Category: media

Remote controls are one of the biggest innovations TV has undergone. “Ever notice, for example, that network series rarely have theme songs like in the old days? Thank the remote. Notice that there are no commercials between the end of one network show and the beginning of the next one? Thank the remote. Notice (if you’re old enough) that the commercials themselves are more sophisticated and less annoying than the ones the TV blared in the ’70s? Thank the remote. Notice those endless headlines crawling across the bottom of your screen? Thank the remote. Notice (ladies) that you can tell a lot about a guy’s control issues by watching an evening of TV with him? Thank the remote.”

“Three days Oliver Stone spent with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for an HBO documentary may have been for nothing. HBO has shelved the project because Castro recently imprisoned 75 dissidents, some with terms of 28 years, and had three others executed after they hijacked a ferry in a failed attempt to reach the United States, refreshing an image of the Cuban president not seen in the film. Comandante was scheduled to air May 5, but has been pulled; no future airdate has been set.”

A group of some 50 film actors gathered in Los Angeles yesterday to protest the proposed merger of the Screen Actors’ Guild with the union representing television and radio performers (AFTRA). Merger proponents say that a unified union would be stronger, and in a better position to prevent “runaway” productions in Canada. But the protesters claim that the merger is being railroaded through by a small group of union execs, and worry about having to compete for the union’s attention with soap opera actors and radio personalities.

Filmmaker Michael Moore’s huge success with “Bowling for Columbine” has “energized nonfiction filmmakers and piqued moviegoers’ curiosity about fare drawn from real life, and encouraged distributors to put more documentaries into theaters. But this doesn’t mean his style of documentary – sar- donic, polemical, and propelled as much by his own ego as the cause he’s fighting for – will now dominate the field.”

Did the Canadian government realize it was slicing up some of Canada’s most successful TV shows and bumping them off the air when it cut $25 million from a fund to help produce them? Or has the government just decided that spending money subsidizing Canadian culture is no longer a good idea? Whatever – the impact of this decision will be huge.

None of the top 20 films at the box office last year in America were rated “R”. “According to Daily Variety, two-thirds of all films released in 2001 earned an R, and they grabbed only 28 percent of the dollars spent at U.S. box offices. Last year, 58 percent of new movies were R-rated, and those accounted for 24 percent of ticket sales. Now, try to predict the future of bold, adult-themed cinema deserving R ratings. That is anyone’s guess. But in an industry where imitation breeds success, things aren’t looking good for moviegoers who enjoy edgier, sexier or more violent film entertainment.”

Hollywood unions are considering a strike against four New York Clear Channel radio stations. “A major issue is protecting DJs from the recent Clear Channel practice of ‘voice tracking’ – piping in lower-paid, out-of-state announcers to replace higher-paid local DJs. Clear Channel is an 800-pound gorilla and the solidarity of all performers is needed in our fight against them.”

Being connected to the internet isn’t just a matter of being able to afford it, says a new study. “A total of 80 million American adults – 42 percent of the adult population – say they don’t use the Internet, the study found. But 20 percent of them have Internet access in the next room and choose not to go online. Or, some of them get family members to go online for them. ‘Many of the people whom we talked to define themselves as people who don’t use technology. They view themselves as high-touch versus high-tech.”

“They used words such as devastated, disaster, catastrophic, oblivion and bizarre. Canada’s TV actors, producers, directors and writers are clearly furious, but exactly what they can do about a massive cut in support money from the Canadian Television Fund is uncertain. ‘To suggest the Canadian television business is in peril is a hilarious understatement,’ [said one Canadian actor.] ‘This is a catastrophic collapse. We are in freefall.'”