Semester One: Article Four - Politics pervades viewing world

Politics pervades viewing world

Satire finds home for informing and entertaining

Patrick White/HC Media/Collegian

October 2, 2008

Sit back, relax and take a ride on the information super political Hulu and YouTube or perhaps click on that T.V. and check out the latest installment of your favorite political satire.

Political comedy is becoming a means of finding the latest political information and a cheap laugh.

However, this entertainment might mean something more than just that. Studies have shown that viewers of these comedy shows are actually more informed than those of some of the top news shows.

Viewers of satirical comedies like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are scoring higher on tests designed to test the knowledge of the average American.

A study done by the Pew Survey and News Consumptions has revealed these comedy show viewers are better informed than those of all three national networks, Fox News, CNN andCSPAN. The study participants were asked three questions: Who is the Secretary of State for the United States? Who is the current prime minister of Great Britain? Who holds the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives?

The Daily Show and Colbert Report viewers scored in the 34 and 30 percentile in answering all three questions correctly. The average score was 18 percent. However, the two comedians still have yet to beat the radio and printed news sources in these surveys.

Even though the show viewers have done so well on these quizzes, surveys, and other forms of testing Jon Stewart stays true to his platform of his program.

“It is, at heart, a comedy show,” Stewart said, “but it's a comedy show about things we care about so, naturally, it's informed by relevant issues and important information.” The Colbert Reports host reiterated this statement.

“I don’t perceive my role as a newsman at all. I’m a comedian from stem to stern." said Stephen Colbert. "You can cut me open and count the rings of jokes. If people learn something about the news by watching the show, that is incidental to my goal.”

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not the only means of getting your funny bone fix in the world of politics. Some individuals still look to the original political satire that has stood the test of time, Saturday Night Live.

SNL is losing viewers slowly, but is still a force in the political scene. This season kicked off with a sketch about the two female characters in this year’s would-be sitcom of an election. The SNL stars taking on the roles of the politicians are Tina Fey as Governor Sarah Palin, and Amy Poehler as Senator Hillary Clinton. The two put on a fake press conference and hilarity ensued.

“I think it’s refreshing to have a more lighthearted view on politics in general,” said Kelsey Foley, “On the flipside I think a lot of the satire in Tina Fey’s portrayal is being picked up on by the media.”

The movie studios are not free of their own political humor and entertainment. As the Oscar season draws near and the political agendas of film are revealed the candidates for the Academy Awards take a stand. It is not the first time that politics have been involved in film and it most certainly will not be the last.

Films that are already gaining praise for their performances and storytelling are “W.” the biopic of the current president, George W. Bush, “Milk” the story of the first openly gay American elected official and “Frost/Nixon” the latest from Ron Howard, which documents the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

These new films to be released in the next few months have controversial issues and characters with stories of leadership, perseverance, humor, and deception.

So, as the election draws near and the information is in a newspaper, television, or film make sure you get the whole story, because you never know how it could all end up.

Semester One: Article Three - Television returns with new fall line-up

Television returns with new fall line-up

Patrick White/HC Media/Collegian

September 25, 2008

Who shot Nathan Petrelli? Will Derek commit to Meredith? Will Leonard and Penny’s date go well? What will the Philly gang do next? Finally the age old question, whose baby is it? All these questions and more have or will be answered…eventually.

The fall television season kicks into gear with new shows like J.J. Abrams-produced “Fringe” and returning favorites like “Heroes” and “Dancing with the Stars.”

Many shows return and some unlucky ones have been cancelled like “Cashmere Mafia,” “Journeyman,” “Bionic Woman,” “Shark,” “K-Ville,” “Dirt,” “The Dead Zone,” etc.
However many are returning this fall with others coming shortly after in the winter months.
Some of the favorites people might be anticipating are “Dancing with the Stars,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Ugly Betty,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Heroes,” “Chuck,” “The Office,” “30 Rock,” “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” “The Simpsons,” “Big Bang Theory,” “CSI,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Prison Break,” “House,” “Gossip Girl,” “America’s Next Top Model,” and so on. These returning shows will be faced with some new blood as all the networks have one or more shows to fill the spots of their past failures. However, these returning favorites should not be too worried about their new competition, but rather working out the kinks caused by an event in Fall and Winter months.

The problem people are seeing is that there are so many unanswered questions due to shortening of plots and rewrites due to the writers strike. The strike took place last year into early this year. The writer’s strike is said to have hurt the advancement of episodes from network to network.

The strike began Nov. 5, 2007, and ended on Feb. 12, 2008. The strike was against Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over DVD residuals, union jurisdiction over animation, reality program writers, and compensation for new media. The strike was eventually resolved, but the damage had been done. The shows were losing their fan bases and reruns were just getting old.

The hopes of the television companies are to reclaim the faith of their fans and create shows of interest to the public. Some of the television studios are going so far as to have longer premiere events for their shows. One example of this would be the “Heroes” premiere which was a 3-hour- event. This event included a red carpet premiere of the show’s third season and then afterwards showed two of the new season episodes. This premiere event was meant to create interest in a show that had lost its fans due to crowded plots and lack of direction.
“Fringe” the new Fox drama also had a premiere of its own with a 90-minute first episode.

Another television event that took place last week was The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, which played on Sunday. The award show did well with about 12.2 million viewers. This latest award show was filled with surprises and upsets from “30 Rock” to “Mad Men.”

The top prizes went to the NBC show “30 Rock,” but not without some competition on their heels. The story at the Emmy’s is not about the NBC winner, rather the power that cable TV has shown lately in the awards market.

In fact of the 28 awards given this Emmy season, 17 of those awards went to cable shows. Cable television is gaining more and more support from fans and critics. HBO took 10 of the 17 awards; AMC took 3, while both FX and Comedy Central took 2 awards.

The national networks faired well too, but no show faired as well as NBC’s Tina Fey driven “30 Rock.” The NBC comedy came out of the ceremony with four awards, two of which went to Fey for writing and acting, the third to Alec Baldwin for acting, and finally the Best Comedy Series award went to “30 Rock.”

Some of the surprises included the lack of awards for the AMC drama “Mad Men” which had the most nominations. The other surprise was Bryan Cranston’s Best Actor win as he faced off with fellow AMC star Jon Hamm of “Mad Men.”

After the latest awards for the last season of television, maybe some of those new shows and troopers of the past will make a comeback. Perhaps we might even see a national network sweep for next year’s awards. Until then just slump into a comfy couch and snack on some chips, and feel the warmth of that remote control in your hand.

Semester One: Article Two - "Watchmen" production stalls

“Watchmen” production stalls

Warner Bros. and Fox battle for rights to adaptation

Patrick White/HC Media/Collegian

September 11, 2008

The music cues up and there is the Twentieth Century Fox logo. This famous logo might have a new effect on moviegoers as Fox falls deeper into a lawsuit with Warner Brothers Studio on the film property “Watchmen.”

The drama between the two studios began in February of this year. Fox sued Warner Bros. for their violation of copyright infringement, interference with contract and breach of contract. Fox is said to still hold the rights to create a “Watchmen” adaptation.

On August 13 Warner Bros. tried to have the lawsuit shelved, but the judge at this time did not allow questions to remain unanswered.

“Watchmen” is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The graphic novel in question was published as a monthly series through 1986 and 1987.

It has been voted as one of the Top 100 novels by Time Magazine and has been in and out of production since the late ‘80s.

The lawsuit involves the Warner Bros. planned release of the graphic novel adaptation as well as the proposed distribution. Fox is trying to stop the release of the film, which is slated to come out on March 6.

Fox’s reason for preventing Warner Bros. distribution is the belief that they still hold the rights to make a film adaptation of the graphic novel in question.

“It is our company’s policy not to comment on pending litigation and thus will not comment on the specifics of this case,” said Warner Bros. “The court’s ruling simply means that the parties will engage in discovery and proceed with the litigation. We respectfully disagree with Fox’s position and do not believe they have any rights in and to this project.”

Fox claims that it still owns the rights after they made a deal in the late 1980s. Fox gained rights in question by making a deal with the production company Largo International. The argument in favor of Warner Bros. is that some of the alleged rights were renounced in 1991, so anyone could step in.

However, Fox stated that it gained the rights in question by making a deal with Largo International, not one of the company’s producers, Lawrence Gordon.

The original plan was for Largo to produce the film and Fox to distribute, but production never went underway. So, to still hold their rights through the years they went into a quitclaim agreement with the production company.

“We will be asking the court to enforce Fox’s copyright interests in ‘The Watchmen’ and enjoin the release of the Warner Bros. film,” Twentieth Century Fox said. “And any related ‘Watchmen’ media that violate our copyright interests in that property.”

When Warner Bros. tried to gain the rights to make “Watchmen,” they went to Gordon thinking they were in the right. In response to this Fox says Gordon had no right to sell the property because it was not his to sell. One way or another, Fox claims they still hold the right to the eventual film adaptation and other “Watchmen” products.

The lawsuit was seeing no real progress and was only crippling Fox’s image as a studio. However, this progress was jumpstarted on Sept. 2 when Los Angeles federal Judge Gary Allen Feess finally set a trial date for Jan. 6.

The issue with this fast approaching date is that it could affect the release date of “Watchmen,” It could even be completely wiped from Warner Bros. schedule.

This could potentially destroy Warner Bros. income next year. The studio has three films being released next year: “Watchmen”, “Terminator Salvation,” and “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince”, which just recently switched its release date. The decision in moving the Harry Potter film may have helped Warner Bros. financial intake if “Watchmen” is not released.

This lawsuit’s effect on the fans is causing uproar and promises of a boycott of future Fox films including the new X-Men spin off “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

So not only might Warner Bros. have to pinch pennies, but Fox also may be looking at another slump after a string of flops this summer.

“You think it would have blown up before the movie was finished but that’s showbiz,” said Len Iannelli vice president of special events of Twentieth Century Fox. “Hopefully it will work itself out somehow for the sake of the fans.”

Semester One: Article One - "Why so serious?"

"Why so serious?"

The "Dark Knight's" earnings are nothing to laugh at

Patrick White/HC Media/Collegian

September 4, 2008

This summer came a story of terrorism, corrupt officials, and the epic failure of one man. Does this sound like a blockbuster smash? Not exactly, right? What if someone told you this film is the second highest grossing movie of all time with nearly 505 million dollars nationally? Let me introduce you to the tale of a man adorned in black rubber and pointy ears. He's Batman!

"The Dark Knight," the latest Batman film released by Warner Brothers Studios has broken records of all kinds and has changed the face of cinema. This film was not afraid to take on the tough issues and still make it entertaining. For this reason Christopher Nolan director and screenwriter of the previous installment of the Batman franchise, "Batman Begins," has changed the way people will look at the superhero genre.

In the latest film the DC Comics character must face off with his most well known nemesis; The Joker. He is just as responsible for this overwhelming success. In fact, his character is nearly as widely known as Batman himself. There has also been plenty of buzz around this film due to the character of The Joker.

First, the casting choice of Heath Ledger was not immediately accepted. This speculation of Ledger's portrayal was quickly silenced after the first full theatrical trailer premiere. Secondly, the tragic news of Ledger's death in January also took the hype to a new level. People began to pay more attention, because it would document the final full performance of Ledger. Finally, this, unlike many other summer movies through the years was good.

It took on issues that affect the world today from terrorism, to corruption, heroism, failure, chaos, leadership etc. On top of the drama, colorful characters, and intense action sequences comes a powerhouse that is still raking in the dough with an additional 11 million dollars added this weekend.

This movie eclipsed every big blockbuster this year, from kung fu fighting pandas to a man made of iron. There had been well-reviewed films in the superhero genre, and quite a few not well reviewed. However, never had one received such overwhelmingly positive reviews since the first two "X-Men" movies or even the original "Superman". The question at hand though is why did "The Dark Knight" do so well? Many could mention the brilliant marketing team that created major hype before its release on July 18. To others it was the characters Batman and Joker on the big screen together, which has not happened in almost 20 years.

What it truly comes down to is the brilliant direction and writing from Nolan and his team. "The Dark Knight" dared to say, "Just because they are guys in capes does not mean they do not have engaging stories to tell."

It should be regarded as an example of how to correctly portray what many see as frivolous characters. It is also a message to the studios of a failing commercial film society and that message is simple. If they want to make a large sum of money, maybe taking their time is not the worst thing they can do.

Hopefully this message is in the minds of film studios now and Warner Brothers has followed this winning strategy with its next graphic novel adaptation, "Watchmen." Maybe the studio could even take on a few other characters next if they stick to this successful plan. Batman is just one of a league that deserves a studio's justice.

Until then the fans will just wait as the caped crusader nears a record of 600 million dollars which only a historical ship has reached.