Entertainment
Section B • Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, September 17, 1997
Cable TV brings interests home
Major networks lose audience base in '90s
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The lights are adjusted. The props are in place. The host dabs her face with powder and tells Carter Bays to fix his hair.
This is television of the '90s live from Bays' living room. Today, the FX cable network is in Columbia to show the nation Bays' collection of early American sewing machines.
If it seems there is a program on cable for just about everyone, that is because there probably is.
"The most attractive aspect of cable is to broadcast for a niche audience," said Scott Broyles of the National Cable Television Association in Washington D.C.
And judging from the 20,000 letters and phone calls that represent radio Berkowicz said "Personal FX: The Collectibles Show" gets each week, America cannot get enough of things like Bays' nearly 200 antique sewing machines.
The show, in its fourth year, is the network's most popular original program. Berkowicz said. FX is available in 32 million homes.
"I think America is just trying to recapture part of their youth," producer Karen Martin said. "The passion for collecting crosses every demographic and every possible line you can try to draw between people."
The show's researchers scout out "supercollectors" across the country and then send a TV crew to the collectors' homes.
Past shows have featured collections of refrigerator magnets, toasters and toilet seat covers.
During the program, antiques are appraised, items are sold and there is a short history lesson on collecting.
Bays, a computer science profes
sor, provided the day's instruction about the first sewing machine, different types of stitches and told how he started his collection in 1978. He said he was looking for something no one else had.
The show bounces back and forth between a New York studio and the remote location.
The day Bays was featured, comedian Louie Anderson bantered with the New York hosts about his antique collecting.
The move to segmented programming is a natural result of advertisers' push to get as close to one-to-one marketing as they can, say those who follow the industry.
"With large enough computers everyone could have their own channel," said Doug Ferguson, head of the communications department at Ohio's Bowling Green State University. "It would collect your favorite shows and show them when you want to see them."
On any given night, fewer than
half of U.S. households with televisions are watching one of the major networks, said Jack Nachbar, popular culture professor at Bowling Green.
Even cable's highest rated program, the USA Network's Monday night professional wrestling, captures just 3.8 percent of the audience, he said.
Years ago, nearly all TV viewers tuned in to ABC, CBS or NBC. Now, America's third generation of children growing up on television is seeing something radically different from what the baby boomers saw. Nachbar said.
No longer are the TV shows as much of what Nachbar calls a cultural glue.
Now, as shows seek their niche, the TV crews come to you. About 600,000 people tune in to "Personal FX" each week. Berkowicz said.
An hour after it began, Bays' moment in the spotlight was over. The crew packed up its equipment and went on to its next stop.
Videos good substitute for theaters
By Scott Eric Travers
Kansan movie man
Arnold came back, Sandra failed to kick her "Speed" habit and Brendan forgot to look out for that tree, thus the blockbusting summer season is winding down.
Since autumn's typical Oscar-hopefuls are so slow in coming, the video store can be the trunk in the attic filled with "toys," years neglected. Two films stand out in particular.
Alfred Hitchcock made one of them, and as dusty as it may be, it still is the marvel of craftsmanship that it was in 1951.
"Strangers on a Train" is the story of Guy Haines (Farley Granger), a tennis player trying to divorce his wife.
Returning home to take care of
the arrangements,
Guy meets a talkative man in his passenger car.
Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) immediately immerses Guy in a conversation familiar to anyone who has seen "Throw Momma from the Train."
Assuming that murder is the answer to familial problems, Bruno proposes to help ease Guy's predicament by murdering his wife in exchange for the murder of Bruno's father.
Bruno has that creepy feeling you might get imagining that Hannibal Lecter is beside you
deciding whether you would go well with fava beans and a nice chianti.
Even so, Guy mistakenly assumes the conversation is hypothetical and dismisses the odd encounter. But Bruno is not gone long, appearing again to inform Guy that he has fulfilled his end of the bargain, and offers Guy a gun to complete his.
Hitchcock's typical magic is one of intense drama. Although a bit too predictable to be considered gripping suspense, it is still a frightening thrill.
The other attic-find is director Tom Stoppard's unique twist on a classic. In 1900, the same year Mel Gibson contemplated Yorick's skull, Stoppard told the story of Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Roth), friends
of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark.
"Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead" is hilarious despite the fact that every second is spent wondering just what the hell is going on. The opening sequence is a ten-minute barrage of pointless coin-tossing that nearly destroys interest in the film altogether.
Though the pair's fate is revealed by the title and countless renditions of the classic play, their death still is shocking. Yet another humorous scene by Roth and Oldman.
If you refuse to see "Air Force One" another time but still need a good transition into the fall spirit, "Strangers on a Train" and "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead" will do just fine.
'The Game' now leads box office top 10
'G.I. Jane' still strong at second
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The new Michael Douglas thriller "The Game" opened in first place at the box office, and the British stripper-comedy "The Full Monty" played exceptionally well in its first weekend of limited national release.
Last week's top film, Steven Seagal's "Fire Down Below," dropped to third place.
"G.I. Jane" remained strong at
second place. "George of the Jungle" should pass the $100 million mark by next weekend.
"The Full Monty," now in its fifth week of release, now plays in 387 locations. "The Full Monty's" per-screen average was the best of the top 20 films.
The fall film season explodes on Friday with three new movies in wide release: "A Thousand Acres," "L.A. Confidential" and "In and Out."
The top 10 movies at North American theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by studio, gross, number of theater locations, receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in
release, as compiled by Entertainment Data Inc. and Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:
1. "The Game," PolyGram, $14.3 million, 2,403 locations, $5,966 average, $14.3 million, one week.
2. "G.I. Jane," Disney, $3.5 million, 2,043 locations, $1,714 average, $38.9 million, four weeks.
3. "Fire Down Below," Warner Bros., $3.3 million, 2,350 locations, $1,387 average, $11.3 million, two weeks.
4. "Money Talks," New Line, $3.2 million, 1,942 locations, $1,654 average, $34.2 million, four weeks.
5. "The Full Monty," Fox, $2.9 million, 387 locations, $7,530 average, $6 million, five weeks.
6. "Air Force One," Columbia,
$2.8 million, 2,190 locations, $1,283
average, $163.2 million, eight
weeks.
7. "Hoodlum," MGM, $2.5 million, 2,020 locations, $1,255 average, $19.8 million, three weeks.
age, $19.8 million, three weeks.
8. "Conspiracy Theory," Warner Bros.
$2.3 million, 1,972 locations,
$1,169 average, $70.7 million, six weeks
9. "Excess Baggage," Columbia,
$1.9 million, 2,109 locations, $884
average, $12.5 million, three
weeks.
Drive-in owners get movie-goers back in their cars
Nostalgia, cost are advantages of outdoor-theater experience
The Associated Press
MOBERLY, Mo. — Christopher Jackson knew something was up when his dad transplanted the white leather seats from their idled 1965 Mustang to the bed of the family pickup truck.
"I asked him why. He said we were going to the drive-in movies," the 12-year-old recalled. "I started jumping up and down, I was so excited."
And with that, Christopher became one of the legions of people who are discovering — or rediscovering — drive-in movies.
"It's cool." he said.
Since the Moberly Five & Drive theater reopened this spring, up to 1,000 movie-goers have come on some busy weekend nights.
And similar scenes are playing out around the country.
The Rustic Drive-In in North Smithfield, R.I., routinely turns away customers from the 580-car theater on Saturday nights during warm weather. The owners, Clem and Beverly Desmaris, met at the drive-in in 1954 and bought it in 1988.
Jim Lipuma bought and refurbished the Galaxy Drive-In in North Vandergrift, Pa., in 1995. He also reopened the Moonlit Drive-In in Brookville, Pa., this spring.
"The great thing about the drive-in is that you can do things there you can't in the cinema. You can smoke; the kids can make noise; you can sit outside in front of a big screen." he said.
Forty years ago, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters around the country. The drive-ins nearly were driven to extinction in the 1970s and 1980s by cable television, VCR's, land developers and the comforts of climate-controlled indoor theaters. Many of those that remained turned to B movies and X-rated films for survival.
But today, the National Association of Theater Owners says there are more than 825 drive-ins, including many that have been reopened by drive-in theater buffs and preservationists trying to hold on to a piece of Americana.
The first drive-in opened in Camden, N.J. in 1933.
"The great thing about the drive-in is that you can do things there that you can't do in the cinema."
Jim
Lipuma drive-in operator
The Five & Drive project started when Elmer Bills Jr., coowner of the B&B Theaters chain, was building a new five-screen indoor theater on the acreage of his company's old drive-in, which shut down in 1985 after 35 years of "B" movies and carload nights, where one price admitted all.
"We went out and looked around the site and the old screen tower was still standing, and we said we might as well put the drive-in back in operation," Bills said.
There were changes, to be sure. Instead of the familiar crackling loudspeakers on stretching cables, movie soundtracks are broadcast by low-range FM radio. Visitors who don't have FM receivers may borrow one at the box office.
In another change, some drive-ins now feature homemade and fancy foods at concession stands. Haar's Drive-In in Dillsburg, Pa., offers fried oysters, chicken cordon bleu and hand-cut French fries.
The Five & Drive uses the snack bar and restrooms from the nearby indoor theater complex. A common projection room on the second floor means one projectionist can run the whole operation, including the movie to the wide outdoor screen.
B&B, which operates a string of movie houses across the Midwest and a generation ago owned 11 drive-ins, believes it now has the only hybrid operation in the nation.
Although first-run movies are featured, the drive-in is a little less expensive than the walk-up theater. A ticket to the walk-up theater costs $5.50 for adults, and $3.50 for children, while the drive-in costs $3.50 for adults and $2 for kids.
GEOGRAPHY COLLOQUIUM
The Department of Geography
University of Kansas
present
Dr. William E. Doolittle
University of Texas at Austin
lecturing on:
"Transferring 'Spanish' Water Control
Technology to Mexico: The Case of
Aqueducts in Colonial Time"
Toronto, 1987 1097 Room 140 Linda Hall
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