Category: media

Movie critic David Sterritt did the unexplainable – he panned Lord of the Rings. Ane then the floods of emails began arriving. “Most of the e-mails can be grouped into a few basic categories. Many come from people who feel I’ve hopelessly misunderstood author J.R.R. Tolkien and filmmaker Peter Jackson all my life, and want to set me straight. Others complain I’m just snooty and want to flaunt my supercilious airs. Still others take genuine pity on me, and want to enlighten me so I can love the movies too.”

“A delegation of former Lyndon Johnson aides, led by Bill Moyers and Jack Valenti, demanded yesterday that the History Channel launch an independent investigation of its documentary charging that LBJ was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.” The network has agreed to review the issue internally, but isn’t specifying how far it intends to go in complying with the Johnson staffers’ demands. Initially, the network had defended its airing of the documentary as a legitimate expression of an unpopular point of view, but that defense is faltering as those close to Johnson offer evidence that directly contradicts that allegations made in the film.

Call it lewd, call it overblown, but the fact remains that “stunt TV” seems to be here to stay. Janet Jackson’s bosom-bearing moment at the Super Bowl is only the latest indication that TV networks are ready to do almost anything to get viewers to tune in for a few minutes. The idea, of course, is to convince your audience that your programming is so wild and unpredictable that, if they make the mistake of switching channels, they could miss something memorable. And for all the bluster coming out of the FCC over the Super Bowl flap, some experts believe that it was the FCC’s own rulings allowing media consolidation that led to the explosion of shock programming.

“A federal appeals judge on Tuesday questioned whether distributors of online file-sharing software should be held responsible for copyright infringement just because some people use the programs to swap copyright music and movies.” The entertainment industry estimates that 90% of the content flowing through file-swapping sites is illegal, and argues that the company’s that make the software count on pirates for most of their business revenue. “The case’s outcome could determine whether music and film companies can hold distributors of file-sharing software liable for illegally swapped music and movies online.”

The Academy Awards voter who was recently charged with having passed advance copies of films on to a friend who subsequently distributed copies illegally has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. It’s the first time that the Academy has expelled a member in its history.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is considering building a new “world-class” motion-picture museum in Los Angeles.
“Academy executives said they wanted the museum to be a ‘major statement’ comparable to such recently built Los Angeles cultural landmarks as the $274-million Walt Disney Concert Hall or even the $1.3-billion J. Paul Getty Museum.”

“Republicans and Democrats alike are forming alliances and proposing laws to crack down on growing smut on television and radio. It seems certain that an energized Congress and president will greatly increase fines for indecency on the air, especially in the wake of Janet Jackson’s exposure during the Super Bowl halftime show. This could bring a new era of activism to the Federal Communications Commission, which has found almost no time to monitor or punish broadcasters, even while under Republican control.”

A controversial line will be deleted from Mel Gibson’s new movie The Passion of Christ. “It didn’t work in the focus screenings. Maybe it was thought to be too hurtful, or taken not in the way it was intended. It has been used terribly over the years.”

The morality play is unfolding right on schedule after Janet Jackson exposed a breast on American TV. “The flap – the Federal Communications Commission is launching a full probe into the whole half-time show, because a horrified nation demands it – is unfolding because the knocker was flashed on network TV during a ‘family’ program. The thing is, I think, that CBS is now so weirdly infatuated with the Jacksons that it believes that they’re your average American family.”

“Whatever it was, the quick glimpse of Janet Jackson’s bare breast during Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show has emerged as a pop-culture moment that will be remembered and debated, perhaps most significantly by the Federal Communications Commission, which quickly announced an investigation into the incident.”