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- <text id=90TT3520>
- <title>
- Dec. 31, 1990: Show Business:Most Of '90
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 31, 1990 The Best Of '90
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- SHOW BUSINESS, Page 45
- MOST OF '90
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Most Star-Mangled Banner. Even George Bush didn't have to
- read her lips to know that Roseanne Barr's televised rendition
- of the national anthem before a San Diego Padres baseball game
- was a foul bawl. It was not only screechy, it was scratchy too.
- </p>
- <p> Most Overexposed Underachiever. Bart Simpson, the caustic
- cartoon kid who starred in a hit prime-time series, got his
- bug-eyed mug on everything from T-shirts to key chains. Bill
- Cosby, eat his shorts.
- </p>
- <p> Worst Synching Feeling. Milli Vanilli, who won a 1989 Grammy
- Award for Best New Artist, had to admit not only that they
- didn't sing live onstage but also that it wasn't their own
- voices on their albums. Goodbye Grammy. As for their earlier
- boast that they were better than Bob Dylan and the Beatles?
- Well, sure--as dancers.
- </p>
- <p> Toughest Test for Civil Libertarians. Comedian Andrew Dice
- Clay flaunted his street-punk misogyny so outrageously that his
- concert film was withdrawn by 20th Century Fox and his
- appearance as host of Saturday Night Live prompted two women
- performers to walk out. Meanwhile, liberals defended to the
- death his right to say things they wish he'd just shut up about.
- </p>
- <p> Fastest Rush to the Mainstream. Rap music began as something
- def from the ghetto, got sanitized by b-boys like M.C. Hammer
- and Vanilla Ice, and quickly became a we're-so-hip cliche even
- on TV commercials. As they say, it's not comin' correct.
- </p>
- <p> Worst Thing About Feeling Good. Two touchie-kissie-sweetie
- movies, Ghost and Pretty Woman, won worldwide success. Audiences
- who had tired of muscling in on the macho antics of Arnold and
- Sly instead cozied up to a couple of lame femme fantasies with
- morals no more profound than Shop Till You Drop (Pretty Woman)
- and Kiss the Corpse (Ghost).
- </p>
- <p> Most Overleveraged Spin-Off. Donald Trump's securities were
- revealed to be guilt-edged when he went public with an illicit
- dividend, model Marla Maples. Ivana's projections for a divorce
- settlement plummeted when the Donald's teetering real estate
- empire had to give credit where credit was due. Principle was
- lacking all round. Interest dwindled.
- </p>
- <p> Worst Talk-Show Host. Saddam Hussein paraded his hostages
- before cameras for propaganda purposes, and as he smiled and
- stroked children's heads, made John Davidson look like Mr.
- Sincerity.
- </p>
- <p> Most Out-of-Tune Experiment. Steven Bochco's musical series
- Cop Rock, with soft-shoe gumshoes and gospel jubilation in the
- jury box, was found guilty of being off key and sentenced to
- oblivion. So much for the networks' new spirit of innovation.
- </p>
- <p> Least Protective Protectionism. Actors Equity nearly saved
- one job for an Asian-American actor at the expense of 29 others.
- When the union balked at letting an English actor repeat his
- role as an Asian character for the Broadway run of Miss Saigon,
- the producer threatened to cancel. Equity saw the light, but is
- now fighting the producer's pick for female lead.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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