“Beeb builds on brand in States - Variety” plus 4 more |
- Beeb builds on brand in States - Variety
- The White House Chickens Out - Weekly Standard
- Local Salon Reacts To Controversy Over 'Good Hair' - CBS 2 Chicago
- A bad leg up n Wichita Falls ranked No. 2 on U.S. cellulite list - Wichita Falls Times Record News
- Park Ranger Uses Life Story To Reach Out To Latinos - NPR News
| Beeb builds on brand in States - Variety Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:30 PM PDT Cabler BBC America is a work in progressThey might speak the same language, but the British and American television industries have such different sensibilities that the two parties have almost needed subtitles to understand each other.And so, if the development of cabler BBC America is a work in progress, the progress is nothing to dismiss. For the chief Yankee in King Arthur's smallscreen court, BBC Worldwide America prexy Garth Ancier, it has been a rollicking adventure, requiring nerve, flexibility and patience all at once. "Understanding (the U.K.) market and how the U.S. market interacts with that market has been a fascinating thing to watch," says Ancier, who oversees BBC America while also liaisoning with U.S. networks on behalf of Los Angeles-based BBC Worldwide Productions. Though there's no shortage of material for BBC America to choose from, Ancier can't simply pluck items for his shopping cart at will. "If we just ran everything that we had in the cupboard as it plays out in the U.K., we'd have a schedule that would be very tumultuous," Ancier says. Numerous factors are at play, but the fundamental hurdle is the small number of episodes in each series. Top programs in Blighty often max out with a pair of six-episode seasons plus a finale, in contrast to U.S. series that can run exponentially longer (illustrated most clearly by the two versions of "The Office"). Ancier would like to see the top U.K. series exploit their worth over longer periods. "If you asked anyone in the U.K.," Ancier says, "I'd probably be the broken record advocating that position." But as he explains, brevity in the U.K. isn't just a mere whim or tradition like bangers and mash. The BBC's operating charter includes a requirement "to offer value to everyone in the U.K., whoever they are, wherever they live," obligating the pubcaster, for example, to have enough shows from every region in the country. Durability often gets sacrificed for diversity. The practice of having small or even single-person writing staffs also tamps episode quantity. Nevertheless, Ancier sees more opportunity than aggravation in both the programming and production aspects of his job. "There is this wild creativity in the British market because of how many different shows are commissioned," Ancier says, "not just BBC channels, but ITV channels, Channel 4 channels and occasionally Five channels. "The part that I had not anticipated is there would be such a cultural resistance to making longer series, so you would not be able to fundamentally alter the scheme of things to make (multiple seasons of) 13 episodes like an AMC or TNT, like everyone else makes." These limitations affect BBC America's ambition to become a network to rival those basic cablers mentioned by Ancier, who with Fred Silverman is one of two people ever to run the entertainment side of three U.S. broadcast networks (Fox, NBC and the WB). Distribution for BBC America has grown to just shy of 65 million homes, but that's still roughly two-thirds of its potential audience. "As ratings have gone up -- they've more than doubled in the past two years -- that does drive distribution," Ancier says, "because people sit up and take notice and say, 'Why can't I get that on my TV set?' Then they call their cable operator and the cable operator puts it up. "I think as long as you run your business properly, (and) you keep putting good programs on and are promoting and marketing them, I think you get there." BBC America's strategy begins with looking for the longer-running British series, while airing the multiple short seasons of U.K. series as one single season. "We tend to almost automatically give shows with longer series length the best shots (in the U.S.) because we know it takes American audiences a while to find a show," Ancier adds. Further, BBC America continues to emphasize adventure, fantasy and science fiction ("Doctor Who," "Torchwood") along with nonscripted shows like "Top Gear," because, as Ancier says, American audiences struggle more with British accents in contemporary, everyday fiction. More recently, BBC World News America has provided a boost -- 2008-09 viewing totals were 63% higher in the 25-54 demo than the season prior, with a median viewing age more than a decade younger than CNBC, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News -- contributing to a building momentum for BBC America and putting its larger dreams within reach. "The priority has to be to get BBC America to at least the high-70 millions in distribution in the next two years, which seems achievable," Ancier says. "We've had a very strong uptick in ad sales over the last two years, despite how bad the economy has been. Between that revenue coming in and additional homes available, I think we'll be in position to start making (bigger programming) investments a year from now and have them on the air two years from now." Already, BBC Worldwide is more pursuing "true co-productions between the U.K. TV networks and BBC America," that would fit BBC America's Blighty-flavored niche, with the not-so-fringe benefit of being saleable to U.K. networks. On Sept. 29, BBC Worldwide announced it would replace ITV as the biggest funder of dino-themed drama "Primeval," keeping that show alive through at least 2011. "If ITV can't make a show without the money you provide," Ancier says, "you compromise." With the business model in place, the main concern for BBC America is betting on the right horses when it comes to future scheduling. "The real final frontier is to do what FX did a few years ago," Ancier says. "What is the original programming you're going to do that will appeal to the core BBC America audience? ... How do you capture that in a show that has British sensibility but also has an American sensibility?" Though some might consider him a stranger abandoned in a strange land, outside the spotlight he has been accustomed to, Ancier clearly seems to relish steering the BBC America ship. "The fun part is exposing the public to this sort of interesting and wilder creative community over in the U.K.," he says, "and seeing how (its shows) grow in this market. "You have to look at it as an adventure, to be honest with you. Everyone running a cable network of any size is on an adventure anyway. ... What's fun is just exploring. How do we keep reinventing the medium?"
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| The White House Chickens Out - Weekly Standard Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:59 PM PDT
The Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, was in Washington last week and President Obama did not meet him. "Big mistake," said my Eritrean taxi driver on the way over to hear the Dalai Lama speak at an awards ceremony at Sidney Harman Hall on Wednesday. What seemed so obvious to my driver was the product of an elaborate rationalization by the Obama administration. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg outlined the new policy of "strategic reassurance" in a speech on September 24. The United States, he said, has struck a "core, if tacit, bargain" with China under which it will "welcome China's arrival as a prosperous and successful power" and China will "reassure" the world that its "development and growing global role will not come at the expense of the security and well-being of others." According to Steinberg, "bolstering that bargain"--which apparently includes snubbing the Dalai Lama--is a "priority." Rarely does a presidential meeting--or the lack of one--carry so much significance. In his spiritual role, the Dalai Lama has provided solace to those living inside Tibet under conditions of growing repression, militarization, and environmental degradation. Under his leadership, Tibetans in exile have established democratic institutions, including a parliament elected by the Tibetan diaspora, and turned over political functions to a prime minister. "I believe that future generations will consider these changes among the most important achievements of our experience in exile," the Dalai Lama has said. Chinese Communist authorities fear such developments and the impact they have on Chinese citizens. At Wednesday's event, the Chinese writer Wang Lixiong accepted an award from the International Campaign for Tibet on behalf of some 300 Chinese intellectuals and activists who signed "Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation," in response to the demonstrations of 2008 in Tibet and the mass arrests and trials with which they were met. The mostly ethnic Chinese signers of the document criticized official vilification of the Dalai Lama ("an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast") as reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution and called for dialogue between the People's Republic of China and the Dalai Lama and reconciliation between Tibetans and Chinese."Our position," Wang said, "did not arise from choosing camps, it arose from a pursuit of the truth. . . . The fake propaganda and information blackout by the totalitarian power has made it difficult for the majority of the Chinese people to understand the truth about Tibet, and they have no way of knowing" that the Dalai Lama seeks rights and freedoms under Chinese rule, not independence. "Removing this obstacle [to solving the Tibet Question] should be the mission of China's intellectuals, for there is no greater knowledge than the truth." The implications of this truth are enormous for China. "The racial hatred created by totalitarianism has perversely become a reason used by the totalitarians to reject democracy," Wang said. "This logic of kidnapper and hostage living or dying together is a difficult obstacle to remove along the path to democracy." By effectively weakening the Dalai Lama, President Obama also weakens Wang and his colleagues and their mission. In the past, only pressure on China has brought results, such as renewed contacts between the Dalai Lama and representatives of the PRC in the late 1990s. President Obama's refusal to meet the Dalai Lama gives cover to other countries--most recently Australia--to succumb to pressure from China, increasing the isolation of the Tibetan leader. In the meantime, Chinese Communist rulers are making plans for the future, hoping to control the selection of the next Dalai Lama, drafting new "guidelines for reincarnation." | |
| Local Salon Reacts To Controversy Over 'Good Hair' - CBS 2 Chicago Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:59 PM PDT Local Salon Reacts To Controversy Over 'Good Hair'
The stylish ladies of Y'Lonn Salon in the South Loop admit they talk a lot about hair. The salon caters to an upscale mostly African-American clientele. Salon customer Paulette Marshall said through the years she's had dozens of styles, from the natural look to a Chinese roll with cut bangs. Rhoda Scott said as a child she always had braids and it hurt. They were among the ladies letting their hair down and having a casual conversation about what they go through for stylish hair. Stylist Caroline Glover says she's had weaves and loves them. "There's something when you get that hair on your head, it's like wow," Glover said. Experiences like these are the basis for comedian Chris Rock's documentary "Good Hair," where he explores the cultural relationship between Black Americans and their hair. Y'Lonn Parker, owner of the salon, and her stylists saw the film at a preview. She said the documentary gets you mad and it makes you smile. Parker in particular laughed at the scene where Rock is shown in a New York salon trying on a $1,000 weave. "Clearly the hair does not look like it's worth $100, " Parker said with a laugh. But parts of "Good Hair" made this audience curl up and die, in particular, what they called the stereotypic salons Rock chose to visit. "He went and found the worst salons, worst wigs, worst weaves and it's like, that's not true, " Glover said. Ultimately, the ladies at Y'Lonn Salon say the film gives them something to brag about. Sitting in a chair, getting a comb out from her stylist daughter, Paulette Marshall said, "Because of the good texture of our hair, we are able to do whatever we want to do with our hair." And that's no tease. Rock says he made the film because his 5-year-old daughter asked him why she didn't have good hair. Critics say he does a good job of showing what black women go through, but only touches on the why. In the end he reveals the African-American hair industry is an $8 billion-a-year business. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.) | |
| A bad leg up n Wichita Falls ranked No. 2 on U.S. cellulite list - Wichita Falls Times Record News Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:59 PM PDT 
Photo by Torin Halsey/Times Record News Torin Halsey/Times Record News Whether or not Wichita Falls is one of the "Top 10 Cities With the Worst Cellulite," as reported by totalbeauty.com, local doctors agree that saturated fats in Texas favorites such as chicken fried steak (above) and enchiladas (below) have contributed to a statewide obesity epidemic. 
Torin Halsey/Times Record News North Texas may be known for its flat terrain, but this week Wichita Falls received national attention for unsightly lumps and bumps. According to the Web site totalbeauty.com and reported on the Today show Thursday, Wichita Falls comes in at No. 2 on a list of "Top 10 Cities With the Worst Cellulite." Only Birmingham, Ala., is ranked higher. Cellulite, for those who do not spend time examining the texture of their skin, describes a condition that affects mostly women where the thighs, abdomen and derriere become dimpled. Non-clinical descriptions include "cottage cheese thighs" and "orange peel skin." Opinions differ on the cause of cellulite, but age and weight gain often are most cited. Total Beauty Web site senior editor Kristen Giordani said the Wichita Falls No. 2 rating was built statistically on criteria developed by Dr. Howard Murad, a dermatologist who sells products to treat cellulite. Giordani said Murad points to smoking, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, alcohol consumption and gender as aggravating factors for cellulite. "We used data from the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau," Giordani said. "There was also a US News and World Report on America's least fit cities and heaviest drinking cities." Family practitioner Dr, Bryan Hull said he doubts the validity of the Web site listing from a scientific point of view, but agrees Texas is "a fat state in a fat nation" and census data backs it up. "We have an epidemic of obesity in America and Wichita Falls is not more or less part of it than Dallas or Fort Worth," Hull said. "Unfortunately it's cultural in the South, dietary habits that include a lot of saturated fat." In other words Dr. Murad could add chicken fried steak, enchiladas, barbecue and fried chicken to his cellulite criteria. | |
| Park Ranger Uses Life Story To Reach Out To Latinos - NPR News Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:59 PM PDT  Enlarge Sasha Khokha for NPR Yosemite National Park ranger Mauricio Escobar passes out brochures in Spanish at a recent Mexican Independence Day celebration in Fresno, Calif. Escobar uses his life story to promote national parks among California's Latino population. Sasha Khokha for NPR Yosemite National Park ranger Mauricio Escobar passes out brochures in Spanish at a recent Mexican Independence Day celebration in Fresno, Calif. Escobar uses his life story to promote national parks among California's Latino population. Yosemite National Park sits on the edge of California's rural San Joaquin Valley, a farming region that's nearly 50 percent Latino. Yet few of the region's Latino residents ever visit the park. That's where Yosemite ranger Mauricio Escobar comes in, with an unusual job and a unique life story. You might think a park ranger's life is one of quiet contemplation in the woods. But Escobar spends a lot of his time outside of the forest. At a recent celebration of Mexican culture in nearby Fresno, Escobar put on his wide-brimmed ranger hat and took his perch at a booth next to a taco stand. His offerings? Glossy photos of spectacular vistas, brochures in Spanish and free passes to Yosemite. "Do you want a junior ranger badge?" Escobar asked passers-by. "You know, for Halloween, that's an instant costume." Yosemite is one of a handful of national parks with enough resources to hire rangers to not only work the trails of the park itself, but to visit local communities to try and draw in more visitors — especially minorities. "Hispanic families don't recreate the way Anglo families do," Escobar says. "Latinos tend to congregate in large families; we like the loud music; carne asada burning anywhere, everywhere; a soccer game spontaneously springs up." My life is completely different than what I thought it would be, and yet, it's so much better because of places like this. Escobar says Latino families may be intimidated by the rules and regulations of a national park — and the entrance fees. His job is to convince Latino parents it's worth driving two hours on windy roads to bring their children to Yosemite. "I then share my life and how, as an immigrant, I didn't know anything about national parks," Escobar says. "When I first saw Yosemite at 16, I was blown away. I didn't think it was possible to have a place like this. It changed how I saw nature and my place in nature." A Story To Tell Looking up at Yosemite's soaring granite cliffs, Escobar explains that he grew up in wide-open spaces — running barefoot through his grandparents' cornfields in rural El Salvador. But then his world started shrinking, becoming a lot more terrifying. A bloody civil war pushed his parents north to the U.S. When he was 10, he crossed the border, too — sardined into a secret compartment underneath the trunk of a car with his aunt and uncle. "You could hear the muffled metallic sounds of the border guards," Escobar says. "At that point, I'm holding my breath; you could hear everyone's heart. And you wait. You wait in this really fearful silence." In Los Angeles, he discovered things he'd never seen before: Telephones. Toilets. Tall buildings. Eight members of the family crammed into one bedroom. He confronted other challenges in high school: gangs; drive-by shootings; clashes with a strict father. It was almost too much for the teenager struggling to fit in. "This anger and violence that was in me, if not lashed out, was lashed inward," Escobar says. "I thought about killing myself pretty much every day." But one day, a friend told him about an environmental club meeting on campus. He came for the free pizza and found a good excuse to get out of mowing lawns for his dad's gardening business. As a member of the Student Conservation Association, he instead spent the summer building trails and visiting national parks like Yosemite. At first, there was some culture shock. "I was mortified, terrified — I had never gone camping," Escobar recalls. "It was something that white people did on TV. I did it!" A 'Completely Different' Life But hiking steep trails showed him there were possibilities beyond the urban grit of south-central Los Angeles. "Coming to Yosemite is coming to a place where you're taken outside of yourself," Escobar says. "It's staring into the ocean, this vast open ocean, and you feel really small. You see the grandeur, how big and powerful things can be." After high school, Escobar left L.A. for college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He earned a master's degree in history, learned French in Europe, wrote a novel, taught in Korea and, finally, returned as a ranger to the park that first inspired him. Escobar, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006, says his own story is sometimes the best pitch he can make to Latino families about why they should come to Yosemite — to make an investment in their children's future. "It's moving to know this is among the places that helped me become strong," he says. "My life is completely different than what I thought it would be, and yet, it's so much better because of places like this." |
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