No show gets a chance to find itself these days. Debut as a hit or you’re gone off the schedule. “Forget about “finding an audience” — there just isn’t time. If you’re not doing Friends numbers right out of the box, you’re not going to last long enough to accumulate the episodes for a decent DVD retrospective release. Used to be, 100 episodes was the magic number to shoot for, to accommodate five-night-a-week strip syndication. Now, you’re lucky to get through “the front nine” of a typically 23-episode network season.”
Tag: 04.12.04
Was Rock Critic Fired Because He’s Too Old?
Larry Nager was recently fired as the Cincinnati Enquirer’s pop music critic. Nager says it was because he just turned 50. “The Enquirer, Nager claims, deemed him expendable because he didn’t fit the paper’s profile of someone who should be reporting on the Britneys and Justins of the music world. Nager accuses the Enquirer — and many other newspapers — of targeting an 18-34 female demographic, a move he calls a reaction to the whole MTV-ing of our society … newspapers are trying belatedly to be ‘with it.'”
Scotland Dropping 800 Historical Sites
“Around 800 archaeological sites, including forts, carved crosses, standing stones and cairns, could be dropped from Historic Scotland’s official schedule. Critics said the plan was a ‘betrayal of Scotland’s heritage’, which would allow developers to build on protected sites. The change follows a decision to restrict protection to sites deemed of ‘cultural significance’ and ‘spiritual value’.”