Industry Adds Effort To Lyric Warnings
The recording industry, under fire for violent and sexually explicit lyrics, is beefing up its 10-year-old voluntary program to add parental advisory labels.
Changes announced this week by the Recording Industry Association and the National Association of Recording Merchandisers include steps to ensure correct size and placement of the “Parental AdvisoryExplicit Lyrics” sticker on releases, and new moves to encourage merchants to use the advisory in advertising, along the lines of the ratings used by the movie industry.
The trade associations also will encourage record clubs to identify stickered products in their solicitations and will create permanent signs for retail display that will identify and explain the logo.
And the advisory will be adapted to music videos, though the language may change to alert parents to explicit imagery, as well as lyrics.
The changes were ordered by music industry leaders in the wake of a well-publicized attack on Time Warner, the largest recording combine in the world, for releasing records featuring explicit lyrics.
Leno inks new NBC deal
NBC has signed Jay Leno to a new five-year contract as host of the “Tonight” show, the network announced this week.
Leno, who recently has led his show to a string of first-place finishes in the late-night competition and who won an Emmy award in September for the best comedy or variety show in television, had a contract through 1997. NBC has discarded it and issued a new contract to the year 2000.
No terms were disclosed, but associates of Leno reported that the new deal would put him on almost equal terms financially with the deal signed by David Letterman when he joined CBS two years ago.
Letterman is paid about $14.5 million a year. Leno had been making an estimated $6 million to $7 million under his old contract.
NBC kept a provision for four weeks of repeats a year, and Leno obtained a commitment that the network would not use a guest host to fill in.
New Stones video to premiere
In a United States premiere, “Mad TV” will showcase the Rolling Stones edgy, aggressive video for the song “Like A Rolling Stone” during the episode airing Saturday at 11 p.m. on Fox (KAYU-Channel 28 in Spokane).
The Stones’ version of this Bob Dylan classic will be the debut single for their upcoming album “Stripped,” an acoustic compilation of the group’s rock ‘n’ roll classics to be released Nov. 14.
The video stars Patricia Arquette (“Beyond Rangoon,” “True Romance”) and was filmed in London.
‘Chicago Hope’ killing character
CBS was mum, but word has leaked out that Peter MacNicol’s “Chicago Hope” character will be killed off when the actor departs the show next month.
MacNicol, who plays attorney Alan Birch, recently told producers he wanted out.
“There’s no glamorous reason, no sexy five-picture deal,” MacNicol said.
So, therefore …?
“The only reason I signed on to play the part of a lawyer on a doctors series was because it was being written by David Kelley,” MacNicol said. Then, over the summer he learned that Kelley wouldn’t be writing as much as he did last season, if at all.
Without the former lawyer-turned-producer watching over his role, MacNicol felt it would only lead to a weakening of his character.
According to a report in USA Today, MacNicol dies in his final episode, and his adopted baby daughter will be turned over to Dr. Jeffrey Geiger, who is played by Mandy Patinkin.
By killing Birch and giving the baby to Geiger, show producers effectively tidy up three loose ends. Patinkin announced last summer his plans to leave the show to spend more time in New York with his family. He’s exiting the night of Nov. 13.
Now it looks like MacNicol will be history by then, too.
Computer chip prices plunge
Just in time for holiday computer purchases, Intel has dropped wholesale prices on its 100-, 120- and 133-MHz Pentium chips by $98 to $223. Computer makers are likely to pass on the savings quickly.
Intel also will reduce prices for lower-powered Pentium processors on Nov. 1, effectively putting the last nails in the coffin of 486-grade PCs.
Game players sold at cost
Buy a 32-bit Sony PlayStation or Sega Saturn game system without purchasing a game or two, and the retailer may give you a very dirty look. Merchants aren’t making a dime on either unit at $299, nor are the manufacturers profiting. Taking a cue from Gillette, they’re essentially giving away the razors to make money on the blades or, in this case, those fab game cartridges priced at $60-$70 a pop.
‘Blues Brothers’ ‘toon coming
“The Blues Brothers,” based on the characters created by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi for “Saturday Night Live,” will be a prime-time animated series for UPN.
Thirteen episodes are ordered. No launch date has been set yet, but “Blues” could begin as early as March, when UPN adds a third night of programming, on Wednesdays.
Judy Belushi Pisano, Belushi’s widow, and Aykroyd will help produce the show, along with Film Roman, co-producer of Fox’s “The Simpsons.”
“Blues” follows the antics of Chicago musicians Jake and Elwood. Belushi and Aykroyd starred in the 1980 film version.