Category: media

A generational change in Hollywood’s leading men is producing a different figure from the macho Rambos of the previous generation. “They are always looking for the macho man, but they are pulling from this other group, who are strong but more overtly sensitive and more emotionally available, because that’s what there is right now.”

Howard Stern, who has been heavily fined for indecency on air, and was dropped by Clear Channel from four markets earlier this year, is adding nine new markets, including four where his show was taken off the air over indecency concerns. Stern has been a target of an FCC crackdown on content on American radio, bhut since the controversy began his ratings across the country have gonee up.

“Canadians flocked to the movies in record numbers last year, with the lure of big-money blockbusters outweighing the impact of higher admission prices and a decline in the number of screens in this country. According to the government agency, attendance at theatres and drive-ins rose to 125.7 million in 2002-03, the highest level on record.”

A huge “media film village” is to be built in Toronto. The state-of-the-art facility will include 14 soundstages and cost more than $100-million. “It’s been a truism in Toronto film circles for the last decade that while the city has sufficiently talented crews to host ‘runaway productions,’ it’s been bypassed by Titanic-sized Hollywood films — movies with budgets in excess of $150-million involving support staff of as many as 2,000 persons — because it has lacked an appropriately huge, purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility.”

As the BBC begins the process of applying to have its charter renewed, critics go on the attack, suggesting the public broadcaster be privatized. “I can’t see any justification for what the BBC does which can’t be equally well done in the commercial world. Why force anybody to pay £121? What you are forcing people to do is to pay – by threat of jail – for a view of life that people can get in the commercial world.”

Internet radio is “the best thing to happen to radio” in some time. “The best part about these services is that they don’t confine you to one genre. On broadcast radio, you tune in to a country station on the radio dial for country tunes, and that’s pretty much all you’ll get. But with some of the webcasting services, you can specify your musical taste and favorite artists, and the software will automatically mix up playlists for you.”

Howard Stern, who has been telling listeners for months that he probably wouldn’t be on the air much longer because of an FCC crackdown on content, has got a vote of confidence from his bosses, who say they’ll keep him on. “Stern’s syndicated show was dropped by six stations in February for indecency. But his audience figures went up between January and March in the three biggest US markets – New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Stern had blamed his show being dropped on a conservative backlash.”

Riding on waves of controversy, Fahrenheit 911 was a big hit at the American box office over the weekend. “If early estimates are correct, the movie instantly became the top-grossing documentary in the nation’s history. The film is believed to have earned $21.8 million on its opening weekend, a record for a documentary. Even more significantly, it managed to become the nation’s No. 1 movie attraction, despite playing on only 868 screens, about a third what a big blockbuster would have.”

So American TV networks are abandoning reruns and going to a 52-week season. American TV execs, a curious species prone to hyperbole, are calling it an “epochal” change. A “revolution.” An “unprecedented” demolition of rules that have stood for decades. What they really mean is: “If this doesn’t work, we are so screwed.”

Some American theatre chains are issuing “R-Cards” that allow minors to get in to R-rated movies. “But critics are denouncing the R-card as both a maneuver around the movie rating system — which was set up to help parents sort out which movies were appropriate for their children — and an abdication of parental responsibilities.”