AltWeeklies Wire
What Bush Could Learn From West Wingnew

George W. Bush has reportedly switched from watching baseball to reruns of West Wing. Too bad he's not watching this season's episodes in which President Bartlet's top staffers are suspected of leaking a national-security secret to a New York Times reporter.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
11-04-2005 |
Commentary
Tags: Plamegate, United States president
Who Hates Their MTV?new
The rebel network sold its soul for bimbos, princesses and bucks.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
10-14-2005 |
TV
Media Moguls, Not Looters, Killed Media's Truth Tellersnew
For the first 120 hours after Hurricane Katrina, TV journalists were let off their leashes by their mogul owners, but once the crisis point had passed, most broadcasters went back to business as usual.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
09-16-2005 |
Media
The Michael Kinsley Experiment Ends at L.A. Timesnew

Michael Kinsley said he'd done a pretty good job of editing the Los Angeles Times editorial pages but on what planet? He's actually done a pretty horrible job that’s proved disastrous both to his persona and the paper’s prestige.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
07-29-2005 |
Media
Here's to You, Mrs. Robinsonnew
During her acting career, Anne Bancroft veered between two big-screen personas: queens like Annie Sullivan or Mrs. Robinson, or commoners who took their inspiration from her real life as Anna Maria Louise Italiano, native of the Bronx.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
06-10-2005 |
Movies
Tags: The Producers, Mel Brooks
Does Woody Allen Just Write Like Rick Moranis?new
There are startling similarities between the Disney parody written by Woody Allen in the December 13 issue of The New Yorker and a 1999 piece authored by comedian Rick Moranis and novelist Howard Kaminsky that ran in the Los Angeles Sunday Times.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
12-14-2004 |
Media
Transfer of Power Expected at William Morris Agencynew
The oldest, richest and stodgiest of Hollywood talent agencies is undergoing a seismic shift not unlike what’s happening beneath the San Andreas Fault.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
12-08-2004 |
Movies
Kerry Would Be a Far More Credible Commander In Chiefnew
George W. Bush is a threat to the republic and the planet. The only way to stop him is to vote for John Kerry, a course L.A. Weekly recommends more fervently than any endorsement it has ever made. Endorsements for Congressional races are also made.
L.A. Weekly |
Staff |
10-28-2004 |
Commentary
What in Tarnation: Will Success Spoil the Filmmaker Savant?new
A macabre family album excavated from the deepest recesses of memory, Tarnation is Jonathan Caouette’s personal history reconstituted as a maelstrom of images and ideas about mental illness, mother love, homosexuality and other ties that bind.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-19-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Interview With a Warlord: A Deposed Legend Tells His Side of the Storynew
Ismail Khan, the recently deposed warlord-governor of Herat Province in Afghanistan, claims he was removed from office because he wouldn't have allowed drug traffickers to move opium through his district.
L.A. Weekly |
Ann Rachel Marlowe |
10-19-2004 |
International
Mainstream Media Still Can't Cover the Campaignsnew
The major news outfits do a piss-poor job of evaluating the rhetoric and claims of candidates, and the media is generally reluctant to vigorously truth-test the assertions made by candidates (or presidents).
L.A. Weekly |
David Corn |
10-18-2004 |
Media
Sleepwalker: Elliott Smith's Unhappy Dream Lifenew
Elliott Smith died on Oct. 21, 2003, of what most think was a self-inflicted stab wound to the heart. Now the entertainment industry has set a new world record: shortest period between an artist’s passing and the cottage industry created to exploit him.
L.A. Weekly |
Alec Hanley Bemis |
10-18-2004 |
Profiles & Interviews
Republicans Sell Out Christopher Reeve’s Paralysis Actnew

Just a day after actor Christopher Reeve’s death, one or more Republican senators put a surprise hold on the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act. A source says the move appears to be in response to Reeve's outspokenness on stem-cell research.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
10-13-2004 |
Politics
Major Networks Reject Advertising for Fahrenheit 9/11 DVDnew
Executives of Sony Pictures were stunned when CBS, NBC and ABC all refused Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD advertising during any of the networks’ news programming. The reluctance stems from the closeness of the release to the election, a Sony insider says.
L.A. Weekly |
Nikki Finke |
09-30-2004 |
TV
John Kerry Comes to Life on Iraqnew
By challenging George W. Bush so clearly on the war in Iraq, John Kerry may be turning his boat right into the enemy. But he still is going to have to convey strength in some fashion. Bushistas believe Kerry cannot do so.
L.A. Weekly |
David Corn |
09-29-2004 |
Politics