Aaron Barnhart's TVBARN.COM

Reader mail

Harrison Wyman writes, "Watching the coverage of the new developments in the Elian Gonzalez story it should be noted that when the Florida side of the Gonzalez family released their video of the child they did not send it to any of the English-speaking television networks, broadcast or cable. The Gonzalez family sent the tape to Univision, where they knew it would reach most of the Cuban community in this country.

"This brings up a problem: the English-speaking media generally does not cover the job Univision's news division is doing. Univision's national news and its local stations are a visible and vital source of news about the Spanish-speaking world for an increasingly Latino US. No ethnic community is a monolith and people who came here from Cuba, Mexico and El Salvador (to name three countries) have completely different views on the Gonzalez case. How Univision serves a diverse Latin national community is a valid issue but it can't be covered unless you speak Spanish, which I don't and as far as I know, you don't."

Good point. If any bilingual readers of TV Barn have their own take on Univision's coverage of the Gonzalez affair, I'd like to hear from you.

Patrick Brown writes, "You may be interested to hear that we have started using a TiVo machine at the TV station where I work. Previously we used a two-decade-old 1-inch videotape recorder to roll an animated background that we used for graphics during the show. It was expensive — since we we're blowing new heads about every 3 months — and if the animation ended rolled off the deck during a show, we couldn't go back to the beginning until after the show had ended. So our chief engineer went down to Circuit City last week, plopped down $400 for a TiVo, and we recorded 4 hours of our moving background onto it. Now it never rolls off, never jams, and cues fairly instantly. I can see those things replacing the $50,000 servers that Tektronix and others sell for many situations. It does have some cheesy consumer menus and stuff, but for the price of one 1-inch head, I'll take it."

When the ReplayTV arrived at my office, my first thought was: Oh sure, it's a godsend for TV critics, but will other people like it enough to replace their VCRs? In fact, the more I think about it, the more possibilities come to mind for these machines. Ted Koppel said recently he'd like to offer enhanced content to viewers who use TiVo or Replay to watch "Nightline." A film company announced a deal this week to offer video-on-demand to TiVo users. And all this for a device that hasn't even sold 100,000 units yet. Imagine what will happen once it really catches on. Imagine when the entertainment industry stops suing personal video recorder companies and starts looking into alliances with them to deliver their goods via these miracle boxes.

And Michael Jones seems to have inspired by his choices on Sunday night. He writes, I think tongue-in-cheek, "I don't want to come across as a Malcolm-tent — since I think 'Malcolm in the Middle' does have comedic merit — but I believe it would be vastly improved if that boy was taught the Ten Commandments, preferably by a spiritually engaged father. If Malcolm began obeying a few of them (maybe starting with the fifth one) that would be an added bonus as well. Granted, his well-meaning Mom has attempted to beat some of these commandments into him, but efforts thus far been largely futile — which has been enormously frustrating for not only me to watch, but I'm sure many other good people. The father, IMHO, simply has to 'step up' and take the primary divine responsibilites for this boy's upbringing. Sure, 'Malcolm in the Middle' should retain some of its comic elements, but if it wants to aspire to something greater (which I hope it does) it badly needs a change in family structure and focus. If it does this, I believe the show will be 'touched' by the Nielsens and more good families, like mine, will tune in."

Pick To Click: Golda Meir

Lifetime is honoring Passover by saluting former Israeli premier Golda Meir with a new "Intimate Portrait" (7 p.m., Lifetime). The Russian emigre and onetime Milwaukee schoolteacher is described here as "restless," "rebellious," "in your face" and — at the same time — "terrified of the normal fate of Jewish girls growing up in America." These qualities would ultimately push her out of the United States, out of her first marriage and into Zionist politics. Meir raised $50 million for Israel's war chest on the eve of its independence in 1948. Later, she became mayor of Tel Aviv, Israel's foreign minister and finally, at age 70, prime minister.

Also tonight, Hetty Wainthropp (Patricia Routledge) continues her third cycle of whodunits on "Mystery!" on PBS (9 p.m.; check local listings). If it's like most of the previous Wainthropp mysteries, Hetty will be thrown into a creepy case of small-town shenanigans, only to be pulled out of it rather implausibly in the final three minutes. This is one of those rare series that combines great theme music, memorable characters and an abysmal payoff.

The daily digest ... for April 20, 2000: And you thought the Americans went nuts with all their cable channels — take a look at the Canadians. The government agency that regulates cable put out an all-call to apply for new pay and "specialty" cable channels. They got 452 responses for French and English channels: everything from the Men's Entertainment Network to Zone Jeux ("dedicated mainly to video games") to the Singles Channel. Discovery is trying to get two channels (Health and Travel & Leisure) into the country. But most of the ideas are springing from Canadian cablers themselves. CHUM, which operates CityTV, Canadian Bravo and MuchMusic, now wants to do a channel called MasterMusic (jazz, classical and dance), another devoted to New Age music (eh) and even a Suspense Channel. Salter Street Films (best known for the show "Lexx") wants to do "comedy for kids," an all-girls network and PlayTV, featuring all-interactive games, which is the personal favorite of Ryan Vickers, the TV Barn reader who passed along the list ...

And the WB has joined CBS in putting warning labels on preview cassettes it sends out to TV critics. That's undoubtedly a response to previous reports that at least one crit was fetching big bucks for his cassettes on eBay. The rough cut of an upcoming "Angel" episode warns against selling or in any way repurposing the content on the tape, while a new "Popular" episode says simply, "THIS VIDEO CASSETTE IS THE PROPERTY OF THE WB NETWORK." Indeed it is.

Previously on TV Barn:
19 April: More on "Survivor"
18 April: Second thoughts on Zehme, Takei
17 April: Sitcoms bomb
14 April: Ellen's new show
13 April: Reader mail
12 April: "Freaks and Geeks"
11 April: "Star Trek" protests
10 April: Zehme on Letterman
7 April: CBS's loaded sked; "Phantom Menace" on video
6 April: ReplayTV and TiVo
5 April: "Wonderland" protests; Fox hits new low
4 April: "Falcone" v. "Sopranos"; new sci-fi stars
3 April: iCraveTV; BET v. Univision
31 March: Video kiosks; Tavis Smiley; Peabody Awards; quit griping about Oscar

On this date... in 1955, Zenith engineer Eugene Polley creates the "Flashmatic" — the world's first wireless TV remote control. The device sends a signaling beam of light to a series of four photo cells attached to the front of the set to adjust your sets settings. Unfortunately, bright sunny days can send the tuners out of control, so the Zenith engineers start experimenting with ultrasonic technologies, and will have the "Zenith Space Command" in production by fall of 1956. -- Tom Heald