The Best and Worst
in Austin and National Media
1) American Literature 101. A story about the Dreamworks team in the
October 20 Entertainment Weekly reports that the group recently aquired
the rights to My Old Man and the Sea. Was that one written by Ernest
Hemingway or Fred MacMurray?
2) Reality Bites. Two disc jockeys from one of the city’s so-called
alternative radio stations stage a broadcasting marathon to drum up publicity
for themselves and to encourage MTV’s insipid docu-drama The Real World to come to Austin. Don’t ever say that Gen X’ers can’t pick some worthy causes
to fight for.
3) Fair Weather Conservatives. Paul Pryor, KLBJ-AM’s born-again
right-wing radio host, loves to chastise the wrongdoings of the supposed
liberal media elite. His spite quickly transformed to sickeningly sweet
adulation, however, when CBS Evening News anchor (and Republican whipping boy)
Dan Rather placed a courtesy call to his program during an October 27 Austin
visit. No more slip-ups like this, Paul, or Rush will leave you off his
Christmas card list.
4) Your Eye on Austin. Call it Heidi II. On Sunday night, October
27, local viewers were outraged when KEYE cut off the last nine minutes of a
remake of Streetcar Named Desire. Worse still, they had to sit through
the station’s 10pm newscast in order to see the end of the film.
5) The National Pastime. The Rembrandts, a forgettable pop band whose
crowning achievement is the theme song to the television show Friends,
contributed “The Star Spangled Banner” for Game Six of the World Series. While
the band’s rendition of the anthem proved surprisingly competent, NBC’s
decision to advertise the next episode of this sit-com immediately after this
performance was embarrassingly tacky. Both the network and the game of baseball
look very silly after this cheesy maneuver.
6) Obituaries `R’ Us. Jim Hightower discusses his controversial firing
from the ABC Radio Networkon on Donahue. KEYE features Molly Ivins
reading her nationally syndicated column on the same issue. Too bad these same
media outlets didn’t have the brains to give Hightower’s innovative program a
little press when it was still on the air. n
This article appears in November 10 • 1995 and November 10 • 1995 (Cover).