August 3, 2009
QUOTE: "Our audience has changed. Our audience changes every few years, and I think our audience is now much more socially aware." —Tony DiSanto, one of MTV's programming managers, claiming that two of the network's new reality shows (the drug intervention show Gone Too Far and the Bucket List-inspired The Buried Life) involve morally redemptive themes [time.com, 7/29/09]
QUOTE: "When MTV says that it's focusing on making earnest, socially minded TV shows, something weird is going on in America." —Time TV analyst James Poniewozik [time.com, 7/29/09]
QUOTE: "The only thing I can think of [that compares to Twilight fans' mania is] the Beatles. You see old footage of that type of thing. It happened in Montepulciano, [Italy,] when we were shooting there. It was like The Birds, but with young girls. You'd turn a corner and there would be one or two or three. And the next time you looked there would be 10, 20, 50, 100." —New Moon director Chris Weitz, on the frenzied female reaction to Twilight's male stars [time.com, 7/28/09]
Fox's Family Guy, a show that the Parents Television Council has frequently singled out as among the worst on network television, has been nominated for an Emmy Award. PTC said of the nomination, "This is what the representatives of the entertainment industry now consider an 'Outstanding Comedy Series'—a program showing babies being tortured, eating sperm and plotting their mother's murder. Not to mention the show's tired reliance on non sequitur pop-culture jokes; the ridicule it displays toward religion, race, and those with disabilities; its endless gags involving vomit, excrement and flatulence ... and much other content too numerous (and disgusting) to list here. It is to be hoped that, in making this nomination, both Family Guy and the Academy receive only the contempt both have so richly earned." [Parents Television Council Weekly Wrap, 7/31/09]
Fox executives apparently have some limits. When Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane told audiences at this year's Comic-Con that he's working on an upcoming episode that deals with abortion, he stated that it's unlikely Fox will actually air it. "We were allowed to take a crack at this controversial story," he said, "and that's enough for me." If the network decides against broadcasting the episode, it will be only the second time it has done so, though. In 2000, Fox rejected an episode that was eventually aired in syndication and included in the season's DVD set. [thrfeed.com, 7/25/09]
As it did last year with Gossip Girl, CW is once again airing highly sexualized ads to market one of its fall shows. This time around, the culprit is Melrose Place. One ad features two provocatively dressed women and a man in a suggestive pose under the headline, "Ménage à Tues." Another slogan accompanying an equally suggestive photo is "Tuesday's the New Hump Day." A third reads, "Tuesdays Are a B--ch." [Parents Television Council Weekly Wrap, 7/31/09]
QUOTE: "What kind of mother or father read this script and said, 'Sexual come-ons and violence? Now this is something I want my daughter to be a part of!' ... I kept thinking about that scene in Brüno when he asks all the overeager stage parents if their children would be comfortable doing all sorts of awful things for a photo shoot, and they all say yes. 'Would my daughter Isabelle be all right stabbing her movie father repeatedly in the chest, soon after coming on to him? Phew, is that all? I was worried that you'd want her to French kiss a goat. Which is not off the table, mind you.'" —Entertainment Weekly pop blogger Josh Wolk, on 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman's titular turn in the horror movie Orphan [ew.com, 7/30/09]
"We're toying with the idea of making it a no-clothes issue," says ESPN The Magazine's editor-in-chief, Gary Belsky, about the magazine's Oct. 19 issue. He adds that his staff will have to figure out how to "use equipment and pads and bats and goalposts and soccer nets and pucks and helmets to obscure body parts that we still can't quite go to in a magazine that's part of a company owned by [The Walt Disney Company]." [usatoday.com, 6/10/09]
QUOTE: "I wouldn't expect ESPN The Magazine—a glossy publication whose chief purpose is getting readers to buy mid-shelf vodka, domestic beer, large trucks, and erectile dysfunction medication—to ascribe to the same standard of morality as, say, Christianity Today. ... An issue featuring the (nearly) naked is only surprising in that it took this long to come together, given the success of Sports Illustrated's oft-hidden, much-perused annual swimsuit issue. ... That said, I still wish you wouldn't hit the newsstands. ... Before you throw your hat into the nudity-saturated, lad-mag ring (or, ironically, remove your hat, as it were), consider the ramifications of your decision, particularly for the young male readers. ... Ask yourself if what they need is more nudity and sexuality at increasingly younger ages, or perhaps more greatness—in the form of great performances and, more important to me, truly great writing." —Ted Kluck, a former contributor to ESPN The Magazine, in his article "An Open Letter to ESPN The Magazine"[christianitytoday.com, 7/28/09]
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has given HBO stellar marks this year for its willingness to showcase homosexual characters. GLAAD said the premium cable network had a "42% representation" of LGBT characters—up from 16% last year. Nearly every non-sports HBO series featured homosexual content. [hollywoodreporter.com, 7/27/09]
QUOTE: "This culture has long been obsessed with weight, so it's a little ridiculous that Hollywood is only just noticing what news outlets and women's magazines have known for years: Fat sells. Bigoted jerks, self-loathing dieters and fat folks dying for a shred of positive representation will all check out fat-related programming for their own reasons, which the producers of More to Love and Dance Your A-- Off seem to have figured out, since they're simultaneously playing to actual fat people and meanspirited gawkers. Finally, people of size can see themselves represented on TV—shot from the most unflattering possible angles, while acting like idiots. There's a little something for everyone." —Salon's Kate Harding, on the volume of obesity-related reality shows making its way to the small screen [salon.com, 7/28/09]
Fifty-four percent of U.S. homes boast three or more television sets—up from 52% the previous year and 30% more than in 1990, according to Nielsen Research's "Television Audience Report." In 1990, the average home had two television sets. We're now up to 2.86. [blog.nielsen.com, 7/20/09 stats]
A study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has found that texting while driving increases the likelihood of an accident by 23 times. Researchers found that texting took drivers' eyes off the road longer than any other in-car distraction. The authors of the study recommended that "texting should be banned in moving vehicles for all drivers." [edmunds.com, 7/28/09 stats, c&e]
An analysis of 20 or so studies regarding the safety—or not, as it turns out—of tanning beds has concluded that the risk of skin cancer skyrockets a whopping 75% when people use the beds before age 30. The study was conducted by World Health Organization scientists in Lyon, France, and the results were recently published in the medical journal Lancet Oncology. Said researcher Vincent Cogliano, "People need to be reminded of the risk of sunbeds. We hope the prevailing culture will change so that teens don't think they need to use sunbeds to get a tan." [AP, 7/28/09 stats, c&e]