Digest 1, originally sent Tue Jun 15 04:08:13 1999 :

There are 7 messages in this issue.

Topics in today's digest:

      1. Media: City News Service 06-01-99
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      2. Media: Austin American-Statesman 06-01-99
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      3. Media: Computer Shopper 06-01-99
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      4. Media: Daily Variety June 01, 1999
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      5. Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      6. Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999 (#2)
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
      7. Media: The New York Post June 2, 1999, Wednesday
           From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx


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Message: 1
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:46:09 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: City News Service 06-01-99

Media: City News Service 06-01-99
Length: 276
Headline: Hercules Replacement


Commentary: More on RenPic's "revolutionary" Back-2-Back Action concept for
two half hour action shows as opposed to a single one hour one.

Text:

   Studios USA announced today it will team with action producers Rob Tapert
and Sam Raimi's Renaissance Pictures for two back-to-back
 weekly action-adventure shows to replace the ''Hercules'' franchise.

     The 30-minute shows ''Jack of All Trades'' and ''Cleopatra 2525'' are
scheduled to debut in January.

      The so-called ''Back 2 Back Action'' hour will replace Tapert and
Raimi's ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' series starring Kevin Sorbo,
which will  wrap up its five-and-a-half season run during the 1999-2000
season.

     ''Jack of All Trades'' was created by Eric Morris (''The Pretender,''
''Sliders,'' ''The Outer Limits''). The series, set on a Caribbean island in
the 18th century, revolves around an aristocratic ''James Bond''-like spy in
the British Secret Service named Jack Styles.

     In ''Cleopatra 2525,'' created by ''Xena'' co-executive producers
Tapert and R.J. Stewart, an aspiring actress who moonlights as an exotic
dancer in  the year 2001 is cryogenically frozen. She is accidentally awoken
and de- thawed in the year 2525 by two female warriors who lead her into a
world taken  over by evil robots.

     Casting for both shows will get under way in the coming weeks.

   Tapert and Raimi collaborated on the hit horror cult films ''The Evil
Dead,'' '''The Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn,'' ''Darkman'' and  ''Army of
Darkness.''

     Their other projects have included the action features ''Hard Target''
and ''Timecop,'' two direct-to-video ''Darkman'' specials, the Sharon Stone-
Leonardo DiCaprio film ''The Quick and the Dead,'' CBS' ''American Gothic''
and Fox's ''Young Hercules.''



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Message: 2
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:45:30 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: Austin American-Statesman 06-01-99

Media: Austin American-Statesman 06-01-99
Location: E1
Length: 301
Headline: Roll call for millennium babies: Xena, Puffy, Garth
Byline: Loretta Grantham


Commentary: More promotion for the book, "Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma and
10,000 Other Names for Your New Millennium Baby".



BODY:

   WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- You know you've thumbed through one of those
dogeared, pink paperbacks searching for your moniker's derivation and deep
meaning.

     Jennifer: Celtic, "white wave."

   But a new baby-name book has been born, this one lime green and with an
attitude: "Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma and 10,000 Other Names for Your New
Millennium Baby."

   Jennifer's out. So's Kimberly, Ashley, Matthew and Robert. Also passe:
Otherwise sane names spelled weird "that will create a lifetime of
headaches." Jaeyne and Mychell, for instance.

   The tots of tomorrow, just to name a few, are Jabot, Ide and Quon. Baize,
Ingo and Zafion. The first three are in the girls section, but we sense a
unisex trend.

   Written by Joal (dad John plus mom Alice) Ryan and in stores June 7,
"Puffy, Xena" is more than a bland roster. It's also a commentary.

   Ryan divides names into, among other categories, "Pocket T's" -- durable
classics: Paige, Vanessa, Eric, James. "Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly
Sandwiches" -- easily digestible: Jill, Karen, Alan, Keith. "Trendy
Suspenders" -- flashes in the pan: Gwyneth, Whitney, Frasier, Garth.

   "So it's come to this, has it?" writes Ryan, 32. "You, with the living
room full of cheap Swedish furniture, a decade-old college debt and an
expansive video-game collection. You, friend, have just had your ticket to
Grown-Up Land punched. So, what are you gonna name the kid?"

   Many entries include pros and cons. Gloria: "Plus: A safe choice. Minus:
That Laura Branigan song." Campbell: "Plus: The less trendy alternative to
Cameron. Minus: The soup thing."

   The author stresses that "everyone's got an opinion on what's good, bad
and why.

   "In the end," she says, "there are no rights and wrongs. Just degrees of
therapy bills."

   Sure hope little Puffy has insurance.





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Message: 3
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:46:43 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: Computer Shopper 06-01-99

Media: Computer Shopper 06-01-99
Location: No. 6, Vol. 19, pg. 262
Length:  1824
Headline: When Freedom Hurts; copyright protection of Internet content and
digital rights management; Internet/Web/Online Service Information
Byline: Jon Halpin

Commentary: Discussion of the nuts and bolts of copyright protection on the
web. XWP is used in an example of how differently parody is treated from
other forms of trademark and copyright use.


Text:

    The ability to post and distribute original content on the Web has
opened doors for almost everyone. Businesses, writers, artists, and
musicians gain worldwide exposure, and consumers can enjoy an extraordinary
range of cultural expression. Out of ignorance or pure convenience, however,
some users are abusing the availability of that content, violating copyright
laws and cheating intellectual-property owners out of compensation.

    If you post original text, artwork, or sound on your Web site, you need
to protect that content. If you want to use existing content you find on the
Web, you must be aware of how you are doing it. Attempts to effectively
strike a fair deal between content providers and users has led to the
emergence of a field known as digital-rights management, which is really
just a slick term for managing copyright law on the Internet.

    A copyright gives creators of original works--text, art, and music--a
way to control the use of those works and the right to collect revenue.
Needless to say, with the proliferation of Internet business and new
technologies such as MP3, the meaning and enforcement of copyright law has
become rather mutilated. The concept, however, is based on common sense and
remains the same: If you didn't create it, it's not yours to use without
permission or payment.

      Somehow, free-flowing information has translated in some people's
minds to free use of that information. If it's on the Web, it's yours to use
in whatever manner you see fit. If something is posted to Usenet, it's in
the public domain. Think again. Brad Templeton, former publisher at ClariNet
Communications and current board member of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, has done a great job of putting copyright myths like this to
rest on his Web site (www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html).

    Templeton warns that nothing modern is considered to be in the public
domain unless the creator uses an explicit note that says, "I grant this to
the public domain." Be aware, too, that placing work in the public domain is
a waiver of your rights. If your work is considered to be in the public
domain, other people can even modify it, put their name on it, and sell it
as their own. (A great example is Linux.)

    Templeton points out that almost everything created privately and
originally after April 1, 1989, is in fact copyrighted and protected as soon
as it's put into a tangible form, whether or not it uses a copyright notice
("Copyright [dates] by [author/owner]" or "(c)"). This is based on the Berne
copyright convention. The phrase "All Rights Reserved" is currently not
needed.

    But although it's not required by law to display a copyright notice,
doing so gives users a warning and creators the right to more damages. It's
best to always just assume that works you find on the Web are copyrighted.

    Templeton says, "It is important to remember that when it comes to the
law, computers never make copies; only human beings make copies. Computers
are given commands, not permission. Only people can be given permission."

    To get full protection under copyright law--the right to sue for
infringement and receive statutory damages for improper use of
content- -your work must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within
three months from the initial publication date or prior to the infringement
date. To register a copyright, you must send in an application form, a $20
filing fee, and a copy of the original work to: Register of Copyrights,
Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20559. (Or visit the
U.S. Copyright Office Web site at www.lcweb.loc.gov/copyright.)

    Just Think About It

    Like anything else, digital-rights management boils down to people
taking responsibility for their actions. In a digital world, we just may
need to pay closer attention to the possibility of violating copyrights when
it comes to how we use the text, art, and music available to us. Just as
it's a violation to scan pictures from one magazine and publish them in
another without permission, it is a violation to post them on the Net
without permission or paying artists' fees. It is also a violation to post
someone else's work on a free Web site without giving that person just
compensation. Even though you personally don't charge for access to the
work, you could be affecting the commercial value of it.

    Some people will get sneaky and argue that the "fair use" exemption to
copyrighted material will let you post part or all of another's work if you
are using it as news or for commentary. As Templeton explains on his site,
there is a big difference between posting a New York Times article on your
site without permission and using that article as research for a story you
write yourself.

    "Fair use is almost always a short excerpt and almost always
attributed," Templeton says. "It should not harm the commercial value of the
work--in the sense of people no longer need to buy it (which is another
reason why reproduction of the entire work is generally forbidden). Facts
and ideas can't be copyrighted, but their expression and structure can. You
can always write the facts in your own words."

    Likewise, if you write a story using settings or characters from
somebody else's work (fan fiction, for example), you need the author's
permission.

    Templeton says, "If you want to write a story about Jim Kirk and Mr.
Spock, you need Paramount's permission"--with the exception of parody. Under
fair use, if you want to make a mockery of a show like "Xena: Warrior
Princess," you don't need permission to write the characters into your work.
So if you were to get sued for this infringement, you need to admit that you
did infringe, but that the infringement was a fair use. A judgment is then
made.

    Support for Common Sense

    In response to content creators' fears, some vendors are creating
digital-rights management products, which can be viewed as fail-over
protection for our collective common sense. In reality, the issues of
pirating or copyright infringement go beyond being intellectually violated.
The biggest concern is missed revenue opportunities for the content
creators.

    This realization may be what spurred Microsoft's recent foray into
digital-rights management, with a $15 million stake in Reciprocal, a company
that makes copyright-protection technologies. In addition to Microsoft,
Reciprocal is backed by several new-media investment firms, including Chase
Capital Partners, Constellation Ventures, Flatiron Partners, and Softbank
Technology Ventures.

    Initially, Reciprocal will focus on work with the music industry, which
is trying frantically to control the piracy that has proliferated along with
MP3 audio-compression technology. MP3 lets users easily download large music
files, compress them, and then send them over the Internet, preserving
near-CD-quality sound. Educational and professional business-to-business
publishing markets will quickly become the next targets.

    Reciprocal, originally founded in 1996 as Rights Exchange, has been
working on new ways to access, use, and ensure compensation for all types of
content online. So far, its technology has been limited in release, but the
company separates itself and its mission from competitors that offer "point
solutions," such as digital watermarks for more specific content protection
and transaction problems. It is currently working on products for copyright
protection, distribution, usage, and payment for digital content, including
software, text, images, and music.

    Reciprocal says that its broad vision of digital-rights solutions
"enables content owners to realize the full potential of the Internet and
digital distribution by providing the business support they need to derive
continuous value from their digital content. It includes software and
services that go beyond just preventing unauthorized copying. We create a
safe, robust environment to drive continuous business opportunities and
track consumption by the end user, while managing the associated back-office
operations."

    Reciprocal's digital-rights solution should go a long way toward
establishing flexible access, and providing proof of ownership and copy
protection for that content. It prevents unauthorized use of content, but
also prevents users from illegal consumption and reproduction of the content
once it has been downloaded to their PCs or networks. It relies on functions
used in other digital-rights management products, such as controlling
copying, cut-and-paste, printing, and incorporation into further work. It
also lets consumers buy these privileges online.

    Many industry analysts are wary about Microsoft's move in particular,
but it generally makes good sense. By investing in digital rights, the
company now has access to a technology that can help its Windows platform
build in protection at the OS level.

    Paul Bandrowski, president and chief executive of Reciprocal, said in a
recent press release, "The largest software company in the world recognizes
that copyright protection is a requirement for media companies to move into
the digital age."

    Some music-industry executives, however, suggest that the investment
will let Microsoft compete directly with IBM's Madison test project for
pirate-proof delivery of music over the Internet. And Microsoft may harbor
hopes of charging fees for its role in music downloads performed over the
Net with Microsoft products.

    Reciprocal is not the only digital-rights technology provider. Products
such as Giovanni (www.bluespike.com) and InvisibleInk (www.signafy.com)
provide content protection through digital watermarking.

    Digital watermarks are similar to the watermarks used in currency to
establish authenticity. They also hold information about the image or sound
file's creator, and give the data a unique identity you can use to track the
image's distribution.

    To display a digital watermark encoded into an image file, you must use
special viewing software. Digital watermarks are great because they can
survive many kinds of image-editing techniques (including rotate, crop, cut,
paste, and color separation), data compression, and reproduction across all
kinds of electronic and print media. Plus, you can copy an image containing
the digital watermark from a Web page, print it, and fax it to someone, and
the digital watermark will remain intact.

    Of course, no technical barrier to duplicating digital material is
likely to stop dedicated duplicators. Individuals will no doubt continue
taking advantage of the cut-and-paste convenience of the information age,
and there is very little recourse for businesses and artists experiencing
violation. But at their best, these legal and technical barriers do foster a
sense of accountability and deter the commercialization of digital piracy.
With any luck, this will be enough to keep the free flow of information from
drying up.





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Message: 4
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:47:20 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: Daily Variety June 01, 1999

Media: Daily Variety June 01, 1999
Location: 1
Length: 763
Headline: Prices right for Canucks
Byline: TAMSEN TILLSON


Commentary: In a trade article about Canadian programmer buying habits, XWP
is mentioned in passing as a type of program they are interested in.


Text:
   Canadian programmers are returning home from the LA Screenings happy,
saying that fragmentation and a surplus of product produced a buyers'
market.

   "There was an expectation of very high prices from distributors, but it
seemed to be tempered by the reality of what's happening in the Canadian TV
business," said Jim Macdonald, prexy and CEO of WIC Television. "The big
shows are just not delivering the same kinds of audience or revenues," he
said. "And the expectation that there is going to be year-over-year
increases, it's unfulfillable."

     The L.A. Screenings are the first opportunity for foreign buyers to
purchase the new fall offerings. Several of the attendees said the
proliferation of material made for a longer haul.

   Macdonald said negotiations went well into the wee hours Sunday. "It was
a little bit longer and a little bit more grueling this year, but everything
was fine, and certainly we were happy with what we acquired," he said.

   WIC picked up "Judging Amy" and "Ladies Man" from CBS, "Family Law" from
Col TriStar, "Freaks and Geeks" from DreamWorks and "Cold Feet" and "The
Mike O'Malley Show" from NBC.

   CTV appeared to get the pick of high-profile projects, bagging both John
Wells' "West Wing," and "Third Watch."

   Great choice

   Bleary-eyed from jet lag and hours and hours of viewing, CTV's senior
veep programming Susanne Boyce said the prices, as well as the selection,
were better than they first anticipated. "When we started off we were
worried because there was a lot of buzz that there wasn't a lot of new
stuff, and most of the pilots were 'Felicity' rip-offs and 'Ally'
knockoffs," she said, "but I'm really excited about what we got."

   Boyce picked up a long list from Fox including "Ally II," "Manchester
Prep," "Snoops" and half-hour sitcoms "Then Came You" and "Oh Grow Up." CTV
also took home Universal's "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," and
Disney's "Once and Again" and "Popular."

   Part of the relief around pricing, of course, is owed to the fact that
Canada doesn't have to convert to the Greenback --- the only country that
gets away with that caper. "Often we say, 'Thank God it's Canadian dollars,'
" Boyce said.

   When asked about prices, both Boyce and rival CanWest Global's VP of
national programming Doug Hoover responded, "fine" another indicator of a
downwards drift.

   It helped that the webs all arrived with different mandates to fill, said
Boyce. "We all bought to our schedules, and we bought early because we had
several scenarios in mind."

   Canada's beleaguered public web, the CBC, is phasing out out U.S.
programming and didn't send an emissary.

   'Mad' about it

   Hoover sounded pleased with Global's picks. "We have very high hopes for
'Stark Raving Mad' " he said, "both because of the scheduling and the
pedigree of the production." Chris Carter also has a fan in Hoover, who
picked up "Harsh Realm." Hoover said that in the wake of "X-Files" and "The
Millennium," they have been thinking of titling the show "Chris Carter's
Harsh Realm."

   Hoover was also high on Carsey Warner's "God, the Devil and Bob."

   "There are starting to be a lot of hour-long programs coming out of the
States," he said. They take longer to develop a following, but they're more
straightforward to promote. "And with UPN and WB, there's no urgency to get
it into the scheduling," he said, adding that CanWest will hold some of that
programming for next summer.

   The folks at Chum nabbed the action adventure pick they were looking for
in "Angel," the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" spinoff.

   "It's our pride and joy. That's our most important pickup," said Jay
Switzer, the VP of programming. He says the Chum group, whose stations
include City-TV in Toronto, The New VR north of Toronto, the New PL in
London Ontario, and the New RO in Ottawa, and specialty channels Space,
Bravo and the soon-to-be-launched entertainment network Star, are "not in
the traditional network series business. We occasionally pop our head up and
grab a few shows and stay out of the way of what WIC, CTV and CanWest are
doing."

   Chum prefers to hitch its wagon to a select few, chosen to compliment
returning fare like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Walker, Texas Ranger,"
"Hercules," and "Xena." Switzer said Chum is also picking up "Relic Hunter,"
a one-hour, action-adventure, Tia Carerra series that will be shot in
Toronto by CanWest-owned Fireworks Entertainment.

   Of course, judging winners pre-season is notoriously unreliable. "You can
only tell who the big winner is when the stuff hits the street," WIC's
Macdonald said.




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Message: 5
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:47:57 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999

Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999
Location: 15
Headline: Warm feet no problem for Lucy

Commentary: A NZ paper reminisces about Lucy Lawless' slipper obsession.

Text:

While appearing in Grease on Broadway in New York, Lucy Lawless stayed in a
hotel which every day would provide her with a new pair of slippers.

     She thought it a terrible waste and, unable to throw them out, kept
them.

   By the end of her stay she had 60-70 pairs of slippers, which she took
with her in a suitcase.

   Later on a syndicated talk show, the owner of the hotel and property
millionaire Donald Trump made a surprise appearance.

   ''He gave me a year's supply of slippers,'' recalls Lucy with a laugh,
''so I wouldn't have to pinch them anymore.''




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Message: 6
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:48:38 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999 (#2)

Media: The Nelson Mail (Nelson) June 2, 1999
Location: 13
HEADLINE: XENA TV PRINCESS

Commentary: Interview with Lucy Lawless at the Suter Art Gallery's 100th
birthday party in Nelson, NZ.


Text:

   A few minutes before 6am, Lucy Lawless rises to start another typical
working day -- the grind most people don't see behind the glamour of being
the star of a hit television series.

   The night before, she has laid out her clothes so that in minutes she can
be on her way for the day's shooting of Xena: Warrior Princess.

   An hour in make-up and wardrobe begins 12 hours of work on the show. At
the end of the day she catches up with her daughter, Daisy, and, if she's
extremely lucky, has dinner with her husband. Then she lays out her clothes
for the next day and retires for the evening.

     So goes her work routine day-in, day-out. And in between working on the
show, there are promotional demands on her time or requests for personal
appearances.

   ''A lot of people ask me to do things, and I would like to, but they
don't realise how busy I am, and tired, so tired,'' she says during her
weekend visit to Nelson for the Suter Art Gallery's 100th birthday party.

   She's happy to be part of the centennial celebrations, has friends here
and a ''soft spot'' for Nelson ... nevertheless her lifestyle can be
exacting and exhausting.

   She recalls how last year it momentarily became overwhelming. It was her
first week in her new home in Auckland and her gruelling schedule for the
Xena series had left her feeling drained.

   ''Every time I had a break, I had to buzz off to do some five-day trip to
Los Angeles, do some show, go to Vegas, do some show, to Florida and come
back and start work the next day. I was so incredibly burnt out.''

   Lucy has previously recalled that time as being on the brink, physically
and emotionally, of ''something kind of serious'' and she needed a break.

   ''I was just out in the rain and the cold and was really sick of it. I
knew I needed some fresh skills for dealing with it because it wouldn't go
away and I couldn't just quit.

   ''And despite having everything in the world, I wasn't enjoying it, so I
knew there was something wrong with me.''

   She took a week's break and began a recovery programme to enjoying life.

   ''It was what I needed at the time and the best thing I ever did.''

   The sensational success of Xena has also brought other pressures. Xena
(and by extension Lucy) has become a role-model for women, a feminist hero,
a counter to Barbie doll and bimbo babes, and a Wonder Woman for the late
1990s.

   The glossy British lifestyle magazine Diva even described her as a
lesbian icon -- and then posed this question as an answer to how she might
have earned such status:

   ''Could the answer be as simple as this: by standing 1.8m (5ft 11in) in
her thigh-high boots, having been poured into a tooled leather bustier and
smashing seven kinds of crap out of grubby bearded men?''

   The magazine said Xena presented a positive role model to young women and
girls. ''Xena has amply filled the C-cup of honour, virtue and rectitude.
And luckily for those drooling lesbian viewers, that C-cup spills over.''

   Initially, Lucy says she was freaked out by such role-model status being
thrust on her, comparing it to a yoke and wondering how she would bear such
responsibility.

   Now, she doesn't find she's expected to be anything other than who she
is.

   ''So, no, I don't wear that burden heavily now; in fact, it's no burden
at all.''

   The popularity of Xena surfaces in numerous other ways. A US poll in 1997
by an ice cream company put Xena third on the list of people American kids
most wanted to have at their birthday party (Chelsea Clinton was first,
golfer Tiger Woods second).

   The American travel book Let's Go New Zealand 1999 cited her as a
national icon; Who and People magazines recently gave her a Fake It award
for mastering an American accent.

   People want to know who her own heroes are (''Susan Sarandon,'' she says,
''or Judge Judy ... or anyone with an alliterative name'').

   Then there's her frenzied Internet following, called the Xenaverse, a
cartoon Xena spin-off and massive merchandising. There's even a New York
lesbian bar called Meow Mix, that has a monthly Xena night.

   News items tell how Lucy suffered from bulimia for a while as a teenager
and how she urges her fans to battle body-image obsessions.

   And that Lucy is anti-nuclear, following US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright's visit to New Zealand and her suggestion that Lucy wasn't.

   Does Lucy smoke? (No.) Is she a vegetarian? (No.) Is she -- wait for
it -- a footwear fan? (Yes, see panel story on page 15.)

   Although Lucy says that Xena ''only exists when the film is running'', in
the eyes of many fans she is still only Xena, not Lucy Lawless who plays
Xena. So who is Lucy Lawless?

   he raven-haired beauty with ice-blue eyes who became Xena was born in
1968 and raised in Mt Albert, Auckland, in a large, close-knit Catholic
family.

   Her father, Frank Ryan, was a former mayor of Mt Albert and her mother,
Juliet, was ''a tireless community worker''. As the fifth of seven children
(with five brothers, four of them older, and a younger sister), Lucy had ''a
fairly rough-and-tumble childhood'' and was a self-confessed tomboy.

   ''I had a good kick, could throw a punch and I learned not to cry.''

   She went to a convent school, appeared in many musicals and plays in high
school then attended Auckland University before leaving for Europe to go
grape-picking on the Rhine.

   When she ran out of money, she went to Australia and worked for a
gold-mining company in the small Outback town of Kalgoorlie. She was one of
a few female miners, doing the same work as men.

   While in Australia, she married Garth Lawless and then returned to
Auckland where Daisy, now 10, was born.

   She landed her first real acting job alongside Willy De Wit in the comedy
television series Funny Business. She then moved to Vancouver, Canada, for
eight months to study drama, returning to New Zealand and finding work in
television commercials and a job as a co-host for the television travel show
Holiday.

   But her big breakthrough was getting the role of Xena in the series
Hercules, although she had appeared earlier as Lyla, the courageous bride of
Deric the Centaur.

   Lucy won the Xena role when the actress originally picked to play the
part fell ill and had to be replaced.

   The resulting three-part episode pitting Xena against Kevin Sorbo's
Hercules was so successful that it spawned her own fantasy action series,
Xena: Warrior Princess. For five seasons now she has been fighting cruel
mythological gods and evil monsters, nasty giants and bloodthirsty warlords.

   The name Xena was spelled with an X (instead of a Z) because Rob Tapert,
the show's executive producer and co-creator, whom Lucy married last year,
was told that kids would understand this.

   ''He was right,'' says Lucy. ''I remember so clearly being a kid and
thinking that Xs were really attractive.''

   Lucy describes the sword-swishing, ululating, fearless Xena as ''a woman
as strong as any man or woman has ever been, who lives by her wits, but is
also a fighter. She's a very human hero, who knows all about the darker side
of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day''.

   Lucy told Rolling Stone magazine that Xena is successful because people
like seeing ''chicks kicking butt ... and it's certainly true that chicks
kicking butts rocks''.

   Lucy has also appeared in Playboy magazine, but with her clothes on, for
an interview. She talked about Wonderbras and breast-plates, echoing actress
Cameron Diaz with her remark, ''Real women wear pads, they don't get plastic
surgery''.

   She also told Playboy she was blessed to be raised in New Zealand where
women were granted the vote before any other country and were strong, with a
''get-on-with-it'' attitude.

   , ''but I've got them good child-bearing hips and I did drink plenty of
milk when I was a kid and that prevented me from snapping anything.''

   Now, unless you see her face, it's probably not her playing Xena.

   As for the future, Lucy is ready to play Xena in a sixth season of the
show if she is wanted. She enjoys the show's mix of slapstick, musical
moments and heavy drama.

   ''It can be extremely silly stuff that is corny but are good fun romps.''

   She knows of no plans to move shooting of Xena from New Zealand. ''We've
got such a great system here, the film industry is really efficient, and
we've got the best scenery.''

   She does realise that Xena has an expiry date but isn't worried about
typecasting. Ideally, she would like to raise her family here in New Zealand
and shoot two movies a year wherever the location is.

   ''Since I'm expecting a baby, I must say that any thoughts about my
career have sort of melted into the distance.''

   She says her family is her priority, but she has received film offers but
nothing to make her want to give up her free time from her shooting
schedule.

   She has done a stint on Broadway in New York in the revival of Grease,
and has a cameo role as herself in the New Zealand film I'll Make you Happy.

   ''Broadway was scary, as was doing Saturday Night Live (a US comedy
television show) ... but I like to go for those kind of things.''

   Spoken like a warrior princess.

   Turn to XENA Page 15 Continued from page 13

   She also praised her mother and said it seemed totally natural to her
that women were equal but different to men.

   ''I never questioned that it was any other way.''

   However, Lucy has never done any interviews for women's magazines --
''because I believe if you sup with the devil, you have to have a very long
spoon, and if you don't play the game from the start, then they don't expect
you to''.

   So if you do see Lucy Lawless as herself or Xena on the cover of a
woman's magazine, be assured the story inside was done without her
participation.

   Occasionally, she says, she reads things she never said.

   ''Even in quotation marks there is a great deal of things that I've
supposedly said and I know I've never said that because I've never thought
that.''

   Generally, though, she isn't sure how one could combat such made-up
stories.

   ''Since they haven't done anything particularly scurrilous, you just
ignore it. These things are very ephemeral and I've learned to take them
with a grain of salt.''

   2oday Lucy is pregnant and due to give birth in October. She has tried to
cut down her hours -- so far reducing her 12-hour working day to 11 hours --
and to be careful on the set.

   In 1996 Lucy fell from a horse while taping a skit for The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno and suffered pelvic fractures.

   ''It took me a long time to learn to walk again,'' she said , ''but I've
got them good child-bearing hips and I did drink plenty of milk when I was a
kid and that prevented me from snapping anything.''

   Now, unless you see her face, it's probably not her playing Xena.

   As for the future, Lucy is ready to take Xena into a sixth season of the
show if she is wanted. She enjoys the show's mix of slapstick, musical
moments and heavy drama.

   ''It can be extremely silly stuff that is corny but are good fun romps.''

   She knows of no plans to move shooting of Xena from New Zealand. ''We've
got such a great system here, the film industry is really efficient, and
we've got the best scenery.''

   She does realise that Xena has an expiry date but isn't worried about
typecasting. Ideally, she would like to raise her family here in New Zealand
and shoot two movies a year wherever the location is.

   ''Since I'm expecting a baby, I must say that any thoughts about my
career have sort of melted into the distance.''

   She says her family is her priority, but she has received film offers but
nothing to make her want to give up her free time from her shooting
schedule.

   She has done a stint on Broadway in New York in the revival of Grease,
and has a cameo role as herself in the New Zealand film I'll Make you Happy.

   ''Broadway was scary, as was doing Saturday Night Live (a US comedy
television show) ... but I like to go for those kind of things.''

   Spoken like a warrior princess.




_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Message: 7
   Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:49:15 -0500
   From: "Kym Masera Taborn" <ktaborn@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: Media: The New York Post June 2, 1999, Wednesday

Media: The New York Post June 2, 1999, Wednesday
Location: 077
Length: 370
Headline: TWO SHOWS MUSCLE OUT 'HERCULES'
Byline: DON KAPLAN
Graphic: Kevin Sorbo: No more trips to New Zealand for "Hercules" star.


Commentary: More on USA Studios/RenPic's "Back 2 Back Action"


Test:


   THE producers of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" will replace the show
with a new pair of half-hour-long action shows beginning next January.

   "Hercules" ends its 5-year run in November.

   The new shows, "Jack of All Trades" and "Cleopatra 2525," will move into
the syndicated "Hercules" timeslot in what is being called the "Back 2 Back
Action" hour.

     "We've seen half-hour light action shows from back in the '60s and
early '70s," said one of the "Cleopatra" creators, Rob Tapert, who also
oversees production on "Xena: Warrior Princess."

   "These shows are going to be kind of a return to that style of
story-telling - fun and humor mixed in with continuous action.

   "But they are different than one-hour action/dramas," Tapert told The
Post. "With a half-hour show we'll be able to have a problem, set it up and
then solve it - there's no act two or act three."

   The swashbuckling "Jack" is about the adventures of Jack Styles, a James
Bond-like British secret service agent stattioned on a Caribbean island in
the early 18th century.

   "Jack" was created by Eric Morris, whose TV writing credits include "The
Pretender," "The Outer Limits" and "Sliders."

   "Cleopatra," developed by "Xena" creators, Tapert and R.J. Stewart,
follows the futuristic adventures of an actress/exotic dancer who is
cryogenically frozen in the year 2001 and accidentally thawed in 2525. She
wakes up in an underground world ruled by evil robots.

   Cleo and the two female warriors who find her band together to break out
of the endless underground corridors and reclaim the wild surface of the
planet.

   Both shows are produced by Studios USA and Renaissance Pictures, and will
stick with the same action/humor formula that helped make "Hercules" and
"Xena" so popular.

   It is still not known who will be cast in either series, but both will be
shot in New Zealand, where "Hercules" and "Xena" also are shot.

   The highly rated "Hercules" has been canned because the show's star Kevin
Sorbo and its producers could not agree on a new contract.

   They had reportedly asked Sorbo to take a pay-cut to compensate for the
show's high production costs.





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