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- <text id=93TT2560>
- <title>
- Jan. 03, 1994: The Best Show Business Of 1993
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1993
- Jan. 03, 1994 Men of The Year:The Peacemakers
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE BEST OF 1993, Page 86
- The Best Show Business Of 1993
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> 1
- </p>
- <p> Biggest Mouths. Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, whose combined
- 40 hours a week of taunting talk, schoolyard humor and bracing
- political incorrectness made radio the year's hot--and hot
- air--medium. But mere radio couldn't contain these two word
- warriors. Limbaugh reworked his sprightly right-wing monologues
- into a potent TV series and two top-selling books. Stern, whose
- autobiography was also a chart topper, planned to end the year
- with a lavish, lurid pay-cable special. If the Fox Network has
- any money left after its N.F.L. spending binge, Stern could
- also become a late-night TV host--hence an invigorating earsore
- at both ends of the day.
- </p>
- <p> 2
- </p>
- <p> Dumbest Duo to Monopolize Time of Lonely Boys with Nothing to
- Do but Watch TV and Go "Heh-Heh, Heh-Heh"
- </p>
- <p> Beavis and Butt-head, the cartoon troglodytes who critique (and
- promote) MTV videos. Their show became a teen fave and a parent's
- bane. In a crowded field, B. & B. were the year's top icons
- of idiot chic.
- </p>
- <p> 3
- </p>
- <p> Most Lavish Home-Shopping Spree
- </p>
- <p> The QVC network's $10.5 billion bid to buy Paramount Communications.
- Paramount had hoped to merge with TV conglomerate Viacom. But
- QVC's Barry Diller, who can build grudges into empires, vowed
- to take over his old studio by wooing or warring. The courts,
- and finally Paramount's board, agreed to give him the chance.
- </p>
- <p> 4
- </p>
- <p> Best Equal-Opportunity Offenders
- </p>
- <p> Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson, who achieved the impossible--lowering the moral tone of a Friars' roast--when the Cheers
- star, in blackface, paid an epochally crude tribute to Whoopi.
- She later vexed the Anti-Defamation League with her published
- recipe for "Jewish American Princess Fried Chicken."
- </p>
- <p> 5
- </p>
- <p> Worst Network Violence
- </p>
- <p> The airing of jeremiads from Attorney General Janet Reno and
- other D.C. solons against TV mayhem. Unable to reduce the crime
- rate by law or enforcement, they hope to do it by reducing the
- minuscule amount of violence on prime time. Killing the network
- messenger will change nothing, since the real carnage is on
- cable--and the nightly news.
- </p>
- <p> 6
- </p>
- <p> Boldest Attempt at Social Enlightenment
- </p>
- <p> Broadway became the Gay White Way, as shows with homosexual
- and AIDS themes (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Angels in America)
- won top honors at the Tonys and reaped a box-office bonanza.
- Theater is facing up to what Hollywood, until Philadelphia,
- has mostly ignored.
- </p>
- <p> 7
- </p>
- <p> World's Most Powerful Man
- </p>
- <p> Oh, maybe it's the President of the U.S., but even Bill Clinton
- takes orders from supermogul Michael Ovitz, whose Creative Artists
- Agency represents the major Hollywood talent, creates new Coke
- ads, advises studio chiefs--and arranges the guest list for
- Clinton's star-struck visits to Hollywood.
- </p>
- <p> 8
- </p>
- <p> Most Ingenious Promotion for a New Album
- </p>
- <p> Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg was arrested for being an accomplice
- to murder, enhancing his aura among gangsta-music lovers. Suggested
- ad line for Doggystyle: Buy this or we'll shoot a bystander.
- </p>
- <p> 9
- </p>
- <p> Best Reason to Get Nostalgic About the Old Rabbit Ears
- </p>
- <p> It used to be just CBS, NBC and ABC. Now giant telephone companies
- are joining with huge cable operators to form megaconglomerates
- that promise hundreds of channels, your every wish fulfilled
- at the touch of a button. Meanwhile, what channel is the Chiefs
- game on?
- </p>
- <p> 10
- </p>
- <p> Trendiest Way to Lose Weight and Increase Lung Power
- </p>
- <p> By watching the infomercials of fitness guru Susan Powter. Slim
- those thighs! Shout at heavy-metal volume! A former fatty and
- emotional doormat, Powter re-formed herself and in 1993 moved
- $50 million worth of tapes and books. She's Richard Simmons
- with a crew cut and extra testosterone.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-