Who's Going To Hell This Week
Helen A. Handbasket
Fun Link
The Chomskybot
The Chomskybot
In The Chaos Household
Last Night's TV
'MNF' started before primetime, so, that's where the evening began.
While surfing, discovered that the 'WWF' on 'Weakest Link' did much better than most
in remembering to say 'Bank' than most contestants..
Caught enough of 'King Of Queens' & 'Yes Dear' on CBS, to realize, that much like
'Will & Grace', their 'secondary' characters are far more entertaining.
Had to check out a picture online, and stumbled into a fabulous chatroom...and I don't do chatrooms.
By the time I got back to paying any attention to the TV Regis was saying 'good night'.
Tonight, CBS has the 'Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Tribute', where the
self-proclaimed 'King of Pop' shows home movies, and get paid for it.
On NBC, 'Frasier' has its 200th show, with extra-special guest star, Bill Gates, in an
episode celebrating the fictional Frasier Crane's 2,000th show. FYI - there are 3 episodes of
'Frasier' scheduled for tonight. The one at 8:30 is a 'throw-away' repeat. The on at the top of the
next hour (9 pm, ET/PT) is the 200th episode - it runs over by +5 minutes...the show that follows is a 'compilation' -
that means 'filler' material.
ABC has 'NYPD Blue', where Sipkowitz finds out it's old home week for 'Hill Street Blues'.
Faux has '24', hoping it will do better this week, but this week, they don't have a rerun built into the
schedule.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Updated!
BartCop TV!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or
housekeeping get in the way!
Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.
For an amazing variety of information on an awesome array of tv programs check out
BC TV!
A Little BTO Background
From One Of The Darryl's
Randy Bachman of Bachman Turner Overdrive told "Arrow's" Joe
Benson a fascinating story how Taking Care of Business was made.
"We finished the songs for our album at two in the morning and we're about to
leave the studio when there is a knock on the door. A fellow about six foot
six inches tall and looks like Fidel Castro has got three pizzas. We told
him they were not ours, but try Steve Miller down the hallway who was doing
Fly Like An Eagle or War who was doing Why Can't We Be Friends. The pizza
guy comes back as we're leaving. He tells us the song he heard playing could
use a piano. I tell him Burton Cummings and Little Richard are busy and
Elton is at Caribou Ranch.
'I am a piano player,' he tells us. 'Okay, pizza guy, you get one shot,' I
tell him. He takes a napkin and writes down the chords. We played the song
once. He left.
The next day the head of the label comes in and we play the album. Taking
Care of Business with barely any piano and the engineer brings it up. And
the head of the label jumps up. "Bring up the piano! This is great. Who
played the piano?" he asked. We tell him a pizza guy but we have no name and
don't even know the name of the pizza place. So we get out the yellow pages
and eventually under W we find the tall guy who looks like Fidel Castro. We
order pizza and tell them we can only accept from this guy. He arrives. We
pay him double scale. His name was Norman Durkee. He's now the rehearsal
director for the Los Angeles Symphony."
Thanks to "Uncle Joe" for the fun story.
www.laradio.com
And thanks to Darryl for forwarding it!
More 'Lord Of The Rings' Lore
Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen, not normally considered "trendy," has gone mod. Sir Marvelous Ian, who's all over like crabgrass - on the boards in "Dance of Death," coming out in the pictures in "Lord of the Rings" - has gotten his highly respected British self tattooed.
"Rings," in which he's The Wizard, circles around a knot of nine folk including Elijah Wood, who also got his highly famous young self tattooed. The tattoo is the word "nine." "But not in English. In Elvish," McKellen says.
Ian's is on his upper bicep. Says His Sirship: "From my own vantage point, it almost reads like the word 'Gucci.' "
Right. And where's Elijah's? "We have actually taken a vow of silence about all this."
Yeah, yeah, so where is Elijah Wood's? "In an unmentionable place."
Sir Ian's Elfish Tat
Make Your Own Snide Comment
Alexandra Wentworth
If she hadn't met George Stephanopoulos, Alexandra Wentworth would have become either a slut or a lesbian.
"I had accepted the fact that I would probably just have a series of relationships . . . and produce children from a multitude of partners," Wentworth told Glamour. "I would be the female Mick Jagger . . . before meeting George, I pondered a future with an adopted baby or a lesbian lifestyle."
As it turned out, Wentworth met her future hubby on a blind date and within three months was engaged to the Clinton administration stud.
Alexandra Wentworth
Changes Ahead At 60 Minutes
Staff Cuts!
In what many CBS News staff members described as the first time in memory that television's pre-eminent newsmagazine has been asked to reduce its production staff, "60 Minutes" is cutting back its corps of producers as part of a plan by CBS News to pare its budget in reaction to the rising costs of covering the war in Afghanistan.
The cuts are not being called layoffs because some, or perhaps all, of those dropped from "60 Minutes" may be reassigned to other CBS News programs, such as another network newsmagazine show, "48 Hours." CBS executives described the move as minor and said that as few as five or six producers or associate producers may be cut from a staff of 100, a modest number, especially in comparison to the sweeping staff reductions in recent months at other media companies.
But many current and former CBS News executives and staff members said the cuts in what had previously been a sacrosanct fief carries symbolic significance inside CBS, reflecting the economic strains of war coverage and a possible decline in the program's status at the network. When CBS News ordered across-the-board budget cuts in 1995, "60 Minutes" trimmed some expenses but no staff members were dropped.
"People are shocked," a CBS News producer said. "This has never happened before. `60 Minutes' doesn't ever get touched."
Though the program remains the dominant leader among television newsmagazines, its ratings have fallen. Last season was the first time in more than two decades that the show did not finish among the 10 most-watched shows on television, falling to No. 11.
This season, the program has experienced further erosion. It is off in total viewers about 7 percent, down to 15 million from an average of 16.2 million viewers last season. But previously when news stories commanded the nation's attention, "60 Minutes" almost always enjoyed ratings increases. And other newsmagazines this fall have seen some improvement, most notably "60 Minutes II," CBS's spin- off of the original. That program is up to 12 million viewers this fall, from 10.5 million last year.
CBS executives said the reductions at `60 Minutes" should not be overstated. Sandy Genelius, the spokeswoman for CBS News, called the cuts, "the kind of tinkering that goes on periodically." She said that the news division has been looking at its operations in light of long-term needs, especially given the resources needed to cover what appears to be an open-ended war.
Some CBS news producers said the move was necessary to help make up for cost overruns from war coverage. "Everybody understands that hard-news gathering, daily hard news coverage, cannot suffer now," one CBS News producer said. "If we need to save some money, it's going to have to come from parts of the organization that are in very good shape and won't suffer much from small cuts."
For years people at CBS News have considered "60 Minutes" an island of luxury within the division, allowed to operate under an old-fashion, high-spending model that other broadcast news programs abandoned long ago. The program's correspondents, including Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and Ed Bradley, are among the highest paid in the business, reaching as high as $7 million a year. Its senior producers and producers generally are paid much more than those doing similar jobs at other networks.
"60 Minutes," the longest running prime-time program in television history, has also been among the medium's most profitable. CBS has for years charged advertisers a premium to buy commercials in the show because its audience, while older than what advertisers are usually seeking, is also among the most affluent and well-educated of any show on television.
But one "60 Minutes" staff member said he and his colleagues began to notice a pronounced change during the second half of the last television season, when their spending on segments came under intensified scrutiny.
Ms. Genelius said the cuts were not dictated by CBS or its corporate parent, Viacom. "Nobody asked for any cuts whatsoever," she said. "This is just an internal move, looking for places to be more efficient."
Ms. Genelius said the matter was not consequential enough for Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News, to comment. Don Hewitt, the creator and executive producer of the program, said he would not discuss the business of "60 Minutes."
CBS News staff members familiar with the situation said Mr. Hewitt was fully cooperative in helping to finding ways to save money without hurting his broadcast.
"60 Minutes" has a total staff of about 100. One possibility widely mentioned among staff members was that each team of producers there are six, one for each correspondent might lose one associate producer or producer.
The most logical place for the displaced "60 Minutes" producers to land would be "48 Hours," which is now produced one night a week but which may expand as CBS cancels hourlong dramatic shows, creating holes in its prime-time schedule.
The ratings decline comes despite the program's strength in international news. But some extraordinary circumstances have contributed to that falloff. On Oct. 7, the program produced an abnormally low rating because it was treated as an extension of daylong coverage of the beginning of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan. It did not produce its regularly scheduled program. A week ago Sunday, "60 Minutes" was reduced to a 12-minute show presenting only its usual commentary from Andy Rooney because a football game on CBS ran long, and the network was committed to starting another live broadcast, the Emmy Awards, at 8 p.m.
Since Sept. 11, "60 Minutes" has emphasized stories related to the terrorists attacks on and the subsequent American military action in Afghanistan. Kevin Tedesco, a spokesman for the program, said that Nov. 4 was the first time the program had included any nonrelated stories in its mix. He added that he expected that to pay dividends later in the season because "our bank of stories is so much bigger from the ones we planned to use but haven't used yet."
A senior executive from a competing network said that the concentration on war coverage may have been part of the ratings problem for "60 Minutes" as well as television's other newsmagazines, which have generally seen their ratings slide in the last few weeks.
"I think people are starting to say they'd like a little diversion," the executive said. "They've seen so much of this story. If you choose war and they don't want war, they're gone."
However, other newsmagazines got significant increases in ratings in the three weeks after the attack, while "60 Minutes" showed only marginal improvement.
Changes At 60 Minutes
The Wenner Media Empire
Cutting Back
Jann Wenner cut back the work force at his embattled Wenner Media empire and confirmed that he is now testing the idea of publishing a smaller-sized edition of his crown jewel, Rolling Stone.
Even after the fourth round of cutbacks this year had axed 11 more people last week, Wenner refuses to say the downsizing has ended.
"We're in an ongoing process of downsizing," he said.
The head count now stands at about 100 fewer people than the 475 on board at the beginning of the year. The cutbacks are roughly double in percentage compared to the cutbacks that have afflicted other magazine media operations.
The company is estimated to have revenue of about $275 million and he insisted, "Wenner Media is profitable."
How profitable, he won't disclose, but many think the cash reserve is rapidly shrinking.
Rolling Stone is down 18.2 percent in ad pages this year to 1,204 through October. Men's Journal is down 15.1 percent to 772.3 pages. And Us Weekly is down 3.2 percent in ad pages to 772.5 in the 10-month period compared to a year ago.
Us Weekly, now a joint venture between Wenner and Walt Disney, continues to bleed red ink. The original plan that the magazine would cost $50 million and reach break-even within 18 months of its conversion to a weekly in March 2000 has now been extended.
Wenner now says it will be "two to three years" before the weekly turns a profit, but says he won't cut back the frequency.
Amid the turmoil, he has lost two mainstays in recent weeks - one from the business side and one from the creative side.
Fred Woodward, the art director of Rolling Stone, jumped ship to go to Conde Nast as the creative director of GQ, replacing Arem Duplessis.
Then late last week, Chief Financial Officer John Lagana served notice that he was leaving to join the American operations of British publishing maverick Felix Dennis.
Of the plans to downsize Rolling Stone, Wenner confirmed a report that first appeared in the trade weekly MediaWeek - but insisted the move is not a cost-cutting move.
"Any savings we make from reducing the trim size will be plowed back into the magazine," he claimed.
Changes For Jann Wenner
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
To check out 'Train Station Chicken', and more (like 'Cranberry Autumn Tea'),
In The Kitchen With BartCop
How Much Were Those Concorde Tickets?
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney saw tragedy unfold before him in New York Monday for the second time in two months and vowed: ``We have got to get behind America. We have got to help America.''
Ironically the former Beatle had just flown into New York to raise funds for the Sept. 11 hijack attack victims when he witnessed the aftermath of the American Airlines crash.
McCartney, accompanied by his fiancee Heather Mills, was aboard the supersonic airliner Concorde, landed in New York just before JFK Airport was closed.
``As Concorde was landing, the crash had just happened,'' McCartney told his press spokesman after landing.
``I looked out of the left-hand side of the plane and there was smoke all over the place,'' he told spokesman Geoff Baker in a phone call from New York.
``It was a horrendous and tragic irony trying to raise money for the victims of the last crashes and then something dreadful was happening all over again,'' McCartney said.
McCartney said the customs hall on arrival was practically deserted and the FBI (news - web sites) gave him an escort to get out of the airport.
History was eerily repeating itself for the Beatle composer.
On Sept. 11, McCartney was on the tarmac at JFK waiting for take-off when the suicide hijackers crashed two planes into the towers of the World Trade Center.
``I was sitting on a plane at New York airport and watched it unfold through the windows. It will live with me forever,'' said McCartney, who then wrote the song ``Freedom'' to boost relief funds for the victims.
Monday he returned to New York to promote the record with a string of radio interviews.
And he refused to be bowed by the latest tragedy. ``That is why I wrote 'Freedom' and that is why I am going to keep pushing it. I will not stop,'' he said.
McCartney premiered ``Freedom'' -- a ``Let It Be''-style anthem -- at a Madison Square Garden charity concert of rock 'n' roll greats last month.
He had been moved to write the song the day after the World Trade Center attacks.
``My father was a fireman and I was a war baby,'' he explained to Britain's Sun tabloid before the concert which he called one of the most emotional gigs of his life.
``It reminded me of what my father did in the war,'' McCartney said. ``The heroism of the (New York) firemen hit me in particular. These people were going into the building when most people would have run away.''
Paul McCartney
Audio Files From BC
Bonus Page Link
Here are some MP3 files from BC
New! Updated!
(6 Nov, 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has provided another eye-opening set of charts!
A brief excerpt: " "The influence of the opposition across the 3rd/9th axis may indicate
we have more to fear from domestic terrorism than a foreign entity. Sagittarius on the cusp
of the foreign 9th house, with ruler Jupiter in Cancer, the sign most closely associated with
home and country, in the home 4th, shows the source of anthrax and other bio-chemical threats
are more likely from within our own borders; by a home grown group of domestic terrorists. The
recent wave of breast beating, chest thumping, and flag waving can be attributed to the most
excessive planet (Jupiter) transiting the most exorbitantly patriotic and jingoistic sign (Cancer).
Jupiter also has jurisdiction over religion, so the source of these dreadful bio-terrorist attacks
could very well be a group with a strongly opinionated religious axe to grind. "
Very interesting reading!
New Rambo To Kick OBL's Ass?
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone plans to resurrect his famed macho action hero to take on the Taliban.
Stallone, 55, is at his Miami home working on the script for a fourth film featuring former Green Beret John Rambo, London's Sunday Times reports.
In the new story, Rambo parachutes into Afghanistan to battle leaders of the Taliban.
One report says Stallone is toying with the idea of his character capturing terror chief Osama bin Laden alive.
Stallone couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
But it wouldn't be the first time Stallone's hero has gone marching with guns blazing into Afghanistan.
In his last Rambo flick, the brawny fighter went behind Soviet battle lines to rescue his former superior.
In that 1988 film, "Rambo III," Sly joined Afghan fighters to oppose the Russian invaders.
Earlier this year, Stallone said he had mixed feelings about coming back 13 years later for one more Rambo go-round.
"I don't know if I'd look good in a thong anymore. In my fantasies, I'd love to do one more, but I don't think it would be in good taste at this age," he said in an interview.
But his feelings have apparently changed since the attacks of Sept. 11.
Bob Weinstein of Miramax Films said last March that he hoped to convince Stallone to do one more Rambo movie.
"We'd love nothing more than for Stallone to be involved. We think it's a billion-dollar property," Weinstein said.
If "Rambo IV" goes before cameras before the end of the year, it could be ready by next summer.
Stallone's "Rambo" series began in 1982 with "First Blood" and gave rise to two more action movies in which the fearless one-man army kicked the villains' butts.
His three "Rambo" films and five "Rocky" movies have grossed more than $2 billion combined.
Stallone
Live Action 'Fat Albert'
Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker is in talks to direct ``Fat Albert,'' a live-action picture inspired by the main character of Bill Cosby's long-running cartoon ``Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.''
The picture, eyed as a potential franchise by Twentieth Century Fox, is tentatively scheduled to bow summer 2003. Previously, Whitaker directed the Fox pictures ``Waiting to Exhale'' and ``Hope Floats.''
Based on the CBS series that ran for more than a decade and mixed humor and music with social and political issues, the ``Fat Albert'' screenplay was penned by Cosby and Charles Kipps.
Forest Whitaker & 'Fat Albert'
Love Ride 18
Jay Leno
Jay Leno led a pack of stars for the 18th annual charity Love Ride.
An estimated 20,000 people parked their motorcycles on a blocked-off road Sunday while Leno wisecracked and introduced a lineup of celebrities.
``Thank you very much for helping out with the metal drive. Just leave your bikes there and someone will pick them up,'' he said.
Leno, who has participated in 16 of the 18 Love Ride events, said this year's outing was particularly significant because at least $100,000 of the donations would go to New York relief effort.
Participants pay a minimum of $50 to join the celebrities in the 50-mile ride from Glendale north to Castaic for a barbecue and concert. It's expected to generate at least $1 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Los Angeles Times' ``Reading by 9'' literacy initiative and other charities.
As Times Publisher John Puerner was introduced, Leno quipped, ``He's also pledged to bring Harley riders to a third grade reading level.''
Others joining the ride include ``The X Files'' star Robert Patrick, Ian Ziering of ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' biking daredevil Robbie Knievel and family members of the Davidson half of Harley-Davidson.
Singer-actor Billy Ray Cyrus sang his 1992 song dedicated to veterans, ``Some Gave All,'' along with the national anthem. His fan club collected $5,000 which Cyrus handed to Leno.
``The best way to show your love for this country is to give thanks to a veteran,'' Cyrus said.
Jay Leno & Love Ride 18
R.E.M. Bad Boy (Or Is That 'Naughty'?)
Peter Buck
Peter Buck, guitarist for the American rock band REM, appeared in court Monday, charged with an alleged air rage incident on a British Airways flight last April.
Buck has pleaded not guilty to the charges of common assault on cabin crew, criminal damage and being drunk on an aircraft that were alleged to have been committed on a flight from Seattle to London.
Wearing a dark blue, pin-striped suit, Buck got to his feet in the Crown Court at Isleworth, west London, when the judge entered, and watched the jury intently when they were sworn in.
But shortly after the trial started, a note was passed to lawyers and Judge John Crocker announced an adjournment. He gave no reason and did not say how long it would last.
The trial is expected to last five days.
REM has sold some 40 million albums, having jumped from cult college outfit to international superstars in 1991 with the album ``Out of Time.'' Among their biggest hits in Britain were ``Shiny Happy People,'' ``Losing my Religion'' and ``Man on the Moon.''
Peter Buck, Naughty Boy
In Memory
Robert Treuhaft
Robert Treuhaft, an attorney prominent in San Francisco leftist circles and the region's civil rights movement since the 1940s, died Sunday after a brief illness. He was 89. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Along with his wife, muckraking journalist Jessica "Decca" Mitford, Treuhaft was a fixture among the San Francisco Bay area's left-leaning political set, and their home became an international political and literary outpost.
Treuhaft defended blacks beaten up by police in Oakland, Calif., after World War II and supported the Black Panther Party and the draft-resisting Oakland Seven during the Vietnam War. He also helped develop Mitford's 1963 expose of the funeral industry, "The American Way of Death."
Treuhaft was known for a rollicking wit and bohemian sensibility.
Robert Treuhaft
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Still Really Like This One....
"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)
Gonna let it ride for awhile.
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
