‘Northwest View’ lacked viewers, gets ax

The 11 a.m. weekday news show on KXLY-4, “Northwest View,” aired its final broadcast on Friday.

KXLY news director Leona Wood said that the show never picked up enough of an audience in its preferred demographic group, age 25-54.

“They just weren’t home at that time,” said Wood.

She said the station has decided to concentrate its resources on “Good Morning Northwest,” which runs from 5 to 7 a.m. The 11 a.m. anchors – Susanna Baylon, Mark Peterson and Shaun Stevens – also anchor “Good Morning Northwest.”

“Northwest View” premiered on Aug. 30.

The cool, cool Panida

The grand old Panida Theater in Sandpoint is getting a $130,000 heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system by the end of May – if everything works out as planned.

More than $100,000 in donations and grants has been raised for the system over the last six years. That leaves another $30,000 still to go by the time of installation on May 31.

Board president Laurel Wagers said she hopes that a last-minute fund-raising campaign will “write the happy ending to this cliffhanger serial drama.”

Call the Panida at (208) 255-7801 to make a donation.

Jack and his jackass

Bob Farley, one of the treasures of Spokane theater (along with wife Carmen), recounted a classic Spokane theatrical anecdote during a chat this week.

He was attending a production of the operetta “The Desert Song” at the old Orpheum Theater downtown in 1948. During one key moment in the show, Jack Good, the lead comic, made his dramatic entrance – on a donkey.

“He had on a kind of a sultan’s costume and a turban and a string on top that bounced around,” said Farley. “The chorus girls just could not hold out. They were rolling on the floor. It stopped the show dead.”

Turns out that Good had made a clandestine trip over to the nearby Post Street Theater between acts. The Post Street was staging a massive production of the “Black Hills Passion Play,” based on the famous Oberammergau Passion Play. That show used a number of live animals, including donkeys and sheep.

So Good talked a generous stagehand into loaning him the donkey. Good led the donkey through back streets and alleys to the back entrance, where he made a big entrance astride his jackass.

“They were all in hysterics,” said Farley.

As it turned out, it many not have been strictly for laughs. The date was Nov. 3, 1948 – the day that Truman beat Dewey in the presidential election.

So maybe the donkey was symbolic. According to the Spokane Chronicle, Good led the donkey offstage “while singing an impromptu Democratic campaign song.”

The Smithsonian connection

Two regional museums have some Smithsonian-related news to report.

First, the Museum of North Idaho in Coeur d’Alene will host the traveling Smithsonian exhibit “Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon” from April 23 to June 4. This exhibit celebrating the American barn will be complemented by the museum’s own exhibit, “Life by the Barn.”

Second, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture has acquired a Smithsonian intern, Jeremy Toliver, to research big-band-related topics this summer at the Smithsonian Institution.

His research will be used for the MAC’s planned exhibit, “Jumpin’ with the Big Bands,” which is a collaboration with the Lionel Hampton Center and International Jazz Collection at the University of Idaho. The exhibit will be mounted in either 2007 or 2008.

Feudin’ neighbors?

I’m passing the following along, while not necessarily condoning it:

A new TBS comedy-reality show, “Love They Neighbor,” is seeking families involved in neighbor disputes. The feudin’ families must own their own homes, be neighbors and each have at least two kids between 10 and 19 years old.

Animosity or hatred is not necessary or preferred. This is supposed to be a “fun, family show geared towards positive thinking about your neighbors and community.”

Fit the bill? Go to www.ltnshow.com and apply.