (44th, from
13th), Murder She Wrote (63rd, from 10th) and Hope &
Gloria (99th, from 18th). Murder She Wrote and Hope &
Gloria were hurt by moving to new nights, a lesson
Caroline in the City should consider.
   Due South, popular with Canadians, appears to have
worn out its welcome in the U.S: it slipped to 93rd
from 54th, and has not been picked up for a third
season (accurate over-all, season-ending figures are
not available for Canada because of the fractured,
low-tech nature of ratings gathering -- see Peter
Wilson's article at right). With a few exceptions --
Due South, in-house CBC programming, NHL telecasts,
national news magazines and local newscasts -- the
figures parallel those in the U.S.).
   Other Nielsen trends worth noting:
   * Americans are learning what Canadians have known
all along: news sells. 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline NBC
and PrimeTime Live posted sharp gains. More U.S.
viewers tune into Nightline each night than watch
either David Letterman or Jay Leno.
   * 10 p.m. Friday has collected a logjam of viewers
with 20/20 (19.6 million), Homicide: Life on the Street
(12.4 million) and Nash Bridges (12.1 million) all
qualifying as hits for their respective networks.
Another 15.5 million viewers tune in every Friday to
The X-Files . So what happened to going out?
   * The X-Files may be a bona-fide hit and Fox's most
successful show but it is still seen each week by half
as many viewers as watch ER -- at least in the U.S.   
   * Murder One, 74th and watched each week by 12.1
million viewers was judged a disaster for ABC, while
Nash Bridges, tied for 74th and also seen by 12.1
million viewers, was judged to be a hit for CBS. It's
all a matter of perspective.
   * Strange Luck was seen by 8.9 million viewers every
week, while Sliders attracted 8.7 million. Strangely,
Strange Luck has been cancelled, while Sliders has been
renewed. Go figure. (Sliders, incidentally, will be
shifting its production this fall to Los Angeles from
Vancouver to take advantage of Tinseltown's sound
stages and less miserable weather. Sliders is the
second full-time series to defect from Vancouver in the
past year because of the weather; the other, The
Marshal, has just been cancelled by ABC).
   * Other shows may be seen by more people and
cancelled, but Star Trek: Voyager (131st, seen each
week by 7.3 million viewers) continues to plod along on
its predecessors' coat-tails, buoyed by its brand-name
recognition and the belief that somewhere, somehow, the
moribund series will manage to turn a corner. Voyager
is watched by fewer people than tuned in to either The
Monroes, Dweebs, Misery Loves Company, Courthouse,
Charlie Grace or Kindred: The Embraced - all cancelled
after less than two months on the air - but no matter.
Captain Janeway, the carping starship captain with the
voice of a Conehead, and her dysfunctional crew will be
returning in the fall for a new season -- a trick not
even Jean-Luc Picard could have pulled off. If Voyager
is UPN's idea of a hit, couldn't they have found room
for a second season of Nowhere Man? Compared to
Voyager's 131st ranking, Nowhere Man's 148th-place
finish doesn't look so bad after all.
   * The most popular shows in syndication last year
were, respectively, Wheel of Fortune (with 10.8 million
viewers), Jeopardy! (with 9.2 million) and The Oprah
Winfrey Show (7.8 million). Repeats of Home Improvement
(4th), Seinfeld (5th) and The Simpsons (7th) dominated
syndicated comedies, while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
(8th, seen each week by 2.9 million viewers) edged
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (11th) and Xena:
Warrior Princess (14th) as syndication's most popular
dramas. Baywatch fell to 21st. Time for Pamela Lee to
hang up her swimsuit?
   * The least-watched prime-time network show of
1995-96 was something called Simon, which ranked 158th
and drew a whopping 2.0 million viewers across Canada
and the U.S. for the WB network. I can't say that I had
the pleasure. Hardly anyone else did either.


[371] 07-02-96
   THE BUFFALO NEWS. Page 7C. 951 words. "Ch. 29 Ax
Fells 'Hercules,' 'Xena'; TV Guide Poll About; Kathie
Lee Is Flawed" By Alan Pergament.
   COMMENTARY: Channel 29 of Western New York state
pulled the plug on airing HTLJ and XWP. The station had
the rights to extend airings through September, but
pulled them because of the low ratings earned in the
May sweeps. Channel 29's history of inconsistent
scheduling was blamed for the low ratings earned by the
station. In September, airing rights for HTLJ and XWP
will go to Channel 49, currently a religious channel
which will become a WB affiliate when it swaps it's
license with Channel 26, a new channel which may not be
functional until early 1997. This meant that the area
would not get HTLJ and XWP until Channel 26 would be
able to swap licenses with Channel 49. [KT]
   All I can say is this is a good example of how TV
failure and success can have nothing to do with the
quality of a show. [DS]
   Graphic is of Kevin Sorbo.
   EXCERPT:
   Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) has lost his power in Western
New York. So has Xena (Lucy Lawless). The villain is
television politics.
   Channel 29 General Manager Don Moran pulled the
popular syndicated series "Hercules: The Legendary
Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" following the
May sweeps after the station lost the rights to the
shows, effective this fall.
   Channel 49, the religious channel that will become
an independent station affiliated with the WB Network
after swapping the license with a new Channel 26, has
won a power play over "Hercules" and "Xena."
   "We couldn't come to terms and didn't renew them,"
explained Moran. The syndicator, MCA TV, then made a
deal with Channel 49, which may not be on the air until
early 1997.
   If Channel 49's switch is delayed, Hercules and Xena
will be powerless in the fall.
   Channel 29 could have kept the shows on until
September, but Moran pulled them.
   "We're punishing the syndicator," said Moran
candidly. And the viewer is caught in the middle.
   "Those shows never grabbed a foothold here," said
Moran. "They are great shows. I love them personally."  
   "Hercules" and "Xena" are big national hits in
syndication, but Channel 29's inconsistent scheduling
of them was one reason for their failure to catch on
here. Once upon a time, "Hercules" ran in prime time
here, but it was relegated this season to weekend
afternoons, when Fox sports programming disrupted its
scheduling.
   As part of its deal for the two shows, Channel 49
also bought a movie package from the syndicator, Moran
said. It was a barter package that Channel 29 was not
interested in. In barter deals, the syndicator gives
the movies to stations without cost in return for the
stations' agreeing to carry national ads.
   "I don't want barter movies," explained Moran.
"(Channel 49) needs them to keep programming costs low.
I would rather pay cash for movies and have inventory
to sell."...


[372] 07-03-96 to 07-25-96
   NOTE: Production charts for 07/96.


[372a] 07-03-96
   DAILY VARIETY. 5754 words. ""TV and Cable Production
Chart"
   COMMENTARY: Production chart for LA area: HTLJ and
XWP.
   EXCERPT:
   Abbreviation: SUPR EXP-Supervising executive
producer(s); EXP-Executive producer(s);
COEXP-Co-executive producer(s); SUPR PROD-Supervising
producer(s); PROD-Producer(s) COPROD-Co-producer(s);
DIR-Director(s); CASTING-Casting director. Affiliated
production companies indicated when applicable in
parentheses after show title. Anthology titles follow
show title. Unless a specific director is noted, show
uses various directors. Gray screen indicates new entry
this week. The TV Production Chart includes only
programs that cast actors in the L.A. area....
   ...MCA TELEVISION
   (818) 777-1242
   HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS (synd) (in assn
w/Renaissance Pictures) EXP, Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi;
COEXP, John Schulian; SUPR PROD, Robert Bielak; PROD,
Eric Gruendemann; COPROD, David Eick; CASTING, Beth
Hymson-Ayer.
   XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (synd) (in assn w/Renaissance
Pictures) EXP, Robert Tapert, Sam Raimi; COEXP, R.J.
Stewart; SUPR PROD, Steven Sears; PROD, Eric
Gruendemann; COPROD, Liz Friedman; CASTING, Beth
Hymson-Ayer....


[372b] 07-11-96
   DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. 5867 words. "TV and Cable
Production Chart"
   COMMENTARY: Production chart for LA area: HTLJ and
XWP. Same info as XMR372a.


[372c] 07-18-96
   DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. 6026 words. "TV and Cable
Production Chart"
   COMMENTARY: Production chart for LA area: HTLJ and
XWP. Same info as XMR372a.


[372d] 07-25-96
   DAILY VARIETY. Thursday. 6267 words. "TV and Cable
Production Chart"
   COMMENTARY: Production chart for LA area: HTLJ and
XWP. Same info as XMR372a. It great to know our
favorite show is still in production!!!


[373] 07-04-96
   THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER. Page F04. 1342 words.
"Summer on the Set; Television: Cool Cable and PBS
Provide Antidotes to the Prime-time Rerun Dog Days" By
Kinney Littlefield.
   COMMENTARY: In an article about what to watch on TV
during the rerun season, Littlefield cited the movie
"Topx: Biker Women" on TBS as something to watch and
ended the idyll with "Think Xena on a Harley
Wideglide." [KT]
   It's interesting to see Xena becoming the standard
for tough. Although this article uses Xena in reference
to a movie about women, we've also seen references
where Xena has been used as a short-hand method of
describing toughness and invincibility in men. [DS]
   EXCERPT:
   Fried on "Friends" reruns?  Demoralized by "X-Files"
deja vu? 
   Don't Uzi your set just yet.  Post-Independence Day
comes a new wave of cool programming on cable and PBS
that's incisive enough, radically styled enough, to put
standard network pablum to shame.
   Once you surf off rerun-ridden ABC, CBS, Fox, and
NBC  OK, you will want to catch NBC's Olympics coverage 
the tube promises to be a real summer sizzle.  Here's
our take on smog season's best alternative viewing
fare....
   ..."Topx: Biker Women" (6 and 10 p.m. Aug. 25 and
10:05 p.m. Aug. 26, TBS).  Picture four gorgeous gal
bikers on great big shiny hogs, road-tripping from the
famed Sturgis, S.D., motorcycle rally to California. 
Soft-porn cliche? Slightly, but great light fun.  These
real-life veteran bikers photographer Gail DeMarco,
writer Jamie Elvidge (wife of actor Perry King), singer
Gevin Fax and writer Cris Sommer-Simmons (spouse of the
Doobie Brothers' Patrick Simmons) make savvy
observations about life, love and Harleys as they
expertly freeway-fly. Think Xena on a Harley Wideglide. 
B...


[374]  07-04-96
   OVER THE HEDGE. Syndicated comic strip. Thursday.
   Contributed by Lachlan a Mcgrath
[nhne76a@prodigy.com]
   COMMENTARY: "Over the Hedge" was a comic strip
featuring a hip raccoon and turtle who made comments on
life in Suburbia. In a three panel strip, the turtle
was showing the raccoon his concept for a new
development, "Turtopia", where animals and humans would
live in harmony. 
   In the first panel, the raccoon said, "What makes
you think people will GO for your Turtopian concept?". 
The turtle replied, "Look, they want to be close to
nature, but not TOO close.".
   In the 2nd panel he continued, "We give them what
THEY want." At which point the raccoon read from the
brochure, "`Tasteful, regularly scheduled foraging with
random displays of adorableness'"
   In the third panel, the turtle continued, "and WE
get what WE want!" As the raccoon finished the
Brochure: "`Free digital satellite access to the 24
hour `All Xena, All the Time' network." [KT]
    I really don't have anything to say about this. I'm
too busy chuckling. [DS]


[375] 07-05-96
   THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis). Page 1C. 1361
words. "Oases pin TV's dry season, Olympics,
conventions, and undiscovered gems" By Tom Walter.
   COMMENTARY: In yet another article about what to
check on TV during the re-run season, Mr. Walter
actually offered HTLJ and XWP. Gracious enough to
mention Renee O'Connor, to give Ms. Lawless a graphic,
and to cover the show in a paragraph of a healthy
length, Mr. Walter ended his offering discussing the
special appeal of XWP to 14 year old boys. [KT]
   EXCERPT:
   Where do caffeine-saturated Friends fans go when
even they have seen enough of the adorable sextet?
   What to do when Martin has performed one too many
double takes for your taste?
   Now that you know how your favorite shows ended
their seasons, aren't  the reruns a little
anticlimactic?
   Sure, you're watching less television in the summer. 
   In fact,  everyone's watching less network TV. Last
week, the Big Three networks had  their lowest rating
ever for a week that didn't include the Fourth of July 
weekend or political convention coverage. By contrast,
basic cable services have seen their viewing increase
the past couple of weeks to record levels.
   Most of us need at least a little TV to get us
through until fall  premiere season. So what is there
to watch? ...
   ...And yes, the Republican and Democratic
conventions will be there for political junkies in
August....
   ...But that still leaves a huge chunk of time, a
void, a chasm.
   You can always catch up on network shows you missed
the first time out.  Frasier fans, for instance, can
catch up on Home Improvement if they want  to.
   But somehow, that doesn't seem like enough. Be
adventurous. Find  something you may have ignored
altogether during the season, and for what  you might
have thought were good reasons.
   Which is another way of saying hello Hercules: The
Legendary Journeys  and Xena: Warrior Princess.
   These two, especially Hercules, already are hits in
syndication.  Millions of people watch them. But in
Memphis, WLMT-TV Channel 30 schedules  them from 7 to 9
Thursday nights, one of the most competitive two-hour 
stretches in television. (They also air on Channel 30
from 1:30 to 3:30 a.m. Monday night.)
   Beyond a few snippets during commercials of other
shows, I'd not seen  either of these. Alas, my loss.
   Hercules refuses to take itself seriously. Herc
(Kevin Sorbo) and his  sidekick Iolaus (Michael Hurst)
range over ancient Greece (actually present-  day New
Zealand) righting wrongs, fighting Herc's stepmother
Hera, facing  down monsters and having a grand old
time. The series is filled with anachronisms (a
roadside falafel stand that gives Iolaus indigestion),
winks  to the audience and enough cartoon violence -
kicking, stabbing, etc. - to  keep any 14-year-old
happy. The dialog is remarkably contemporary, and 
little effort is made to stay historically accurate.
Some of the castles  look as if they belong in medieval
Europe, others in 16th Century Turkey,  and still
others have appeared previously only in a production
designer's fevered dreams.
   Xena (played by Lucy Lawless), is a Hercules
spin-off. Xena was introduced on Hercules and
originally was determined to destroy Hercules.  Then
the producers saw her potential as a series star. She
underwent a  radical conversion and became a heroine.
She and her sidekick Gabrielle  (Renee O'Connor) roam
the countryside battling bad guys, righting wrongs, 
etc. And speaking of 14-year-old boys: She wears a
leather minidress, shows decent cleavage and kicks with
the best of them. (Side note: It's remarkable  how
people in both series' ancient world seem to have
availed themselves of  plastic surgeons.)
   Hercules and Xena also appear on cable station WGN,
when they aren't pre-empted by baseball. You can catch
Hercules at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m.  Saturday, and
Xena at noon and 11:30 p.m. Sunday....
   ...GRAPHIC: (Color) In Xena: Warrior Princess, Lucy
Lawless plays the heroine who  roams the land battling
bad guys, righting wrongs, etc., (Color) Kevin Sorbo
plays the hero in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,
ignoring historical accuracy but having lots of fun.... 


[376] 07-05-96
   XENA MEDIA REVIEW. No. 14. Edited by and annotations
by Kym Masera Taborn.
   COMMENTARY: A world press review of coverage on XWP,
Renee O'Connor, or Lucy Lawless. Covered 02/9/96
through 02/25/96.  NATPE reports; XWP overseas; Xena
toys; Mike & Maty Interview; Lucy Lawless interviews;
Kevin Sorbo interview; Inside Trek interview; Xena as
President; John Schulian; and more [KT]


[377] 07-07-96
   THE SUNDAY STAR-TIMES (Auckland). Page 11. 811
words. "Showcasing a top crop of talent" By Linda
Herrick
   COMMENTARY: A New Zealand newspaper looks at how
local actors are doing on XWP. [DS]
   EXCERPT:
   ...ACTOR Simon Prast extends his Alan Rickman-style
of villainy in Xena: Warrior Princess on Wednesday
(TV3, 8.30pm). Prast, the nasty Paul Churchill in
Shortland Street, plays Nemos, King Gregor's devious
adviser who steals Pandora's Box, containing "The Hope
of Mankind".
   The "plot" is full of wind but Prast says he had a
ball filming the episode, especially the banquet scene.
"We'd been drinking Ribena all day and it had a placebo
effect. Lucy (Lawless, who plays Xena) fell over her
outfit and I muttered I'll take the clumsy one', which
cracked everyone up."
   The heavily armoured actor manfully tackled the
riding scenes aboard a "stallion" -- a sawhorse -- and
his sinister goatee look proved to be much ado about
glue. In Prast's words: "It was great fun." The episode
also features Beryl Te Wiata in a small role....
   ...GRAPHIC...PRAST in Xena.


[378] 07-07-96
   THE NEW YORK TIMES. Section 2. Page 25. 1368 words.
"Punching the Stop Button Before the VCR Takes Over" By
William McDonald.
   COMMENTARY: In a drawn out self-reflection of the
author's obsession with tape recording tv shows off the
tv and never having the time to watch them, Mr.
McDonald mentions Xena in passing when he opined about
the positive merits of taping: "You don't have to
decide between 'America's Most Wanted' and 'Xena:
Warrior Princess,' both occupying the same time slot on
different channels; you can simply tape one while
watching the other." [KT]
   EXCERPT:
   THE PAINFUL MOMENT OF truth about my VCR habit came
on a rainy spring Saturday as I was chucking out a
kitchen drawerful of old Chinese takeout menus.
Reaching for a bunch, I felt the tip of my right index
finger impaling itself on a bent staple still
protruding from a menu that had once been fastened to a
brown paper bag in which the General Tso's Chicken, or
whatever the dish was from some long-forgotten dinner,
had been delivered in.
   I gasped, of course, and emitted a gut-satisfying=7F
curse. But even more significant was the epiphany.
Suddenly I grasped the folly of my videophilic ways.
    I had been cleaning out the drawer, you see, to
make room for what was, at the time, my expanding
library of videocassette tapes. My wife had duly
informed me that the living-room floor behind the
television set was no longer an acceptable place to
store them. Nor, for that matter, was the space under
the television table. And though I'd given over one
shelf of a bedroom bookcase to the best of my video
archive, my bibliophilic conscience would not allow me
to oust any more books, even dog-eared paperbacks, for
the benefit of black-plastic cassettes in cheesy
cardboard sleeves with skinny, peeling handwritten
labels. Hence my expansionist designs on the kitchen
drawer. 
   And thus the stage was set for the reality check
amid the Chinese menus. Things must really be out of
hand, I realized, when the paraphernalia of soulless
electronic home entertainment could encroach on the
wholesome domain of Frigidaire. You don't, after all,
stack your canned tuna in the stereo cabinet. So I
finally had to ask myself, Why am I preserving all this
stuff?
   Let me hastily note that by "stuff" I do not mean
the video versions of movies that come in seductively
glossy boxes and sell for $25 or so, the worst of which
end up in a bargain bin at Woolworth's. In fact, I
could never understand why anyone would want to buy a
feature-film video when you could just rent it once and
be done with it. (Who, please tell me, is going to
suggest on a Saturday night, "Honey, what do you say we
stay home and watch our copy of 'Judge Dredd' again"?)
   No, what I'm talking about are the six-hour blank
tapes that you fill up incrementally with programs
recorded right off your own television. I was partial
to classic movies and documentaries, though I'd also
preserved both Super Bowl appearances by my beloved
Giants, complete with pregame analysis and at-home
interviews with the players' mothers....
   ...Another beauty of the machine is that with it you
don't have to miss anything. You don't have to decide
between "America's Most Wanted" and "Xena: Warrior
Princess," both occupying the same time slot on
different channels; you can simply tape one while
watching the other. And you can leave the house and be
assured that on your return "Days of Our Lives" will be
awaiting you as a nighttime experience. The sense of
omnipresence is illusory, of course, but it's
intoxicating nonetheless. And for moments you'd like to
preserve forever, well, you can....


[379] 07-08-96
   THE HARTFORD COURANT. Page A1. 1535 words. "Gone on
Dogs; Camp for Canines and Friends Is Truly a Bone
Voyage". By Helen Ubinas.
   COMMENTARY: Rabid fan named her 1-year-old pointer
"Xena the Warrior Princess" and paid over $685 to
attend Camp Gone To The Dogs with her dog. [KT]
   EXCERPT:
   To even begin to understand dog people, it helps to
visit a place such as Camp Gone To The Dogs. 
   Set against The Putney School's rolling hills and
endless green fields, the boarding school has become
the vacation spot for people willing to pay hundreds of
dollars for the kind of quality people/poochie time
that is usually unavailable and often unacceptable most
anywhere else.
   Besides the huge RVs and motor homes bought
specifically for the comfortable riding pleasure of the
four-legged campers, and the rows of DOGCRZY and NOSNFF
license plates, it is important to note that the people
here are not ordinary, run-of-the-mill dog lovers.
They're hard-core hounders.
   The kind of dog people who, like Lynn Deering, a
schoolteacher from Florida, think nothing of working a
night job to earn the $685 plus it costs for a week at
camp with her 1-year-old pointer, Xena the Warrior
Princess, or who, like Kathy Bicek, of Chicago,
enthusiastically drives 900 plus miles in her
unpredictable 10-year-old Toyota to reward Kodi, her
2-year-old "designer dog," -- the camp's nice way of
saying mutt -- for being "such a good girl."
   These dog lovers do whatever it takes to get to
doggie camp. They come even if their military husbands
are being shipped to Bosnia, even if they finally saved
up enough money and vacation=7F time to take that
much-dreamed-about trip to England or even if, like
John and Claire Rolando of Vernon -- who brought their
black Labrador David and 130- pound Rottweiler Goliath
to camp -- they are celebrating their 25th wedding
anniversary....


[380] 07-08-96
   ELECTRONIC MEDIA. Page 4. 494 words. "Xena: a Queen
in May Ratings" By Greg Spring.
   COMMENTARY: XWP was deemed the only "bona fide hit
among freshmen first-run offerings during May" in
Nielsen Media Research's Cassandra Ranking Report for
May 1996. XWP earned a 4.3/7 and claimed the No. 16
spot overall in May. [KT]
   EXCERPT:
   Other than MCA's "Xena," the syndication world still
struggled to find a bona fide hit among freshman
first-run offerings during May, while new off-network
sitcoms continued to clean up during the sweeps.
   Also, according to Nielsen Media Research's
Cassandra Ranking Report for May 1996...
   ...For new first-run product, the prospects were
much grimmer. MCA's "Xena: Warrior Princess" topped
freshman first-run shows with a 4.3/7 to claim the No.
16 spot overall in May.
   Next in the freshman first-run class in May was All
American's "Baywatch Nights" with a 2.8/5 for No. 43
overall. Eyemark Entertainment's "Day & Date" and MGM's
"The Outer Limits" scored a 2.7/8, good enough for a
tie at No. 48....
   ...The leading action hour in May was Paramount's
"Star Trek: Deep Space 9" with a 5.6/7, followed by
MCA's "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" (4.5/7) and
"Xena."...
   ...GRAPHIC: MCA's "Xena" stars Lucy Lawless.


[381] 07-08-96
   PROMETHEUS. Episode no. 8. Third release. Guest
stars: Michael Hurst (Iolaus) and Kevin Sorbo
(Hercules). Written by R.J. Stewart. Directed by
Stephen L. Posey.
   COMMENTARY: See XMR071.5 for synopsis.


[382] 07-09-96
   PR NEWSWIRE. Tuesday. Entertainment, Television, and
Culture. 448 words. "Paramount's Star Trek Deep Space
Nine Begins Production on its Fifth Season"
   COMMENTARY: In a press release for STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE's fifth season, it was announced that DS9
had beaten "the season-to-date averages of other weekly
first-run series including, 'The Adventures of
Hercules,' [sic] 'Xena: Warrior Princess' and
'Baywatch.'" [KT]
   This release makes me wonder if the folks at DEEP
SPACE NINE and Paramount were feeling the hot breath of
Xena and Hercules on the backs of their necks even a
year ago. Normally in the publicity business, you don't
mention the competitors unless you really, really feel
like you have to.[DS]
   EXCERPT:
   STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, the #1 drama series in
first-run syndication produced by Paramount Network
Television and distributed by Paramount Domestic
Television, begins production this week on its fifth
season.  Production resumes with an episode entitled
"Apocalypse Rising" in which Captain Sisko (series star
Avery Brooks) and the Deep Space Nine crew face two of
their most feared and deceptive enemies -- the Klingons
and the Changelings....
   ...STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE has remained the #1
drama series in first-run syndication since original
episodes of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION ceased
airing (it held the #1 spot throughout its seven season
tenure).  STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE's season-to-date
average is 6.7 (NTI, GAA%), beating the season-to-date
averages of other weekly first-run series including,
"The Adventures of Hercules," "Xena: Warrior Princess"
and "Baywatch." STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE has been
sold in markets representing 99% of U.S. households.... 


[383] 07-11-96
   THE BOSTON PHOENIX. 805 words. "Everything you
always wanted to know about Xena". By Anne Scott
Cardwell. http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/
tv/badtv/XENA.html
   COMMENTARY:
   This article veers back and forth between
entertaining, insightful and irritating. Anne Scott
Cardwell almost seems to catch what's going on in XWP,
but then backs away from it as if she might be
embarrassed to admit that she could really like such a
show.
   Warning note for Gab fans. The writer takes a BIG
swipe at Gabrielle in the last paragraph, describing
her as peaking "at 8 out of 10 on the Wesley Crusher
scale of annoying." 
   The article also includes one error as it
incorrectly reports that Ms. Lawless worked as a gold
miner for two years. She has said in several interviews
that her mining career lasted 11 months.[DS]
   REPRINT:
   Xena is a righteous b*tch. She's beautiful, fierce,
independent, and undefeated -- she kicks barbaric b*tt.
Even hunky half-god Hercules can do no better than
stalemate the mortal warrior princess while the rest of
us just lie there among our Baked Lays cheering for the
good gal.
   Xena: Warrior Princess, the one-hour spin-off of
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, is everything bad TV
should be and more. Both shows are the creations of Sam
Raimi and Robert Tapert, the cultmeisters behind The
Evil Dead, Darkman, and the TV series American Gothic.
The Raimi/Tapert recipe for Xena and Hercules appears
to be stars that aren't eyesores, big-screen special
effects, one-liners in the midst of battle, fight
scenes full of slapstick martial arts, and -- if that
ain't enough -- a mythological pantheon full of
vengeful gods who seem to have nothing better to do
than make our heroes' lives hell, sometimes literally.
   Sex, violence, comedy, and divine intervention add
up, in these cases, to a righteous twanging of that
camp chord deep somewhere at the base of our spine --
good goofy fun. And though both shows offer the same
guilty pleasure as a bad teen movie -- ideally viewed
in a hungover state on a weekend afternoon -- Xena
actually rises to levels of, for lack of a better term,
feminism. The main reason is the performance of Lucy
Lawless (her real name), who plays the warrior princess
with a straight-up strength not devoid of sexuality.
The other is that the character created by Raimi and
Tapert rules her own world (lives her own life) without
compromise.
   Lawless, the fifth of seven children (four older
brothers ensured her toughness), is a native of New
Zealand, where both series are filmed. At the age of 17
she moved to Australia, where she got a job mining gold
in Kalgoorlie, a small town in the Outback about 500
miles from Perth -- basically nowhere. She worked there
for two years digging, mapping, driving trucks, and
pushing huge core samples through a diamond saw (great
training for future battles with Cyclops). She married
in Australia and returned to Auckland to raise her
daughter and pursue acting. Her career took off with
guest appearances on Hercules -- first as the Amazon
enforcer Lysia and then as Lyla the bride of a centaur.
But it was the outrageous viewer response she received
when she played Xena, Hercules's nemesis in three
episodes of The Legendary Journeys, that prodded Raimi
and Tapert to replace Vanishing Son, the original,
highly successful partner in this "Action Pack," with
Ms. Warrior Princess.
   Even without her tomboy ways, Lawless, at just under
six feet with crystalline blue eyes, cuts the figure of
an intimidating opponent and, for the same reasons, a
strikingly beautiful one. Add these ingredients to the
role of Xena, reformed killer with a heart, and the
result is the hottest of all possible paradoxes: a
sexy, tender warrior; a babe with a bite.
   Give Raimi and Tapert lots of points for casting the
big woman. Sure, she's no chunk queen and she'll never
be a poster child for cellulite, and those big breasts
didn't hurt her chances at all, but she ain't petite.
Xena eats waifs for breakfast (she's not worried about
her warrior waistline). Even more thumbs-up praise is
due these guys for moral lessons, both present and
absent, in their story lines. Xena, the ruthless leader
of a band of marauders (all male), comes to realize the
error of her ways and begins a quest to help the
helpless, but after she and Hercules become lovers, she
turns down his offer of traveling together in favor of
traveling alone. Sure, this aids the spin-off
potential, but you've got to like the way it looks on
her
   In addition, Xena's trip into the heart of darkness
gives credibility to her fight against injustice that
makes Hercules's self-righteousness appear, well,
self-righteous. She shellacs a legion of savages and
sneers a symbolic high-five with the forces of good;
for Xena, there will be no embarrassing sentimentality.
   But there will be sexuality. Xena's allowed to be
sexy and have sex without being punished like, say,
Jocasta, or Jezebel, or any of her other contemporaries
who get it stuck to them. Her strength and cunning
afford her the independence that all women should have:
the freedom from fear, the freedom from physical
dependence. Xena doesn't need cabs or pepper mace. 
   Okay, this show ain't high art and there is the
matter of that horrible sidekick Gabrielle, who peaks
at 8 out of 10 on the Wesley Crusher scale of annoying,
but what is better than a guilty pleasure with guts?
Nutritious junk food? Besides, the Warrior Princess
spells her name with an X.
   Search for the Xena within at
"http://www.mca.com/tv/xena" 


[384] 07-12-96
   NOTE: Announcements about the promotion of Arthur
Smith to the Senior VP for First-Run and Network
Reality Programming for MCA TV. [KT]


[395a] 07-12-96
   THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. 322 words. "Ups Smith to Sr.
VP" By Steve Brennan
   COMMENTARY: XWP was mentioned in passing as an MCA
first-run production. Smith will not oversee XWP. [KT]
   REPRINT:
   The restructuring at MCA TV continued Thursday with
the promotion of Arthur Smith to senior VP first-run
and network reality programming.  Smith, who joined the
MCA Television Group as senior VP in January 1995 after
holding a similar post at Dick Clark Prods., has put a
number of potential syndicated strip projects into
development for next year, said Jim McNamara, president
of Worldwide Television Distribution for the MCA
Television Group.   Smith will also continue to
spearhead the development and production of network
reality fare.
   "Our top priority at MCA is to get a first-run strip
on the air in fall 1997," said McNamara. "Over the past
14 years, Arthur has established an impressive track
record in the specials and reality genre. With his
strong creative and entrepreneurial skills, he is
perfectly suited to make MCA a major force in the
lucrative five-day-a-week programming arena." Smith and
Dan Filie, the senior VP of Universal Television
overseeing the hit first-run action hours "Hercules:
The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess,"
report directly to Universal Television executive VP
Ned Nalle, who took over first-run programming from
Shelley Schwab in 1992.  
   "The strong creative team we have put in place
signals our determination to win in the first-run
programming business," Nalle said. "Now with Arthur
putting his formidable creative skills and tremendous
energy toward syndicated strips, we are betting
Universal will repeat the success we have enjoyed with
weekly action hours." Smith created and produced a
number of syndicated, cable and network projects for
Dick Clark Prods. He began his TV career in 1982 as a
producer for CBC Sports in Canada, where he won
numerous awards. He was appointed head of television
sports for CBC in 1988 when he was 28.


[395b] 07-12-96
   DAILY VARIETY. Friday. Page 27. 160 words. "MCA TV
Names Smith Senior VP of Firstrun" By Jenny Hontz.
   COMMENTARY: New senior VP Arthur Smith at MCA will
report to Exec VP Ned Nalle at Universal Television.
Also reporting under Nalle, is Dan Filie, a senior VP
of Universal Television, who oversees HTLJ & XWP. [KT]
   REPRINT:
   Arthur Smith has been named senior vice president of
firstrun and network reality programming for MCA TV.
   Smith has been a senior VP at MCA TV Group since
January 1995, spearheading the development and
production of network and reality fare. 
   Smith has since developed several syndie strip
projects for next year, and the new title reflects
those dual roles.
   Smith will report to Ned Nalle, exec VP of Universal
Television. Also reporting to Nalle is Dan Filie,
senior VP of Universal Television, who oversees
first-run action hours, "Hercules" and "Xena."
   Smith's top priority will be development of a new
firstrun strip for fall 1997. Aside from "Hercules" and
"Xena," MCA has had little success with firstrun syndie
fare in recent years.
   Before joining MCA, Smith created and produced
syndie, cable and network projects for Dick Clark
Prods. At age 28, he became the youngest executive to
head TV sports for the Canadian Broadcasting Co. in
1988.


[395] 07-12-96
   ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS. Friday. Page 7H. 863 words.
"Does Baby Boom Mean Arts' Doom?; The Arts" By Mike
Dunham.
   COMMENTARY: In an article about the "Age and Arts
Participation With a Focus on the Baby Boom Cohort"
research report released in May by the National
Endowment for the Arts, Mr. Dunham stated, "In the
piquant words of Xena, Warrior Princess, 'You got that
right, Plato.'" This quote, of course, was from
WARRIOR...PRINCESS (#15). [KT]
   Yet another example of how XWP is permeating our
popular culture. The fact that Xena is mentioned in an
Alaskan newspaper in an article that isn't even about
Xena is darn weird mojo as my esteemed colleague KT
might say. [DS]
   EXCERPT:
   A chorus of dismay accompanied the release in May of
a National Endowment for the Arts research report
gauging just how much interest the baby boom generation
has in the arts.
   "Neither baby boomers nor the younger members of
Generation -X show strong interest in the arts," the
Washington Post wailed. The comment reflected
widespread assessment that the report, titled "Age and
Arts Participation With a Focus on the Baby Boom
Cohort," documented a breach in the cultural dam,
inevitably draining away tomorrow's arts consumers.
   Simply looking at the numbers, however, one might
just as reasonably conclude that the reservoir is
half-full.
   Much alarm stemmed from the report's finding of a
"nonattendance" trend among younger population groups.
Drawing on facts like 60 percent of Americans age 51 to
55 do not attend classical-music events compared to 80
percent of the population age 31 to 35, the report
surmised, "The problem of nonattendance is serious. If
the largest segment of the adult population, the baby
boomers, turns away from providing support, the future
for the arts is indeed grim."
   Yet, since the younger group in the above sample is
larger than the older group by a ratio of three to two,
their actual attendance figures in terms of ticket
sales are about the same.
   Other less-than-grim indicators might have been
overlooked because it is easy to reach opposite
conclusions from the 148 pages of raw and crunched data
based on 12,000 interviews conducted in 1982 and 1992.
After receiving the report, the Philadelphia Inquirer
stated that attendance at plays was down among baby
boom-and-busters while the Post said it was up.
Different charts support either appraisal.
   The contradictions continue. According to the
report: "[While] opera is a discipline with a graying
audience . . . the future prospects for [jazz] are
good." But one table included in the research shows the
jazz participation rates plunging among people age 21
to 40, while a different table indicates opera
participation rates are up in the same demographic.
This falls in line with another recent NEA report
indicating that, in the past decade, the number of 18-
to 24-year-olds attending opera increased by 18 percent
even though that population category declined by 16
percent.
   The report considered the enormous impact that money
has on how people spend their free time and found
attendance for all seven fine arts surveyed to be
higher for people with higher incomes. It acknowledged
that workers born after 1951 were promoted more slowly
than previous generations, that they have encountered a
steeper cost of living and lower real income during
their wage-earning years.
   The study also discovered that people with children
-- almost exclusively boomers -- go to fewer concerts
and plays than those with none. The authors dismissed
this finding, however, saying it didn't change their
basic concern regarding nonattendance....
   ...One of the report's authors, Vanderbilt
University sociology professor Richard Peterson,
commented, "A massive shift in taste and tradition (has
begun to) displace arts once considered among
humanity's highest accomplishments."
   In the piquant words of Xena, Warrior Princess, "You
got that right, Plato." Taste -- and technology --
shift all the time. That doesn't make them anti-art.
High art is profoundly cognizant of what has come
before. But change is its life-blood.


[386] 07-12-96
   XENA MEDIA REVIEW. No. 15. Edited by and annotations
by Kym Masera Taborn.
   COMMENTARY: A world press review of coverage on XWP,
Renee O'Connor, or Lucy Lawless. Covered 02/26/96 -
03/15/96. Lucy Lawless interview; Q&As; Brenda Lilly;
fan magazines; Xena and the V-Chip; Beastmaster; trade
paper news; toys; and more [KT]


[387] 07-13-96
   MCA XENA NETFORUM. Post from Lucy Lawless; posted by
Xenastaff (aka Tyldus) for Lucy Lawless. 304 words.
   COMMENTARY: In her second post to internet Xena
fandom, Lucy Lawless thanked her fans for their letters
and gifts and singled out Jetthead for making it all
possible.
   Reference to a partner ("I do not often go on the
net unless my partner forces me to sit down for 2
seconds, but I am often charmed when I do.") caused
quite a bit of conjectural activity on the 'net, but
for the most part the forces of respecting Ms. Lawless'
privacy won out. Eventually, the partner was publicly
referred to as Robert Tapert. It was not a big surprise
to many since on-line fandom had known about the union
for a long time. 
   Ms. Lawless mentioned that she gave copies of the
letters to Ms. O'Connor, who read them and gave her
love.
   Ms. Lawless also mentioned that she was in the midst
of filming the first installment of the eagerly awaited
Callisto two parter for the second season. Ms. Lawless
said that the conclusion of the two-parter will involve
"mind transfer". These episodes were RETURN OF CALLISTO
(#29) and INTIMATE STRANGER (#31).
   Ms. Lawless concluded the post by informing the
reader that "In one month, I come to the States for one
week's publicity, then off to Europe for a holiday.
Yipee!"
   The post was charming, respectful to the fans, and
irresistibly engaging (especially how she drew in the
reader with some insider info; it was more like sharing
some secrets with an old friend than a strategic
business move). Ms. Lawless either had good instinct
herself in fan management, or she was getting some very
good advice. Either way, the post fanned the passions
of Xena fandom and gave them a respite from the long,
arid season of summer re-runs. [KT] 
   This message also mentions Jetthead, who for a brief
period at the end of 1996 and beginning of 1997 was
sanctioned by Ms. Lawless to run The Official Lucy
Lawless Fan Club. Creation Entertainment took over the
fan club duties in March 1997. [DS]
   REPRINT:
   To the Hard-core, Diehard Nutballs;
   Thank you so much for your kind sentiments.
Providentially, your letters reached me on a very tough
day when I needed them. Donna's poem actually brought a
wee tear to my eye.  I thank Lillian for collating your
letters and obviously weeding out any idiots (I find it
hard to believe there weren't any - mind you there
seems to be some tacit coded of honor amongst our
internetties). And send my love to Jetthead who passed
the messages on.  I do not often go on the net unless
my partner forces me to sit down for 2 seconds, but I
am often charmed when I do.  I have passed a copy of
your letters on to Renee who got a great kick out of
them and sends her love. 
   I am busy filming these days - currently we're
shooting the 2nd Callisto ep which is a blast and then
we begin the 3rd Callisto involving mind-transfer.  In
one month, I come to the States for one week's
publicity, then off to Europe for a holiday.  Yipee!    
  Love,
  Lucy Lawless
  Xena: Warrior Princess
  New Zealand
  July '96


[388] 07-13-97 to 07-17-97
   NOTE: Two articles talking about the change in time
and day of XWP, the removing of ST: VOYAGER due to low
viewership, removal of a series that only aired for one
show, and the battle that seems to be going on between
the program directors of TVNZ and TV3 about each
station putting the same genre of shows in the same
time slot to deny audiences having a choice. [LW]


[388a]  07-13-96
   NEW ZEALAND HERALD. Page 22. 446 words. "Networks
Exchange Blows over 'Spoiling Tactics' Programming"
   Contributed by Linda Gaunt <lgaunt@ix.netcom.com>
   COMMENTARY: Announcement that TVNZ was dropping ST:
VOYAGER and moving XWP to from Wednesdays to Fridays,
after HTLJ, starting 07/24/96. [KT]
   REPRINT:
   TVNZ and TV3 are having one of their periodic spats,
each accusing the other of spoiling tactics in
programming.
   TV3's gripes:
   In tonight's TV2 line-up, the wildlife show HUMAN
NATURE has been dropped after only one episode and
replaced by the animated WALLACE AND GROMIT - up
against the debut on TV3 of MUPPETS TONIGHT.
   CRIMEWATCH will screen Thursday on TV2 from August 1
in the same slot as TV3's INSIDE NEW ZEALAND
documentary series, putting local shows head-to-head.
   "I think it's a disgraceful situation," TV3
programmer Gary Brown said yesterday. "Instead of being
interested in attracting audiences, the only thing they
seem to be interested in is denying us an audience."
   "I think this marks a return to the old days [in
John McCready's time as TVNZ programmer] when the
audience was treated as secondary. That's fine if they
want to do that, but the audience is the loser.
CRIMEWATCH against INSIDE NEW ZEALAND .... that one
will go down in history."
   TVNZ's whinge:
   From Wednesday July 24, TV3 dumps the low-rating
STAR TREK: VOYAGER and shifts XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS to
Friday, following HERCULES. Replacing those shows is a
movie.
   "It's just stupid," said TVNZ head of television
Mike Lattin. "Those series have only been there for a
few weeks and the next thing you know out they come and
in goes a movie."
   "We have a movie on Wednesday and they had a series
and it was working well; the viewer could choose. Now
it's all movies and we've got genre against genre."
   HUMAN NATURE was canned after its low rating last
Saturday. The show, fronted by Olivia Newton- John,
drew 7 per cent of the available audience, putting it
83rd in the week's most-watched shows.
   "We knew we were going to die with Olivia against
the Muppets," Lattin said. "She wouldn't have cracked
it with the young demographic. But it's a one-week
wonder. We're into sitcoms next weeks."
   Lattin said he did not like pitting local shows
against each other - "it's not in the best interests of
New Zealand producers" - but Thursday at 8.30 pm was
"the only vacant slot we had" for CRIMEWATCH.
   "What a lame excuse," said Brown. "They seemed to
have no trouble pre-empting WATER RATS on Monday. It's
glaringly an attempt to compete head-on for the
audience we're attracting for INSIDE NEW ZEALAND." 
   He said STAR TREK: VOYAGER was "on hold" after low
ratings, and would probably be back in summer. XENA
would complement HERCULES on FRIDAY. The two shows were
successfully programmed back-to-back in America.
   Lattin and Brown are former colleagues, having
worked together for channel Ten in Australia.


[388b] 07-17-96
   THE EVENING POST (Wellington). Page 10. 415 words.
"Xena moves to keep Hercules company" By Phil Wakefield
   COMMENTARY: The kiwis try to figure out if X:WP
should air after Hercules, kind of like a one-two punch
to really knock the audience out.  They reason that
since Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place were such a
killer combo, the Herc and Xee linkup should be mighty
fine.  Hey, I want to see  Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
and Xena: Warrior Princess back to back (or, um, front
to front....). As long as a show has got a kick-b*tt
femme in the lead and a colon in the title, I'm there.
[MBE]
   EXCERPT:
   XENA: Warrior Princess has been ordered out of prime
time. The Hercules spin-off screens 8.30pm Wednesday
for the last time tonight; from next week, it will air
after Hercules at 9.30pm on Fridays.
   Also being pulled is Star Trek: Voyager. It goes
into a scheduling black hole after tonight but may be
revived for a prime-time summer run (another series is
being bought).
   Both Xena and Voyager are being replaced by movies
but only for the short term - watch for new series
programming to be launched on the back of Beverly Hills
90210.
   The changes mark TV3's third Wednesday night
overhaul this year. But TV3 programming chief Gary
Brown rejects suggestions the shake-up reflects the
kind of knee-jerk scheduling that has characterised
TV2.
   "We did keep Xena on for more than a week," he says,
in reference to TV2 this month pulling Human Nature
after only one episode.
   He believes Xena is better suited to Fridays and
will perform to its potential with Hercules as the
lead-in.
   The two play back-to-back in the United States, and
Brown says those who think it's an overkill should
remember how well Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place
rated when they were a double-act on TV3....


[389] 07-15-96
   CHARIOTS OF WAR. Episode no. 2. Third release. Guest
stars: Nick Kokotakis (Darius), Jeff Thomas, and Stuart
Turner. Story by Josh Becker and Jack Perez. Teleplay
by Adam Armus and Nora Kay Foster. Directed by Harley
Cokeliss.
   COMMENTARY: See XMR41.5 for synopsis.



=============
THE BACK PAGE
=============

XENA MEDIA REVIEW STAFF: 
Living to serve Xena fandom since March 1996!
   Kym Masera Taborn (KT), editor-in-chief
       ktaborn@lightspeed.net
   Diane Silver (DS), editor (even issues)
       dswriter@idir.net
   Maria Erb (MBE), editor (very odd issues)
       maria@erb.mv.com
   Barbara Johnson, circulation 
       xenatwo@aol.com
   Lydia M. Woods (LM), assist. to the editor-in-chief
       woodsl@erol.com
   Thomas Simpson, mascot
       thomas@xenafan.com


ERRATA: Oops! We numbered all the annotations wrong in
XMR #23. They were listed as 322 to 347 when it should
have been 336 to 361. I have uploaded a corrected
version of XMR #23 at the XMR Archive at
http://xenafan.com/xmr
       
BACK ISSUES: Back issues of XMR are available at the
XMR Archive on the XMR web page: http://xenafan.com/xmr

THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS: TWXN is the advance sheet for
XMR. Since XMR offers indepth analysis of media
coverage, the issues are distanced in order to gain
perspective and insight into how the media report
affected the future or was affected by its peers. TWXN
is a commentary-lite review of excerpts to be used in
future XMRs as they are processed for the XMR database.
TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is
posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse,
Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you
Lucia!), the MCA NetForum (when they are accepting
posts!), the Xenite Message Center (whenever I can find
them!), and alt.tv.xena. 

REPRINT POLICY: Permission to use, copy and distribute
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SOLICITATIONS FOR FUTURE NEWSLETTERS: Send cites,
references, articles, annotations, and/or submissions
to ktaborn@lightspeed.net, I will love you for it. XMR
is a non-profit fan publication. The editors retain
editorial control and reprint privileges over the
submitted materials and reserve the right to use the
material in whatever way they deem appropriate.
Submitted materials will not be returned to the sender.

DISCLAIMER: XMR (Xena Media Review) is a free non-
profit informational release. XMR in no way intends to
challenge, disregard or profit from any of the original
copyright holders of the material excerpted, reprinted,
or referred to (including but not limited to MCA,
Universal, Renaissance Pictures, and any other rightful
and legal copyright holder). 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 the
law in order to review and discuss the media reports
cited and annotated herein. XMR is distributed free of
charge via electronic media. Banner graphic by Colleen
Stephan. This is an Obsessive But Benign Publication.
Copyright 1996, 1997 by Kym Masera Taborn.

