University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, April 28. 1992
Comedy Central to air conventions
7
Big three networks might not devote as much coverage to events
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — "Good evening, folks! Anybody here from Brooklyn? ... Is this on? ... What is this, an audience, or the Democratic National convention?"
Comedy Central, cable TV's 24 hour comedy network, will be looking for gags, chuckles, praftails and flop sweat with four nights of live, prime-time coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
"We sort of see ourselves taking on CNN, in a funny way," said Mary Salter, Comedy Central's top production executive. She conceals that her budget for the Democrats' July 13-16 convention is a remarkably small amount.
"For four nights, Comedy Central will become Convention Central!" said AlFranken, the lantern-jawed, bespectacled "Saturday Night Live" writer-performer who will
anchor the coverage.
"Our real goal," Franken said, "is really to provide an alternative way to watch the convention."
Comedy Central, seen in nearly 24 million homes nationwide, is a joint venture of Viacom's MTV Networks Inc. and Time-Warner's HBO.
It also plans live coverage of the Republican National Convention, since it more than doubled its ratings in January with unprecedented live coverage and commentary of President Bush's "State of the Union — Undressed."
The networks first denied Comedy Central access to their pool coverage of Bush's speech, but relented under threat of a lawsuit.
carrying charges."
This time, Stephen Paul Mark,
Comedy Central's chief counsel,
said he expects no network objections.
"And," Mark said, "as we did in
the State of the Union, we're prepared to pay our fair share of the
The Democratic National Committee seems willing to give Comedy Central its press credentials. Mark said the DNC's Robert Barocci forsaw no problem getting Comedy Central access to the convention floor.
"We'll be on the floor sharing a rotating, 20-minute pass," Salter said.
"and our Sky Booth!" Franken said, referring to Comedy Central's command post above the floor at Madison Square Garden.
"It's not really a Sky Booth," she said. "It's really a stand-up platform."
"It should say, 'The Comedy Central Sky Booth,' Franken insisted, lapsing happily into his on-the-air voice. "Let's g to our Comedy Central Sky Booth!"
What is funny is that the big three
networks might not devote as much of their own prime time to convention coverage as will Comedy Central.
CNN's extensive live coverage would cut away from the convention only to report other news. ABC and CBS have yet to announce plans.
NBC, though, is teaming up with the Public Broadcasting Service. PBS-NBC coverage, produced by PBS' "MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour," opens at 7 p.m. CDT. NBC will go live on its own air at 9:30 or 10 p.m.
"News has an interest in proving that the event is newsworthy," said Billy Kimball, executive producer of convention coverage. "We have an interest in proving that it's comic."
"Wow," breathed Franken, clearly unimpressed. "Can I write that down? So I can say that?"
Parent's gripe spurs ban at school library
The Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. — "Clan of the Cave Bear," a richly detailed look at prehistoric times, has been banned from a middle-school library after a parent objected to a rape scene.
Jean Auel, author of the 1980 best seller, said teen-agers can make up their own minds.
"I write books primarily for adults, not for children, so when it comes to a middle school, I'm not going to make an issue of it," she said. "If it were a public library keeping adults from reading it, then I would really kick up a stink."
The Bethel School Board voted two weeks ago to ban the book from the Cascade Middle School library after a parent complained: Wayne Rice said the book was on a suggested home-reading list provided by his eight-grade son's teacher but was not required reading.
The book is about a young woman named Ayla, a Cro-Magnon who is adopted grudgingly by a clan of Neanderthals when they find her near death after an earthquake. She struggles to survive in their culture and is attacked by a male member of the clan.
"I know that if kids are not emotionally prepared to understand something like this, they'll pass right by it," Auel said. "And if they do understand it, they'll see that tape is a terrible thing."
The district had no other complaints about the book, which was removed from a Michigan high school in 1988 for being sexually explicit.
Wayne Watkins, the school board president, said each board member read the book before voting to ban it.
Auel, whose name is pronounced "owl," has five children and 15 grandchildren and lives in Portland, Ore.
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