THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2013
TELEVISION
PAGE 9A
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Double-Oscar winner Kevin Spacey at a rehearsal before delivering the keynote speech to the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh television festival on Thursday Aug. 22. Spacey says television has overtaken cinema as the home of quality character-driven drama.
Character-driven TV trumps the movies
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey says television has overtaken cinema as the home of quality character-driven drama, but the industry risks failure if it doesn't recognize that viewers want control over what they watch, and when.
Spacey told the Edinburgh International Television Festival on Thursday that the success of his political thriller "House of Cards" — released in a single burst of 13 episodes on video streaming service Netflix earlier this year — showed that viewers "want freedom."
"If they want to binge — as they've been doing on 'House Of Cards' — then we should let them binge," he said.
Spacey is the first actor invited to deliver the festival's keynote speech — an invitation he attributed to the success of "House of Cards"
distribution model and television's creative renaissance.
"Frankly, 15 years ago I wouldn't have been up here lecturing you because my agent would
Suspects" and "American Beauty." He said shows like "The Wire," "Dexter" and "Breaking Bad" proved television had taken over
"If they want to binge — as they've been doing on 'House Of Cards' — then we should let them binge"
never have allowed me to even consider being on a television series after winning an Oscar," said Spacy, who won Academy Awards for performances in "The Usual
KEVIN SPACEY Oscar-winning actor
from the movies in terms of sophisticated storytelling, but argued that that this "golden age" was at risk if the industry did not respond to the ways new technology, the Internet and social media had changed viewing patterns.
"We no longer live in a world of appointment viewing," he said. "So the water cooler has gone virtual, because the discussion is now online.
"Studios and networks who ignore either shift — whether the increasing sophistication of storytelling, or the constantly shifting sands of technological advancement — will be left behind," he added.
Spacey said the critical and commercial success of "House of Cards" "demonstrated that we have learned the lesson that the music industry didn't learn — give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they want it in, at a reasonable price, and they'll more likely pay for it rather than steal it."
In another event at the festival Friday, Spacey said that movie producers could adopt asimilar approach to help beat piracy, releasing films simultaneously online, in cinemas and on DVD.
MUSIC
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ellie Goulding arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards yesterday, at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Stars sport scandalous outfits onstage at VMAs
HANNAH SUNDERMEYER
hsundermeyer@kansan.com
Following the ten-year anniversary of the infamous Britney and Madonna smooc, MTV's Video Music Awards maintained a high shock factor level with endless entertainment. With a star studded set list of artists such as Drake, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, the 2013 VMAs were the buzz of social media last night
Starting off the VMA pre-show, Miley Cyrus continued to channel her punk style with a Dolce & Gabbana black bejeweled crop top and matching pants. With her bleach blonde pixie cut twisted into two Zenon-esque topknots, it is safe to say that her innocent Hannah Montana days are in the past. She has quickly become a style icon following often risqué and unique fashion choices.
Ariana Grande maintained her cute, doll-like persona throughout both the red carpet walk as well as her pre-show performance. Starting off in a classic Kenley Collins floral frock with white pumps and later switching to a sequined lavender mini dress, Grande kept it simple, fun, and ageappropriate.
In a beige, floor-length spiked gown with a scandalous high-high slit, Ellie Goulding balanced edge and beauty. Rapper 2 Chainz also made a statement dressed from head to toe in Versace patterned pants, jacket, and hat.
terrified pailin, jacket Lady Gaga continued her legacy of outrageous performances. Switching between two six outs throughout her opening act, Gaga managed to rock a white smock with a square white hat, asquired black body suit, blue blazer with matching skirt, both white and yellow wigs, face paint, and eventually stripped down to a seashell bikini.
In a night filled with incredible music and fashion, all eyes were on music's biggest stars.
Edited by Hannah Barling
ESPN breaks collaboration with PBS on investigation of NFL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — ESPN ended its collaboration with PBS on an investigation of the NFA and players' head injuries as public TV producers expressed surprise over the abrupt collapse of the 15-month partnership. ESPN said its decision was based on a lack of editorial control over "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis," airing in October on PBS "Frontline" public affairs series. At
ESPN's request, its logo was being removed from websites related to the project and from the film itself.
'Because ESPN is neither producing nor exercising editorial control over the "Frontline" documentaries,
there will be no co-branding involving ESPN on the documentaries or their marketing materials," ESPN said in a statement. "The use of ESPN's marks could incorrectly
imply that we have editorial control. It was a mistake on ESPN's part that it didn't reach the conclusion sooner," ESPN spokesman Kushrulewitz said Friday.
The head injury issue has potentially vast implications for the NFL, with more than 4,000 former players suing the league over claims it hid known concussion risks, leading to high rates of dementia, depression and even suicides.
Some believe the players' claims could be worth $1 billion or more
if they move forward in court. The cases involve the deaths of players, medical care of players with disabling dementia, and lifelong medical monitoring for those who are now symptom-free.
The NFL on Friday denied a New York Times report that it had pressured ESPN to drop out of the project with "Frontline." The sport network has a lucrative contract to carry league games on "Monday Night Football."
The Walt Disney Co.-owned ESPN pays the NFL more than $1 billion a year for the broadcast rights, the Times said.
ESPN denied that the NFL had any influence. "The decision to re
move our branding was not a result of concerns about our separate business relationship with the NFL. As we have in the past, including as recently as Sunday, we will continue to cover the concussion story aggressively through our own reporting," the channel said in a release.
In a separate statement, ESPN President John Skipper defended the channel as a leader "in reporting on the concussion issue, dating back to the mid-1990s," and said he wanted to stress its commitment to journalism and support for the work of its reporters.
Raney Aronson, "Frontline" deputy executive producer, said she and
others at "Frontline" were taken aback by ESPN's decision and that they weren't privy to details of why it was made.
"It's anybody's guess right now about what actually happened," said Aronson. In an online statement, she and "Frontline" executive producer David Fanning said they regretted ESPN's exit after a productive editorial partnership with ESPN's investigative program "Outside the Lines." The Sunday report cited Friday by ESPN as an example of its continuing reporting on concussions was part of its partnership with "Frontline," which Aronson noted was credited on the program.
ESPN executives were long aware of the "Frontline" approach to "League of Denial," Aronson said, with the PBS series controlling what it aired or posted online and ESPN doing the same for its programs or postings. "Frontline" had been working closely with ESPN's senior vice president and news director Vince Doria and senior producer Dwayne Bray, with no indication of discord until last Friday, she said.
The two-part "League of Denial," airing Oct. 8 and 15, draws on reporting by ESPN's Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru Wada.