I Did It All for the Nike Dept.: The Austin Community Access Center (that’s community television to you couch surfers) may be celebrating their 27th anniversary this year, but that doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory over at their 1143 Northwestern Avenue studios. Case in point: Those of you who tuned in to cable channel 10 last Sunday night at 10pm to catch Charlie Sotelo‘s long-running (four years) and much-beloved clips ‘n’ calls program The Show With No Name found not the Bill Hicks extravaganza hyped in this column last week but what was apparently a station archival backup tape unspooling in place of the live show. Why the sudden switch? ACAC has pulled Sotelo’s show from the air following an alleged complaint from another ACAC producer, who noticed what appeared to be a commercial airing on one of Sotelo’s previous episodes. In accordance with FCC regulations, the nonprofit ACAC has a strict policy against airing commercials of any sort, with individual programs relying instead on “sponsors” who are mentioned briefly at the tail-end of most shows (much like PBS). According to an outraged Sotelo, however, the offending spot — a Nike ad featuring John Lennon‘s “Instant Karma” and directed by filmmaker David Fincher (Fight Club) — was in actuality a part of his clips program and not intended as a stand-alone advertisement. As anyone who’s followed Sotelo’s groundbreaking and inarguably fascinating stint over the years knows, The Show With No Name frequently features a variety of impossible-to-find-elsewhere media clips, from Matt Stone and Trey Parker‘s early shorts such as Your Studio and You to the fledgling work of P.T. Anderson (Magnolia), and countless others, including commercial parodies, bizarre talk-show clips, and plenty of the aforementioned Hicks. The format of the show — clip, phone calls, clip — plays like a bizarre-but-loving film fans’ cornucopia of weird and wonderful stuff you simply aren’t going to see anywhere else, including, obviously, years-old sportswear commercials sanctioned by dead rock icons’ wives that were directed by future Hollywood superstar directors. Personally, I remember the ad in question from its original network airing and can recall that the only thing it made me want to do was wipe out both Yoko Ono and Niketown in one fell swoop (probably not its intended effect). “Basically the contention is that I was peddling sneakers for Nike,” says a disbelieving Sotelo, who is currently appealing the decision to bar his show from airing again. ACAC executive director John Villarreal offered the standard “no comment,” noting that the show’s final disposition is still up in the air. E-mails of complaint, support, et cetera can be sent to actv@matrix.eden.com, or give ’em a (loud) shout at 478-8600… In other news, Texas-based broadband entertainment network Eyegoggle.com is looking for independently produced shorts, features, and animation. “Eyegoggle will also pursue production and development deals with those artists we feel best represent the independent spirit of storytelling,” reads the company’s press release, and a glance at their Web site bears this out. Works must be submitted in DV format, and if you fancy yourself a future Aaron Spelling, they’re also accepting pitches for series programming. Contact robb@eyegoggle. com for more info… Finally, a reminder that the Austin Film Festival will present screenings of Rebel Without a Cause and Rachel, Rachel with screenwriter Stewart Stern in attendance this Fri., June 16, 7pm, at the Paramount Theatre. Call 472-5470 for more info.
This article appears in June 16 • 2000.