“The Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday that it would fine 169 Fox television stations $7,000 each, or a total of $1.18 million, for violating indecency rules when it showed a particularly graphic episode of the show “Married by America” last spring… The commission found an April episode of the show violated the indecency rules through a series of sexually suggestive and explicit scenes.” At least one Fox affiliate had refused to air the episode, and will not be fined.
Blog
What? We Can’t Steal Your Ideas?
“Since the dawn of the film industry, it has been common practice for writers to send scripts and pitch stories to movie executives and producers. And for almost as long, scores of writers have sued the studios for stealing their ideas, only to have suits, filed on hard-to-prove copyright infringement grounds, which are dismissed or quietly settled. But a recently published opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in Jeff Grosso v. Miramax Film Corporation, may soon shift the balance of power in this age-old tug of war.”
Public Nears A Choice On New Chief
The Public Theater may announce the successor to its artistic director, George C. Wolfe, as soon as next week. Doug Hughes (“Frozen”), who spent four years as artistic director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., and Mark Russell, the former artistic director of P.S. 122, are said to be the favorites.
A Black Master Of Vaudeville, In Blackface
With a newly released set of recordings, contemporary listeners can — and contemporary performance artists should — experience black vaudevillian Bert Williams. “Like so many vaudeville artists, Williams made few film appearances. We might also know his work better if he hadn’t spent most of his career performing in blackface. Blackface has become theater’s equivalent of the mark of Cain. It’s a hard tradition to live with: there’s so much cruelty and shame there. But blackface comedy produced some superb artists.”
He Did, After All, Bring Us The Simpsons
“It goes against nearly every stereotype about Rupert Murdoch, the conservative-leaning media baron who owns Fox News and The New York Post: a publishing imprint he owns has, in fact, released a new book titled, ‘Unfit Commander: Texans for Truth Take On George W. Bush,’ which takes a decidedly critical view of Mr. Bush’s presidency. But ReganBooks, the publisher, and Judith Regan, its impresario, conform to few stereotypes – unless, that is, they involve making money. … In politics, at least, ReganBooks goes both ways.”
Gehry To Design Theater Center At Ground Zero
“Frank Gehry, admired for his voluptuous buildings of undulating titanium and steel, is to be the architect of a new performing arts center at ground zero, his first major cultural project in Manhattan, the development corporation in charge of rebuilding the site said yesterday. The selection of Mr. Gehry for the arts center – which is to include the Joyce Theater and the Signature Theater – brings to Lower Manhattan a celebrity architect who has been notably absent from perhaps the most closely watched architectural site in the world.”
Selling Broadway With Graphic Design
“Good play posters do more than just give theater lovers, collectors and local luncheonettes artwork to display on their walls. They sell a show. To do that, they must catch your eye and hold it long enough for you to see who’s in a show and what it’s about. In those few seconds, you can get psyched about seeing the show. Simple, right? Anything but.”
Is The FCC’s Decency Crusade A Red Herring?
The raging debate over decency standards and the public airwaves has the FCC in a tizzy, and free-speech advocates up in arms. But are both sides missing the point? “Until now, the government’s censorship powers have been limited to the airwaves, on the grounds that they alone use spectrum. But with politicians left and right in a mad scramble for ‘decency,’ the increasingly flimsy technological rationale that allows the government to intrude on broadcast content is being conveniently forgotten.”
Court Deals Recording Industry A Major Blow
The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the federal court ruling that barred the music industry from compelling internet providers to turn over the names and addresses of their subscribers. The decision could throw a major monkey wrench into the industry’s tactic of suing illegal file-traders anonymously, then forcing providers to match the computer footprints with user information. A high court decision on whether it will rehear a separate case concerning the liability of manufacturers in piracy cases has not yet been announced.
But We’re Pretty Sure That Undertakers Like Six Feet Under
You can’t open a newspaper these days without coming face to face with a story extolling the virtues of HBO’s runaway hit mob drama, The Sopranos. But at least one demographic is not at all enamored of Tony and his gang of thugs: Italians, who see the portrayal of all-Italian mobs as stereotypical and insulting. “On Monday, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister added his voice to protests by Italian-Americans at the depiction of their community.”