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"Godzilla" in unfamiliar territory -- movie theaters
by John Zipperer
I've always thought Japan's "Godzilla" series was made
for television, the medium in which it usually played in this country. When
Centropolis came out with the U.S. version of the giant lizard flick a couple of years ago, it seemed
like typical American overkill. And it was, but largely because it tried
to translate a cheesy kids film into a summer "event" movie. So when Tojo decided to bring "Godzilla
2000" this month to American theaters, I feared our Japanese friends
had learned the American art of milking a TV-grade product by throwing it into the
multiplex.
But I was pleasantly surprised to find "Godzilla 2000" was better than those laughable earlier versions featured from time to time on "Mystery
Science Theater 3000." The special effects are surprisingly good, with some computer-generated effects nicely enhancing the usual "Godzilla" effects (i.e., men in rubber suits walking through a wobbly cityscape). Also, director Takao Okawara is smart
enough not to let the camera linger too long on a bad effect.
The story is, well, the umpteenth retelling of "Godzilla": Giant monster goes to
Tokyo, knocks over buildings, fights other monster, boom, blast, kaboom, crash,
etc. In between, there's the head of the crisis team who is determined to kill
Godzilla even if it means the deaths of innocent human bystanders. One of those
bystanders is an independent researcher who thinks people should be studying
Godzilla instead of trying to kill it. Boom, blast, crash, etc.
Though some adults in the theater where I saw "Godzilla 2000" were
watching it as camp, it's really a film best seen by children. The violence is
clearly cartoon violence, and the plot is certainly not too clever for children.
The one caveat is that the dubbed English language dialogue has some
surprisingly crude language for a kids' film. Whether that is the fault of the
American translators or the original scripters, I can't say.
When told by Fangoria
magazine about his film's release in American theaters, Okawara
said, "I am curious to see what sort of business it will do....I make my
films with the hope that they will appeal to Western audiences. I guess
'Godzilla 2000' will be the test." You can see for yourself who does the
Big G better. Go see "Godzilla 2000" on the big screen, and then watch
the American "Godzilla" on the small screen this Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
on Showtime. And share your verdict.
Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft continues ...
Chris rocks
by Harrison Wyman
"The Chris Rock Show" (midnight, Fridays, HBO) has become the late-night comedy program with the sharpest edge and the funniest take on current events. Friday's fourth-season opener continued to set the pace. The opening sketch turned the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain into the running of the nightstick swinging New York City cops through Harlem (complete with animal-rights activists). In his monologue, Rock tried to make up for six months of being off HBO -- and nearly succeeded, taking on everyone in the news from Pat Buchanan to Puff Daddy in the space of four minutes.
Rock also submitted, a little late, his audition tape for the commentary slot on "Monday Night Football," ably assisted by HBO sportscaster/straight man Jim Lampley. The result was an Afro-centric take on how Dennis Miller's critics thought HBO's other late-night host would approach announcing football.
The gem of the show was Rock's remote from outside a jail in Broward County, Fla., where singer Bobby Brown was about to be released after serving time for probation violations. Nobody was off-limits: not Brown, the protesters outside the jail, the black community (for its uncritical support of Brown's questionable behavior) nor the local news media.
In fact, the satire was so dead-on that some took it for the real thing. Rock showed a report from a local Miami TV station about Brown's release that aired a few weeks ago, complete with Rock's "vigil" outside Brown's jail. The station appeared to take Rock's presence seriously. "I think DNA evidence will be introduced, and this will clear Bobby Brown," Rock told a reporter for WPLG-TV during a live interview.
Veteran comedian Bernie Mac, one of the stars of the new movie "The Original Kings of Comedy," was Rock's in-studio guest, contributing a hilarious take on his 25-year marriage. A performance by singer Jill Scott rounded out the show.
Two things were clear after Friday's show: Rock has found an effective television format for his style of comedy and Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" does not work as a folk song performed on acoustic guitar outside of jail.
Pick to click
Quick, before they disappear into obscurity, bankruptcy or the justice system, see the celebrities who are the apple of teenage America's eye on the "Teen Choice Awards" (8 p.m., Fox). Based on polls conducted by Seventeen magazine, the program features performances by No Doubt, 98 Degreees, Sisquo, and BBMak and appearances by Rachael Leigh Book, Keri Russell, Carmen Electra, and other flavors-of-the-month.
Also tonight, Howard Stern's "Son of the Beach" (9 p.m., FX) is a raunchy, politically incorrect episode that would make Richard Roeper's head spin. Cast against type, guest star Alan Thicke plays a psychotic soldier of fortune.
On this date...
in 1993, Fox answers the burning question:
What happened to Tootie? Well, Kim Fields is back, and
she Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, and Erika Alexander are
all "Living Single."
--
Tom Heald
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So who will it be?
"Survivor" is a superb TV show for any season. It's also been God's gift to the columnists of this great land, TV Barn being no exception. And since everyone else is handicapping "Survivor's" final four, I might as well rate them too. (Just remember, I was the guy who was sure it was Gervase.)
Rude: 
Kelly Wiglesworth, the river guide with a real-life police record, has suddenly become the dark horse to win it all. The alliance has successfully ousted most of its younger, swifter, stronger rivals, but now they're facing their worst nightmare in Kelly. Not only has she won the last two immunity challenges, she's not afraid to be nasty or confrontational with the alliance. That's likely to hold her in good stead with her peers, most of whom got bounced by the Richard-Rudy-Susan troika. Unless the next immunity challenge involves sitting around, look for Kelly to keep her streak going right to the end.
Crude: 
Susan Hawk, the truck driver nicknamed "Fargo" for her nasally Wisconsin accent and blunt vocabulary, had an instinctive feel for "Survivor" from the get-go. She snubbed her teammates who wanted to form a "chick clique" against Rudy. She joined up with Richard and Rudy (and for a while, Kelly) to form an unbreakable voting bloc. And despite the bad grammar, Susan seems to have talked her way into viewers' hearts: When the CBS Web site asked, "With which castaway would you like to be stranded with the most?", Susan whupped all those young bikini-wearing hotties with 31 percent of the vote. If an unexpected turn of fate sinks Rudy, look for her to take early retirement from trucking.
Nude: 
Richard Hatch -- also known to his Internet admirers and detractors as "Richard III" and "Tricky Ricky" -- masterminded the alliance that has ousted the last six "Survivor" castoffs. His sometimes bizarre behavior ticked off other teammates, but they're all gone now thanks to him. Unfortunately, many of his victims will sit on the final jury, meaning Richard has almost no chance of winning.
Duuuuuuuude! 
During the early days of "Survivor," the 73-year-old retired military man promised that in two weeks he'd have the game all figured out. He was right. Though his crustiness and his habit for the unprintable comment made him an early target, no one has voted against him since Week 7. In fact, people kinda like the old gay-basher. His weekly appearances on CBS have made him the second best-known Navy SEAL in America after Jesse Ventura. Which is why Rudy Boesch, the man with "Aloha Hawaii" tattooed above his navel, is my choice to wind up $1 million richer when he says "Aloha" to Palau Tiga.
Looking back: Why "Survivor" swept America
All summer long we've watched, discussed and guessed what will happen next on "Survivor," the brilliantly conceived game show that proves the only thing worse than eating a rat is being double-crossed by one. More ...
ALSO: Reader Mark Jeffries gives credit where credit is due: "Not to take anything away from Mark Burnett, but some mention should be made of
Charlie Parsons, the Brit who created the 'Survivor' format and could only
interest Swedish television in the show at first.
Parsons and his partner Bob Geldof (yes, that Bob Geldof) ran the Planet 24
production company, best known for the morning show 'The Big Breakfast,'
inspiration for FX's 'Breakfast Time' and lots of bits on U.S. local news
morning shows. It says something that when they sold Planet 24 a couple of years ago, the two of them kept the rights to the 'Survivor' format for themselves. I think they knew something."
Still more coverage of tonight's "Survivor" finale:
Meanwhile on "Big Brother": The housemates plan a mutiny -- and other things CBS won't show us
TV Barn joins the all-stars
"The All-Star Newspaper," a new, high-visibility Web site from Brill's Content, has honored Aaron Barnhart by including him in its "starting lineup" Stories from TV Barn will be displayed regularly on The All-Star Newspaper. Thanks, Brill's!
On this date...
in 1990, Ferris Bueller falls in love with
transfer student Sloan Petersen in the first episode of
this prequel sitcom on NBC. While NBC has the official
character names from the John Hughes flick "Ferris Bueller's
Day Off," Fox's
similar "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" proves more
successful. "Ferris" is off the schedule by January, its
place taken by "Blossom." Most of the cast land on their
feet: Ferris (Charlie Schlatter) winds up on "Diagnosis:
Murder," sister Jeannie (Jennifer Aniston) becomes a
Friend, and director Bill Bixby gets work on "Blossom."
--
Tom Heald
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Week 1
- Ukelele-strumming Sonja stumbles, then takes the fall for her team losing an immunity challenge.
- B.B. finds a watering hole, gives his team fire, and generally works like heck.
- Richard takes off his shirt and sits in a tree.
Week 2
- Pagong loses the immunity challenge because Gervase won't eat his 3-inch beetle larvae.
- A frustrated B.B. tells his lazy teammates to vote him off, so they do. He immediately regrets it.
- Richard announces he's gay and takes off his trunks.
Week 3
- Colleen and Greg start sneaking off at night to cuddle. (Colleen later denies that they ever had, in David Letterman's words, "wild island sex.")
- Pagong loses the immunity challenge because Gervase can't swim. But they vote Stacey off instead.
- "Survivor" finishes No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings. Its weekly audience now exceeds 20 million.
Week 4
- Weak, sickly Ramona recovers her strength. Pagong gives her the gong anyway.
- The Tagi tribe eats well, thanks to Richard's fishing skills.
Week 5
- Sean's bowels finally move. He shares the good news with all.
- Biblical Dirk also shares the good news, but can't save himself.
- An Internet rumor circulates that hardy, amiable soccer mom Gretchen will win "Survivor."
Week 6
- Gervase jokingly compares women to cows. But the enraged Pagong females instead vote off Joel, who's accused of enjoying the joke too much.
- B.B. does a Reebok ad.
Week 7
- Rattana is formed -- but a Tagi alliance formed by Richard promptly ousts Gretchen. "She was a threat to win," explains Richard.
- A new Internet rumor circulates: Charming, Teflon-like Gervase will win "Survivor."
Week 8
- The Probst tantalizes everyone with a short video made by their family members -- all except Jenna, who weeps uncontrollably.
- The alliance strikes again, ridding the island of flaky Greg.
Week 9
- A Web site uncovers an arrest warrant for Kelly Wiglesworth, who's wanted on a credit-card fraud charge.
- Strategy or stupidity? Sean tells everyone he's voting in alphabetical order from now on, starting with Jenna. Sure enough, Jenna is ousted.
Week 10
- The Internet didn't see it coming, but he did: Gervase, wears a bullseye on his chest to tribal council, where he is cast off by the alliance.
Week 11
- Kelly stands on the end of a balance beam for nearly three hours and wins immunity.
- In words that are instantly mocked by all, departing sweetheart Colleen tells the group, "Play fair and be nice."
Week 12
- Kelly presses the most volcanic mud off her body into a bucket and wins a night out with the Probst.
- Rudy declares that he hopes never to see Richard again after "Survivor" ends. But they still cast their votes together, which means so long to the nutty neurologist Sean.
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>>> COMMENT:
Lessons and humor abound as first `Survivor' comes to port
COMMENT:
Lessons and humor abound as first `Survivor' comes to port
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COMMENT:
Final episode? Don't count on it — these characters are bound to survive
By AARON BARNHART - The Kansas City Star
Date: 08/22/00 22:15
All summer long we've watched, discussed and guessed what will happen next on "Survivor," the brilliantly conceived game show that proves the only thing worse than eating a rat is being double-crossed by one. It started on an exotic island, with 16 contestants divided into two tribes. It will end with four contestants divided into at least eight personalities. One contestant brought his Bible, but Sun-tzu and Machiavelli would've been more helpful guides to winning. We watched with horrified delight as Richard, Rudy and Susan formed their unholy cabal. Cringed at the antics of Sean, Greg and Gervase. Shed a tear for Sonja, Stacey, Ramona and Gretchen, who never saw what hit them. Tonight, it will all come to an end. The four remaining "Survivor" castaways will be reduced to one in a special two-hour finale airing 7 p.m. on CBS (Channel 5). At 9 p.m., the 16 contestants — including our own B.B. Andersen of Mission Hills — will gather for a live, one-hour wrap-up show. As many as 35 million viewers could tune in. "Survivor" has passed up "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as the highest-rated TV show of the 1999-2000 season. So needless to say, it will be back, or rather outback. "Survivor: The Australian Outback" arrives early next year. Just 6,100 people applied to be castaways on the first "Survivor"; for "Survivor II," CBS reports getting more than 49,000 applications. What has inspired this kind of frenzy for a TV show? Well, for starters, look around the dial. Like "Millionaire" last summer, "Survivor" did not have to compete for viewers' attention with dozens of other new network programs. And with CBS promoting the show tirelessly, not only on its own airwaves but on sister cable channels MTV and VH1, "Survivor" immediately stood out amid the clutter of summer reruns. From there, it was up to the show's creator and executive producer, Mark Burnett, to draw up a good game. That he did. Well-paced, tightly edited and full of unexpected twists, "Survivor" was a masterpiece of must-see TV. Burnett had a response for every situation. If contestants got too chummy, a message would appear at the islanders' "mailbox," inviting them into a contest that would soon have them sniping at each other. If tensions were running too high, as happened during last week's episode, host Jeff Probst would appear and lead the castaways in some fun 'n' games. "Survivor" hasn't even been that suspenseful lately. With Richard Hatch's three-person alliance firmly in control of the tribal council voting, three of the final four contestants were virtually assured their places a month ago. Yet Burnett found a way to keep viewers addicted. Time and again, he used interviews with Hatch and his co-conspirators to suggest the alliance was about to come apart. (It never did.) And since the alliance couldn't vote off someone who had immunity, the outcome of some episodes was never clear. Burnett even found time to have a little fun with the media. He crafted a clever little Internet ruse that had dozens of critics (including me) convinced that the name of the winning castaway — 29-year-old Gervase Petersen — had been accidentally revealed through a computer glitch. In devising the twice-weekly "Survivor" challenges, Burnett proved himself especially resourceful. Admittedly not all had the built-in drama of the larvae-eating contest (thank heavens). Some were downright dull. What are the odds we'll see another archery competition on "Survivor II"? Yet other challenges were unexpectedly entertaining, like last week's race to see who could press the most volcanic mud off their bodies into a bucket. The whole idea of a reward challenge was ingenious. Who wouldn't want a steak dinner with all the trimmings after 30 days of eating rice? But was it worth leaving the camp for a few hours, while the other contestants plotted your demise? The next "Survivor" begins taping this fall, and you can expect the hype machine to get going even earlier (that is, if it ever shuts down). Which means Burnett will be under greater pressure to conjure up new adventures for his next 16 contestants. I wonder how wild dingo tastes. @tag1:To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com
All content © 2000 The Kansas City Star
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Super "Survivor"
Looks like CBS undercharged its advertisers again. The summer finale of "Survivor" appears to drawn a much larger audience than anyone imagined.
After giving the initial "Survivor" sponsors the deal of the century, CBS sold out its remaining ad time for Wednesday's "Survivor" finale at $600,000 a pop. That's comparable to commercial time for regular-season episodes of "Friends" or "ER." But early returns from Nielsen suggest that the number of people watching "Survivor" sailed past those benchmarks.
A projected 40 share? Hah! "Survivor" was already scoring a 26.8 rating/42 share by its first half hour, according to Nielsen overnight ratings in 48 metered markets, which cover about two-thirds of the country. That number grew to a 30 rating/44 share from 8:30 to 9:00, 32.4/46 from 9:00 to 9:30 and a stunning 34.1 rating/48 share in the final half hour. The overnight rating measures households, with one rating point equaling roughly 1 million homes. Assuming conservatively that one and a half persons watched per household, that means more than 50 million Americans were tuned to the last hour of "Survivor," well exceeding the 40 million estimate that had been bandied around prior to the broadcast.
The "Survivor" reunion hour got a bigger number than any previous episode of "Survivor," averaging 26.2/38 and 22.8/35 in its two half hours. As for David Letterman, the sight of a butt-naked Hatch reading the Top Ten List may have haunted him last night, but waking up to a 7.8 rating/20 share -- numbers he hasn't seen since "Late Show" followed the 1994 Winter Olympics -- must be putting a spring even into Dave's step.
UPDATE: CBS reported Thursday afternoon that an average of 51 million viewers watched the final hour of "Survivor," making it the second highest-rated TV event of the year, bigger than this year's Oscars and second only to the Super Bowl in January.
'I wouldn't change a thing'
Of course you wouldn't, Richard Hatch -- you just won the million smackeroos on "Survivor"!
It was fitting in every way that Hatch should win. More than any other contestant, he had the combination of strategy, personality and, yes, values that allowed him to squeak to victory. He formed a flying wedge with two other members of his team, the Tagi tribe, and their alliance ran over all those idealistic Pagongers who seemed more intent on having a good time than winning first prize.
Hatch lied and fibbed his way through the 39-day contest, yet in the end wound up winning the respect of many of those he'd helped kick out of the game. It was impossible to tell if he ever expressed one sincere thought on television -- even during that cozy "reunion" special that aired immediately after "Survivor." But does it really matter now? He won!
Amazingly, he won. As anyone who reads TV Barn regularly knows, I never gave Hatch's strategy the credit it now obviously deserves. It was risky; twice he came within a vote of elimination. And was going nude or singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" that essential to winning? For the sake of future "Survivors," let's hope not. But Hatch's end game paid off. It even outlasted that of runner-up Kelly Wiglesworth, who stayed low throughout the early episodes, then used four successive wins in immunity challenges to ensure herself a spot in the finals.
What'll you bet CBS gets a nice-sized audience next month when it airs "Survivor" repeats against NBC's Olympics coverage? Put another way, what would you rather watch: pre-pubescent pixies on the balance beam? Or how the fat, obnoxious guy managed to win "Survivor"?
But let's let Daniel Murphy, the TV Barn reader who was pulling for Hatch all along, have the final word:
"A lot of people will read Richard's victory as the successful execution
of a well thought out plan to capture the million. But I think the real
story is just the opposite: Richard's plans constantly went haywire.
Nearly everything he planned, except his do-or-die pact with Rudy,
unraveled. Richard earned his victory by constantly adapting and
improvising, constantly generating Plan B. Or Plan C. Or Plan R.
"He shifted his efforts to just the right places at just the right
times. When Susan shifted her loyalty to Kelly, Richard stuck even
closer to Rudy and began to bring Sean into the fold, winning an
unspoken battle with Susan for control of the alliance. He knew when to
assert control and when to back off a little and give the others in the
alliance some breathing room. He won immunity when he needed it, and
threw it when winning immunity would only make him appear too
formidable.
"All of this culminated in a truly brilliant gambit: he threw the most
important immunity challenge of all -- hands-on-the-idol -- to avoid
being cast in the position of having to vote Kelly or Rudy off the
island, which might bring their wrath in the jury. He risked it all on
the assumption Kelly would view him as the lesser threat. He counted
heads and gambled that he couldn't afford another enemy on the jury.
And he was right."
Pick to click
Now what are we supposed to do? Thanks to "Survivor," we'd gotten kind of used to the idea that network TV wouldn't leave us marooned all summer in a sea of reruns. Well, "Survivor" is gone (for now), and thanks to the Olympics the start of the fall season is still six weeks away. How will we survive? Is it too late to ask for a lifeline?
And no, we're not desperate enough for new things to do that we'd consider shacking up with the seven remaining nobodies on "Big Brother" (8 p.m., CBS). Let's see now: So far the provocateur, the stripper and the crazy lady have all been banished. CBS won't show us the housemates' drunken revelries or air any of Eddie's racist jokes (amply documented by visitors to the "Big Brother" Web site). And they wonder why no one's watching?
TV Barn joins the all-stars
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Brill's list is "purely, deliciously opinionated"
On this date...
in 1987, the miniseries "A Year In The Life"
(from St. Elsewhere" creators Joshua Brand and John
Falsey) wowed audiences and critics. But viewers aren't
interested enough to spend another year watching the ups
and downs of the Gardener family. Richard Kiley, Sarah
Jessica Parker, and Diana Muldaur are all out of work
after eight more months.
--
Tom Heald
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LOCAL
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`Survivor' Richard Hatch takes prize
By AARON BARNHART - The Kansas City Star
Date: 08/23/00 23:29
It figures that after 13 weeks of back-stabbing, conniving, lying and ruthless one-upmanship, the defining moment on "Survivor" would come down to a matter of honor.
An estimated 50 million Americans watched Wednesday night as 72-year-old ex-Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch kept his promise and cast his vote for the scheming mastermind of "Survivor," Richard Hatch, awarding Hatch the $1 million prize.
Thus the adventure game show that has captivated viewers this summer -- and won a big island treasure for CBS -- ended on a characteristically unexpected note.
All summer long, millions of Americans made Wednesday nights "Survivor" night, turning what was supposed to be an offbeat contest into a television event.
Since its debut on May 31, "Survivor" had engaged millions of viewers in a simple guessing game: Who would win the prize? To those who watched faithfully, it may have come as no surprise that the two finalists wound up being Hatch, the 39-year-old corporate consultant widely acknowledged as the king of "Survivor's" palace politics, and Kelly Wiglesworth, a 23-year-old river guide whose physical acumen made up for her lack of strategic savvy.
Hatch, along with truck driver Susan Hawk and Boesch, the country's sentimental favorite, persisted to the final round of four largely on the strength of an alliance Hatch formed midway through the 39-day contest.
Along the way, the alliance singled out contestants who were thought to be younger and stronger. One by one they were voted off. But someone forgot about Wiglesworth until it was too late.
Ultimately, it was she who undid the alliance. Wiglesworth may not have been the fleetest of foot or mind, but it was enough to beat her much older competitors in the game's last four "immunity challenges." The winner of each of these mental or athletic contests could not be voted out at the weekly "tribal council," the blackball session where one contestant was eliminated by secret ballot.
Wiglesworth battled the elements and did all she could to stay alive, but like the women of the doomed Donner expedition, she refused to eat her own. After initially joining Hatch's alliance, she wiggled out.
Yet the purity of Hatch's game plan won him legions of fans, and not just out in TV land. A jury made up largely of his former victims voted 4-3 to award him the million bucks.
As young neurologist Sean Kenniff said when casting his vote for Hatch, "Richard is an out-and-out scoundrel. But I like him."
But it may have been Boesch, the 45-year military veteran, who had the most unusual reason for voting for Hatch.
"We had an alliance to the end," Boesch told the camera. "And I've fulfilled my obligation."
Perhaps the ultimate survivors were the executive producers of "Survivor," Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons. A few years ago they couldn't get American TV interested in their game show. So they shopped it to Swedish television, where it was known as "Expedition Robinson" and became a huge hit. By the time it arrived on our shores, Burnett and Parsons had three years under their belt. They knew what worked and what didn't.
CBS was the lucky bidder for "Survivor," though at the time no one knew how lucky. Mostly CBS was trying to come up with something, anything, in response to the runaway success of last year's summer game-show hit, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on ABC.
One of the main reasons people got hooked on "Survivor" was you literally had no idea what was coming next. Some early episodes were guilty of heavy foreshadowing. Anyone who couldn't figure out that B.B. Andersen, the 64-year-old retired contractor from Mission Hills, would be knocked out of the second episode probably loses at "Wheel of Fortune," too.
But as the series progressed, the producers found their rhythm. Burnett's team squeezed 44 minutes of taut, tense action out of the 150 hours of video they shot for each episode. Toward the end, the games became more inventive and entertaining -- and even a tad poignant at the end, with reminders of the four finalists' "fallen comrades" laid around them.
@tag1:To reach Aaron Barnhart, visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com
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"Why does the world's oldest democracy have to rely on a commission
in order to have presidential debates? If some of the electronic and
print media giants sponsored debates, or indicated that they would cover
debates held by private groups in key states, it would be very difficult
for George W. Bush and Al Gore to turn down an invitation. If a coalition
of Hispanic and African-American groups wanted to sponsor a debate in
California ... could the two major candidates say they had better
things to do?" -- Ralph Nader in the Wall Street Journal
Reader mail
Intrepid daily readers of TV Barn -- and I trust that means all of you -- may have noticed that I haven't posted much e-mail from readers lately. Part of the reason is that editing reader mail is labor-intensive, and I've been intensifying most of my labors elsewhere. But it's also that I've been getting a lot of mail lately from angry people. Maybe it's the summer heat, but these readers are really angry. Quite mad, you might say.
After my open letter to Roger Ailes of Fox News, urging him to push for a 4-way presidential debate, this reader was convinced I had it out for his beloved cable channel. "So much for sniping at Leno's heals (sic) -- now you're writing apologia for TV liberalism," he wrote. "Fine, but I never subscribed to read smirking put-downs of the 'hard-right' FOX News. (Of course, when was the last time you labelled CBS, NBC, or ABC 'hard-left'?)"
My piece on Richard Roeper's curious column, where I pointed out that Bill Maher has been telling politically incorrect jokes about Jews and Gentiles for years, sparked this flame from another reader: "This is irrelevant bull----. If someone does wrong no rational person can defend them by bringing up an obscure fact about a relative of theirs."
Regarding "Survivor," another reader just wanted me to know, "I don't care who survives, I think its a show for morons who don't have a life and I have no interest whatsoever in this crap." Amazing he mustered the strength to type that much ...
But the coup de grace arrived yesterday. It began, "I never watch television" -- always a bad sign -- "and hence never saw a single episode of 'Survivor. I only happened, by chance, to notice your article in yesterday's 'Kansas City Star.' What caught my eye was the sentence about Mr. Rudy Boesch, the former Navy Seal, which read, 'In fact, people kinda like the ol' gay-basher.'
"So The Star finds gay bashing humorous, does it?Ê Had Mr. Boesch been a racist, would The Star have so blithely published a sentence reading, 'In fact, people kinda like the ol' black-basher'? Gays seem to be the one remaining minority that society still considers it OK to hate.ÊThat's probablyÊespecially true in a back-water town like Kansas City ..." Hoo boy.
People, let this serve as an example of what happens when you don't watch television regularly!
On a positive note, for every steaming-hot letter I've gotten lately, I received many more that were air-conditioned. I'll start posting selected e-mails to a separate letters page.
Pick to click
Guerrilla documentary-maker Michael Moore has been branching out. He's produced two videos for the group Rage Against the Machine. The first one is up for an MTV Video Music Award next month; the second, "Testify," debuts today on "Total Request Live" (3:00-4:30, MTV).
Rage Against the Machine, you'll recall, is the pot-stirring group that performed a protest concert outside the Democratic convention in L.A. Police declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly" and hammered the assembly with pepper spray and rubber bullets. (The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the LAPD, claiming that members of the news media were singled out for abuse by the cops.)
In a letter to his fans, Moore said the new Rage video "tells the story of a group of
aliens from another planet who decide to conquer Earth by
sending a mutant gene here that splits into two heads -- with
both of them running for president of the United States! They
say the same exact things like they both support the death
penalty and NAFTA and more Pentagon spending -- and the
pundits actually believe that they are two separate and distinct
beings." Yes, Moore is supporting Ralph Nader this year.
Also this weekend:
A must-see "Dateline NBC" (9 p.m. Friday). Another of those one-hour documentaries I've raved about in the past, this one follows the trajectories of four troubled young men as they are paroled from prison. Two out of three parolees are returned to jail, and we're told that nearly half the time it's for simple parole violations. After tonight's program, you'll have a better idea why.
The four men struggle to re-enter the world. In one case, the wheels begin coming off the moment our parolee walks out the prison gate. But in documenting their travails, "Dateline" shows us how the much-maligned parole system really does work. Though the stories you'll see tonight are heartbreaking, you might come away convinced that the rewards of the parole system -- for one of the four men profiled, at least -- still outweigh the risks.
What has been the hottest cable network this year? You'll never guess, unless you've got kids: It's Cartoon Network, which just had its biggest month ever and is en route to displacing USA as cable's top-rated network.
This weekend, "Cartoon Cartoon Weekend," a 53-hour, all-original
programming marathon on Cartoon Network, will let viewers decide which of three series pilots will become a half-hour series next year. The marathon begins 7 p.m. Friday.
After "The Simpsons," there's no animated comedy _ and precious few live-action ones, either -- quite as much fun to watch as MTV's "Daria." Now, television's smartest and tartest-tongued teenage girl is featured in her own full-length movie, "Daria: Is It Fall Yet?" premiering 7 p.m. Sunday on MTV.
It's summertime for the students and faculty of Lawndale High, and that means summer jobs, vacations, camp -- and in Daria's case, sleeping in until noon. That is, until her hard-driving mom enlists Daria as a counselor at the OK to Cry Corral day camp ("for overly sensitive kids and those who'd like to be"). There she meets a camper who's as jaded as she is, only younger. Creepy.
Meanwhile, best friend Jane gets a scholarship to a pretentious art colony, where she finds a kindred spirit (voiced by Bif Naked) and spars with her narcissistic teacher (the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl). Back home, Daria's sister Quinn hires a tutor (MTV's Carson Daly) after she gets her standardized test scores. By the way, if you're wondering who voices the regular characters on "Daria," you're not alone: The voice actors aren't listed in the credits. (This is how cable TV keeps the costs down.) However, a well-kept "Daria" Internet fan site informs us that most of the voices are done by two women, Tracy Grandstaff and Wendy Hoopes. Also, Internet Movie Database has a list of voice credits.
On this date...
in 1994, because it wants the show to have
the best possible ratings, ABC launches "My So-Called
Life" opposite the first hour of NBC's Thursday
"Must-See-TV" lineup. Viewers are more interested in a
different view of "Generation X" life, which makes its
debut in the same time slot a month later: "Friends."
August 26: in 1996, having been reintroduced to the
world with a 2-hour movie the previous November, "The
Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" makes its debut on TNT,
TBS and the Cartoon Network, where all told the show
will air 21 times a week. Though everything else has
been updated, Jonny himself has only aged about 3 years
since the original 1964 series.
August 27: in 1990, NBC unveils its hot new boy band --
Chris, Eddie, Damon, Patrick and Bobby -- as "The Guys
Next Door." The Monkees-styled variety show is designed
to rip-off the New Kids On The Block, who have their own
Saturday morning cartoon this season on ABC.
--
Tom Heald
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My column on Fox News hosting a 4-way presidential debate prompted several thoughtful letters. Glenn Leavell writes, "I was surprised that you didn't mention Harry Browne, the Libertarian Party candidate for President. Unlike Nader (and Buchanan, I believe), Browne will be on the ballot in all 50 states. The 15% rule aside, I believe that any of the candidates who will be on the ballot in all 50 states should be included in the debates."
Actually, I agree on this point. Ideally any candidate that has a mathematical possibility of being elected should be invited to the debate. In 1996, that numbered all of six candidates. And don't worry about the viewers -- having all those people in the same room won't be too mind-boggling. (Anybody watch "Friends"?) It seems to me that if Americans could survive the 1992 vice-presidential debate -- where Ross Perot's running mate, Admiral James Stockdale, showed himself a lousy extemporaneous speaker but an endearing soul -- then we could survive a 6-way, or 8-way, presidential debate.
Time's Jim Poniewozik writes, "I'd take exception with one point: that wiring the third-party
candidates into a 2-man debate would make Ailes's Fox look less biased
in favor of the Republicans. The inclusion of the third parties is
currently a major sticking point in the debate over the debates -- and
it's the Bush camp that most wants to include them. There are various
theories: that the Bush team feels that a four-way split would insulate
their man from damage by Gore, an accomplished debater; that they feel
the inclusion of Buchanan would make Bush seem more moderate and the
inclusion of Nader will force Gore to pander to his liberal base,
leaving Bush the sweet, voter-rich center; or that Bush just doesn't
want to debate much if at all, and so is using this suggestion to tie up
negotiations with the Gore camp, hopefully making it look like it's the
Gore folks who don't want a debate.
"Having a 4-way debate would probably result in a broader and less mushy airing
of issues. But given the political realities today, I don't think Ailes
would get any balance brownie points for engineering it. If anything, it
would be more of a move against type for CNN or MSNBC, both of whom have
been charged with pro-Dem bias, to do this."
Point well taken, except that one could turn most of those theories on their head. Like the one about Buchanan making Bush seem more moderate; why wouldn't Nader's presence do the same for Gore? After all, Nader's argument is that the Republicrats are indistinguishable from each other. But Gore could answer that by staking out middle turf between Ralph and W. As Clinton showed in the '92 debates, good things can happen when you triangulate.
On a related note, reader Sean McCord has a suggestion that Gore might want to consider adding to his campaign reform package: product placement. He writes, "I'll give you an example: did you see Al Gore' acceptance speech? Do you
remember this line? (I'm paraphrasing): 'We sent a man to the moon in a capsule with less computing power than we now carry in a Palm Pilot!' At this point, Al could have whipped out his own Palm Pilot (I'm sure he carries one) and checked his task list ('Accept nomination ... check!'). Or when Gore declared that the GOP's proposed tax reforms 'would have left the poorest Americans with
just enough money at the end of the week to buy a Diet Coke.' Here, Al could
have popped open a can of Diet Coke and, before an audience of millions,
gulped down a satisfied swig. Sales would have shot through the roof! It's an idea, I believe, whose time is overripe." Good choice of words, there, Sean ...
"American High"
Christopher Neuman writes, "I see that American High has
been cancelled after just two weeks. What the ...? You and others have decried the hyper-short attention span of TV
executives who expect viewers to flock to a new thing nanoseconds after it
hits the airwaves, and promptly yank it before they can even gain a
toehold. And here, it looks more vindictive than anything else. C'mon, it's summer! Fox is putting this doc up against 'Big Brother,' which
has a massive lead-in on Wednesdays thanks to the Survivor juggernaut!
What the hell else will Fox put in there -- 'When Teens Get It On?'"
In Fox's defense -- and it's not much of one -- they are trying to repair their relationship with advertisers, who are still smarting from Fox's disastrous fall launch last year. So unlike stronger networks, Fox is not in much of a position to keep a low-rated show on its airwaves very long. Even during the formerly uncompetitive summer season.
"Survivor" spin
Paul Murray writes, "The CBS affiliate here in Detroit can't be bothered to put on a
local newscast. Yet they had a special 7:30 p.m. installment of their excuse
of a news program ('In-Depth Detroit') devoted entirely to the local tryouts
for 'Survivor II.' We might as well hook a
generator up to Ed Murrow's body -- it's spinning so fast we could generate
enough electricity to power a small city."
Regarding "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch, I wrote, "It was impossible to tell if he ever expressed one sincere thought on television." That prompted this from the always-sincere Michael Jones: "Well, he did say he was a man of understanding. And I'm sure he easily grasped the concept thatÊsincerity and prime-time television areÊa toxic mix. He played the medium just right.
That said, I do think he was genuine when he mentioned wanting to win the $1 million prize."
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The big winner in "Campaign 2000": Maria Pope
While in New York earlier this month to profile Maria
Pope and Barbara Gaines, the two recently-promoted
show-runners at the "Late Show with David Letterman" -- look for that story
Wednesday at TV Barn -- I asked Pope about the "Campaign
2000" segments that have become, along with her pleasant
smile, a nightly fixture on the show.
Pope wasn't even an executive producer when the
"Campaign 2000" segments started in January. At the
time, executive producer Rob Burnett stood behind the podium.
But shortly after Letterman returned from heart surgery,
Burnett took off for Vancouver to shoot the pilot for
"Ed." That left Pope in charge.
"I certainly didn't ask to be put on the air," she said
from her sparsely decorated new office at the Ed
Sullivan Theater. "I just got swept up in the momentum.
(Dave) is very nice to me and he always knows exactly the
moment when to wrap it up."
One of the obvious appeals of "Campaign 2000" is its
unscripted feel. "If people like it, part of that may be
because you don't what it will be. And many nights
before the show starts, it's often the case that none
of us knows what it will be. You'll be busy all day, then
at 5:20 you'll realize, `Holy crap!'"
But Letterman likes it that way, said Pope. "He would
never want to know what I wanted to talk about. If I
said to him before the show that this thing happened to
me with a cab driver, he'd say, `Oh, really?' and then
he'd say, `Never mind! Never mind! Save it for the
show.' And then it became reacting in the moment."
Originally, the segment was little more than Burnett
giving nightly updates on his attempts to get leading
political candidates, such as Hillary Clinton and George
W. Bush, onto the "Late Show." But after Bush's disastrous appearance via satellite in March -- so embarrassing to the candidate that even Letterman avoided re-airing it -- politicians became persona non grata at "Late Show." Yet "Campaign 2000" continued.
"I started making plans to have Bush in the studio. Dave
said, `Nah, I'm kinda sick of the campaign. Let's talk
about other things,'" said Pope.
As any viewer can see, Letterman just likes talking with his new
show-runner. They have a natural rapport that was built over the
years; Pope has been associated with ``Late Night'' since
1982, when she interned there while a student at Southern
Methodist University.
``I always thought Maria's outlook and spirit was so much closer to
Dave's than many of the head writers on the show,'' said Steve O'Donnell, the ``Chris Rock Show'' producer who was head writer on ``Late Night'' for eight years.
``She was always fascinated by TV talk shows. She was probably one of the few elementary school kids in Houston who took a lot of trouble to watch Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas. She told me once that her mom would call to her when she was out playing to tell her the Sonny and Cher show was on.''
Talking to Pope, it's clear her admiration for the boss goes
beyond good-soldier loyalty. She is plainly in awe of Letterman's
talent, and "Campaign 2000" has given her new insight into his
ability to spin comedy on the fly. In recent weeks the two
have begun hashing out the details of a "Late
Show Great Debate" they hope to have on the show this
fall. Al Gore has already agreed to appear; it's the
Bush camp that's holding things up. (Can you blame them?)
"Here we are, fleshing out this `Late Show Great Debate'
on the air, and I'm thinking, shouldn't we be having a
meeting or something?" Pope said, laughing. "To watch
Dave do this, for all intents and purposes, live in the
moment of a TV show ... I just stand on the podium
thinking, `How do you do that?'"
On the day NBC picked up "Ed," Burnett relinquished his
day-to-day chores at the "Late Show" and Letterman
made Gaines and Pope the new executive producers. Pope said she got a bouquet of
flowers from Letterman foil and fill-in host Kathie Lee
Gifford. The card read, "You go, girl!" And she has.
***
It's only fair to note that the
late-night show without a "Campaign 2000" segment is the
one that cleaned up during the August political
conventions. NBC reports that the "Tonight Show with Jay
Leno" scored a third more viewers during the Democratic
convention and 11 percent more viewers during the GOP
get-together compared with four years ago. Boosted by an
appearance by the Gore clan, Leno's show averaged 5.2
million viewers during the Dems' week in Los Angeles.
And that was despite a 45-minute delay on Monday night,
when President Clinton's speech ran over, and the
absence of a Dick Morris toe-sucking scandal.
KXTR: A bad case of mono
In a move that infuriated classical-music lovers -- but came as no surprise to radio industry watchers -- Kansas City's largest broadcaster abruptly pulled the plug Aug. 17 on KXTR-FM and relegated the station's classical format to a weaker and decidedly less euphonic AM signal.
What is the deal with classical and big radio broadcasters? Many say it's the inevitable by-product of industry consolidation, which puts pressure on big holding groups to make all of its stations hugely profitable. In such an environment, experts say, classical doesn't stand a chance. The demographics of its audience don't conform to the target demos sought by the media buyers who purchase the bulk of advertising time on radio these days.
From "who shot J.R." to who's got P.R.
After initially reading the tea leaves of "Survivor's" overnight ratings last week, I predicted its viewership would approach the 76 million figure of the final "Seinfeld." Then I chickened out and removed the text -- but it turns out I shouldn't have. A whopping 72 million Americans watched all or some of the coronation of king Richard Hatch as the ultimate survivor.
Now comes some even more intriguing data that tells us how CBS helped grease the wheels for "Survivor"-mania. According to The Myers Report, more stories were published about last week's season finale (540) than for the series-ending episodes of either "Seinfeld" (398) or "Cheers" (204). In fact, not even the much-referenced "Who Shot J.R." episode earned as many press mentions (448) as "Survivor."
CBS publicity reportedly spent a full year and thousands of person-hours promoting "Survivor." Miraculously, the game's outcome was never publicized, so CBS got maximum return on its investment, with an estimated 59 million viewers tuned in at 9:58 p.m. when Hatch was declared the winner.
Now the question remains: What kind of delayed payoff will CBS get for its promotional windfall? If you were watching "Survivor" faithfully, you should have memorized the new CBS lineup by about Week 11, thanks to all those fall-season promos.
With luck, the network won't suffer a repeat of its embarrassment from 1993, when promos for its new action series "South of Sunset" reached saturation level during the baseball playoffs and the first two months of David Letterman's rip-roaring start at CBS. "South of Sunset," which starred Glenn Frey of the Eagles, scored so poorly in its debut that the network never aired a second episode.
Pick to click
Why is "Investigative Reports" (10 p.m., A&E) adding another
hour to the thousands of hours television has spent on the JonBenet Ramsey
murder case? "Our audience expects us to," the show's anchor, Bill Kurtis,
told me recently. "After a case is reasonably resolved, that's when we can
come in and put a beginning, middle and end to it."
What Kurtis & Co. did not do was not to pick over the crime scene yet
another time, or resume the debate over John and Patsy Ramsey's role in the
killing. Instead, this hour looks at the investigation itself: specifically
the crucial errors that compromised the crime scene in the hours after
JonBenet's killing and the disorganized effort by law enforcement that
followed.
We also follow Kurtis through the Ramsey house as he shows (not very
persuasively, to me) how an intruder might have committed the crime. Kurtis
concludes that we may never know the girl's real killer because officials
simply don't have the evidence to convict.
Kurtis had no problem getting an interview with the Ramseys and other
notables in the JonBenet case. "Everybody wants to talk because they're
afraid this will blow over," he said, "and they'll miss their opportunity to tell their story."
On this date...
in 1990, Japan levels an assault on American
children's brains and their parents' wallets -- the
poorly dubbed, chop-socky "educational" TV show "Mighty
Morphin' Power Rangers" on Fox.
--
Tom Heald
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"X-Files" takes a little off the top
by John Zipperer
What does "The
X-Files" producer Chris Carter have up his sleeves for its eighth
season? Even before the ex-surfer dude gave some clues in recent interviews, we knew it would be unlike any preceding season.
At the end of last season, we had seen a wrapup of the
long-running issue of the disappearance of Mulder's sister, Samantha. And we saw
major changes for our two leads, FBI agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and
Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). Scully found herself pregnant, with no clue about
the identity of the father. And Mulder finally got himself abducted by the
aliens he's pursued for years and years. Then, of course, there's the backstory: Duchovny will appear in only 11 episodes (his decision), and will only be a lead player in about half of those.
Scully, meanwhile, gets a new partner. Cinescape reports
in its fall SF-TV preview that the new teamup will be a reunion of sorts, at least
in name. The new character, to be played by "Terminator 2" vet Robert Patrick,
will be named John Doggett after sportscaster Jerry Doggett. Doggett, see, was
co-announcer of Los Angeles Dodgers games with Vin Scully. It's a small world.
Anyway, Doggett will be a by-the-book skeptic, with a bit of a switcheroo for
Scully, who will be less of the skeptic than she originally was.
But it doesn't sound like Patrick will just play a
male Scully to Scully's female Mulder. Doggett is "very much an insider at
the FBI," Carter told writer Ian Spelling in a two-part interview in Starlog.
"He's part of the fraternity. Mulder has always been an outsider--the
consummate outsider. We wanted somebody who was blue-collar, a former cop, a
man's man."
And he has some words for those of us--we know who we are--who
complain when a cherished series premise is tinkered with. He acknowledges that
the show's original setup worked. "That doesn't mean that you can't
threaten the paradigm, can't threaten the model....In fact, dramatically
speaking, you had better do that every once in a while, or else you're going to
have a very stale show."
Spelling also puts to rest the idea that Carter is obsessed with
the Fox's premature eradication of his "Harsh Realm," which the
network cancelled last fall. He apparently takes a little pleasure in the fact
that the network exec who killed the show has himself been removed. But his
focus seems to be on making his next series, "The Long Gunmen," a
success. That series, due to launch in January 2001, will focus on the three
occasional characters on "The X-Files" who published a conspiracy zine
under the title of The Lone Gunmen. The three are admittedly minor
characters on which to base a spinoff series, but that may work to its advantage
by allowing Carter to go in different directions -- to threaten his paradigm -- instead of feeling obligated to adhere to the "X-Files" premise. Hey, it worked for the producers of "Cheers"
when they spun off a series centering around a third-banana doctor character named
Frasier.
The new season of "The X-Files" won't premiere until
November.
Zippy's Sci-Fi Loft continues ...
Dollar days at Pets.com
Reader Paul Jay Rodriguez writes, "Can we see an update on the suit against Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog? Has it been canceled due to Pets.com's financial troubles?"
It might be better to say that the suit is not a high priority for the troubled Internet pet-supply retailer. According to a story on the wires today, Pets.com (IPET) is in danger of being de-listed from the Nasdaq index because its stock price is now hovering below the critical $1-per-share level.
As you'll recall, Pets.com filed its lawsuit against Robert Smigel, the comedy writer whose Triumph puppet is beloved by fans of Conan O'Brien's late-night show, last April. At the time, IPET's stock had already been cut by two-thirds from its IPO peak of nearly $9 a share. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but since the lawsuit was filed, Pets.com's share price has been slashed another two-thirds to under a buck.
If the retailer can't get its stock price any higher, its legal matters will be irrelevant. Lawsuits don't die; like old soldiers and old socks, they simply fade away.
Pick to click
It wasn't my favorite show, but lest I be accused of only playing
favorites, here's a shout-out to all you "Freaks and Geeks" fans. The
NBC show about coming of age in the year 1980 had literally thousands of
devotees last season. For some reason, that wasn't enough to save the show.
But now you can relive that half-season, again and again and again, in
repeats on Fox Family Channel beginning 8 p.m. tonight.
Also tonight: You may have read about the melee that broke out during the
taping of UPN's "The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards" (8 p.m.) last week. Security guards were pelted with compact discs, audience
members rushed the stage and the producers were forced to stop the show
after only half the awards had been handed out. But the ceremony will air
tonight in some form, though perhaps UPN will hold off showing any of those
new public service announcements in which professional wrestlers urge
viewers to ``Smackdown Your Vote!''
On this date...
in 1965, "Meet the Press" ends a run of 18
years of public service in prime-time. After tonight it
will head to Sunday mornings on NBC.
--
Tom Heald
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He's the ladies' man
In the man's world that was once late-night TV, women always played essential roles. But now they are starting to assume key positions that were held exclusively by men. For Maria Pope and Barbara Gaines, the two women recently promoted to executive producers on the "Late Show with David Letterman," it's more than another step up the ladder. It's a validation of the choice they made years ago to throw in their lots with the man who went from cult favorite to talk-show legend.
Their dedication and skill, observers say, were critical to Letterman's success. And perhaps Letterman has Pope to thank for his recent surge in the ratings: Among women ages 18-49, "Late Show" is up 20 percent compared with a year ago.
Read the story from Wednesday's Kansas City Star
Pick to click
In making "The Fall of Newt Gingrich" (PBS, check local listings),
documentary producer Michael Pack trailed the titular and spiritual head of the
House Republicans during a crucial two-month period in the fall of 1998. This film begins with
optimism, as then-Speaker Gingrich hopes to turn public disgust toward the President's
indiscretions into midterm victory. It ends with Gingrich out of a job and
his fellow partisans wondering what went wrong.
Despite gaining extraordinary access to its subject, Pack's film doesn't
really answer that question. Perhaps we'll never know why the person most
responsible for the GOP's success in the Clinton era was turned out so
swiftly by his own troops.
"The Fall of Newt Gingrich" is a lively document anyway, as it gives us
some insight into Gingrich's drive and aggressiveness -- the two qualities
that propelled his remarkable political career. His schedule would've felled
lesser men; each day is crammed with closed-door meetings, public
meet-and-greets, media spin and campaign appearances.
But Gingrich is better spoken on the subject of dinosaur bones than on
his own strengths and weaknesses. So Pack pads the film with reflections
from Gingrich's staff and close friends. One of them, Sen. Trent Lott, says,
"He wasn't our Moses, he was our Joshua. He not only led us to the promised
land, he took us in."
***
Also tonight, David Letterman marks seven years on CBS with New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and supermodel Laetitia Casta as his guests on the "Late Show" (11:35 p.m.). CBS publicity reports that tonight's show will be the 1,466th since Letterman came over from NBC.
On this date...
in 1990, Chris Stevens meets a literate
"brother" named Bernard who turns out to be his real
half-brother, while Dr. Fleischman meets "Bigfoot," aka
the antisocial Adam Arkin, on a very special "Northern
Exposure."
--
Tom Heald
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LADIES' MAN:
Women producers in charge at `Late Show With David Letterman'
By AARON BARNHART - The Kansas City Star
Date: 08/29/00 22:15
NEW YORK -- David Letterman's brush with mortality this year showed us a side of him we'd never seen. Now one of TV's most familiar faces is revealing another new wrinkle: For the first time in 20 years he has a female sidekick.
Maria Pope, unlike the other women who appear on camera with Letterman, is not a giggly actress or supermodel. Nor is she a high-powered celebrity like Barbara Walters or Kathie Lee Gifford, the type who leans in and goes mano-a-mano with the host. When Letterman and Pope banter during the show's "Campaign 2000" segment, it's like he's talking across the fence to a neighbor. They have good-natured, entertaining rapport on the show, and it has helped humanize Letterman.
By coincidence, Pope and her colleague Barbara Gaines also were promoted this year to executive producers on the "Late Show." They are the first two women Letterman has put in charge since 1982, when he and his then-girlfriend Merrill Markoe created the old "Late Night" show back at NBC.
Yet the timing of Pope as sidekick couldn't have been better. Since Letterman got a new lease on life after undergoing heart bypass surgery last January, there's been a noticeable spring in his step.
"It does seem like there's been a resurgence and renewal, and that certainly shows on the air," Pope said in a recent interview at her office inside the Ed Sullivan Theater.
While the Dave-and-Maria show goes on in front of the cameras, Barbara Gaines watches from backstage and worries. Worrying is her forte. Gaines has worked for Letterman 20 years, handling (as she puts it) "the stuff people don't write about," mundane details that are crucial to a live TV show -- running the daily rehearsal, handling staff issues, fixing broken elevators.
In the man's world that was once late-night TV, women always played essential roles. But now they are starting to assume key positions that were held exclusively by men.
At the "Tonight Show," executive producer Debbie Vickers, a University of Kansas graduate, helped Jay Leno turn around his foundering ship in 1993. Now she runs late night's top-rated program. Cynthia Garrett did so well as guest host on NBC's "Later" that she was tapped earlier this year to be the regular host.
At CBS, Letterman's company this year replaced the top producers at "Late Show" and the "Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" with women. Kilborn's new executive producer is Mary Connelly, a former "Mad About You" show-runner who cut her teeth at NBC working for Letterman.
It's significant if you think of Letterman and Kilborn as avatars of the "frat boy" lifestyle. That image seemed to be reinforced a couple of years ago, when the people who issue tickets to the "Late Show" began asking young men at local colleges to bring their buddies along.
Pope said the show isn't trying to exclude women but rather "to get a studio audience representative of our (home) audience, with people -- male or female -- who know and love the show," she said. "We don't want people who say, `Oh, we can't get tickets for "Cats," let's go see the Letterman show.' "
And Gaines and Pope take issue with the idea that they were ever associated with a "guy show."
"I think it's a misconception," Gaines said. "Madeleine Smithberg (executive producer of `The Daily Show') came from here. Jude Brennan (now at Oxygen) came from here. Mary came from here. They say this was a boys' club, but all these women came from here."
Early days
Few women or men have spent as much time with Letterman, or know him so well, as Barbara Gaines. They met at NBC in May 1980. Letterman was scheduled to begin his live morning show in three weeks. Gaines, then a 22-year-old Long Island native, had heard from a friend that there was an opening for a receptionist.
"I wasn't a big TV watcher," Gaines recalled. "They said it was the guy who always hosts for Carson. And then the associate producer said, `Can you type?'"
She typed Letterman's jokes and other scripted matter into a prompting device, the kind used by news anchors. But after two weeks on the air, Letterman ditched the prompter and went to cue cards. Dejected, Gaines went back to reception duty. Then a production assistant quit, and Gaines applied for and got the job.
One of the duties of a production assistant is to make sure all the blue note cards are placed on Letterman's desk. Another is to make sure the host's coffee mug is filled.
To this day, Gaines still performs both tasks. "I didn't want to get promoted out of being in touch with him," Gaines said.
The morning show died after four months. In early 1982 NBC gave Letterman what he really wanted: a late night venue where he could carry on for the amusement of college kids, not housewives.
Pope joined the show that year as an intern, returning in 1983 and going full-time in 1984. She worked her way up through the creative ranks, writing jokes and handling guest talent. Ironically, though, it was Gaines who first had a role on camera.
Longtime fans of the NBC show will remember her as the backstage screamer. It all started one night when Letterman was rummaging around his desk for a certain blue note card. Before the show, Gaines had placed the card practically in front of his nose. Now he couldn't find it.
"He started saying, `Where's the thing? Where's the thing?' and finally I yelled, `It's on the left!'" Gaines recalled.
Screaming Barbara soon became a staple on the show. Letterman enjoyed it, as Gaines recalled: "If I wrote down that the movie opens on the 19th, he'd say, `When does the movie open?'"
Finally a viewer wrote in asking Letterman, "Is this the humiliation it takes to work on the show?" He read the letter on the air.
"I'm very shy in real life, but I'm different with Dave," Gaines said.
When Letterman signed on at CBS -- it was seven years ago tonight -- he had trouble finding his way from the 11th-floor office suite to the stage. So he had Gaines escort him to and from rehearsals.
Another time, at one of the ritual publicity photo shoots loathed by Letterman, writer Bill Zehme saw Gaines trying to coax a smile out of her boss by chanting, "Happy Dave! Happy Dave!"
She was always nauseated at the thought of carrying on with him on TV. It amazes her to watch "Campaign 2000" and see Pope so at ease.
"I definitely envy her," Gaines said. "I would not be able to do my job and do that."
According to Pope, she sometimes doesn't even think about "Campaign 2000" until a few minutes before the taping. Her day is tied up managing the more show-bizzy aspects of "Late Show," and besides, Letterman has made it clear he wants their banter to sound as unrehearsed as possible. Most nights they just go out and do it.
"He would never want to know what I wanted to talk about," Pope said. "If I said to him before the show that this thing happened to me with a cabdriver, he'd say, `Oh, really?' and then he'd say, `Never mind! Never mind! Save it for the show.' "
Pope won't take credit for the popularity of "Campaign 2000." After all these years she can still speak reverentially of Letterman's mastery with ad libs and his innate sense of when to end the segment.
She did say, however, that "a lot of the female guests have commented that it's nice to see Dave with a woman."
Longtime observers of the show
say Letterman and Pope are kindred spirits, and their compatibility is apparent during "Campaign 2000."
"I always thought Maria's outlook and spirit was so much closer to
Dave's than many of the head writers on the show," said Steve
O'Donnell, the "Chris Rock Show" producer who was head writer on
"Late Night" for eight years.
Both these women work long hours and always have, although there was more time to goof off at NBC. The network had them on a lighter schedule, doing about 160 shows a year. At CBS, they crank out more than 200 shows a year, including two tapings every Thursday.
They could've joined the long parade of Letterman alumni who found other less strenuous work in television. Instead, they stayed.
"Maria and I made our decisions to stay here, and obviously that paid off," Gaines said.
"These were two women who attached quite a bit of themselves to the
program, both personally and professionally," said O'Donnell. "Barbara and Maria enjoy Dave and they like making the show what it is."
But these days Gaines worries about the show on weekends, which she said she never did before. And when Letterman needs something during the show, instead of running it out to him, Gaines hands the item to Pat Farmer, a production assistant who appears routinely in the show's comedy bits. She still sets down the blue note cards and Dave's coffee cup on his desk, but those are reminders of a more carefree time.
"I made a decision to become more professional," she added, a bit wistfully. "And the more professional you are, the less fun I guess you have."
To reach Aaron Barnhart, visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com
All content © 2000 The Kansas City Star
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