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![]() By Jim Hanas JUNE 1, 1998: The Teletubbies are finally here. And despite the ink thats already been spilled on the four cathode-fitted gnomes, no amount of reading can prepare you for how strange the show really is.
As for the shows inanity, I think thats called knowing your market. As for worries about indoctrination, on the other hand, those critics might be on to something. Despite its British origin, Teletubbies has to be the most Japanese show ever conceived by English-speakers. The Tubbies themselves look like some sort of live-action Japanimation, and the shows underlying technophilia fits nicely in a world of virtual pets and virtual pop-stars. And when that pinwheel starts to spin, the Tubbies let out a collective squeal that is the emotional equivalent of a screeching modem. Its like Sesame Street for the first generation to be born wired. But despite all the backlash just run a search on the Internet and youll see the show is probably more or less harmless, as its defenders claim; just four adorable bio-cybernetic mutants having a grand old time in a world of fake grass and real bunnies. That is, at least until a few decades from now when dance clubs and coffee bars are jammed full of twentysomething punks with HDTV screens set into their midriffs. It could happen. (Teletubbies currently appears on WKNO-TV Channel 10 at 10 a.m., Monday thru Friday.)
You can lead a horse to well whatever. Last Friday was the day The Jerry Springer Show had planned to air its most over-the-top installment ever, which is saying something. The episode, titled I Married A Horse, covers the topic of bestiality and features a man who claims to have a sexual relationship with a horse. Predictably, some stations around the country began announcing they would not air the episode early last week. WPTY Channel 24, for example, had already decided to run the alternate episode, Past Guests Do Battle. Its pretty disgusting, says 24s director of operations Marshall Hart of the more-controversial-than-usual episode, averring that the low-point was the French kiss. Imagine that. Anyway, the controversy in the making became a moot point last Thursday morning when the episode was pulled nationally, presumably because so many stations had already opted out, although a spokesperson for the show would not comment. A long-overdue defeat for Springer? Hardly. You think the latest Springer video is hard to catch at the video store? Well, giddyup. Return of the Radio Pirates Free Radio Memphis is back on the unlicensed airwaves near the University of Memphis. The station, which broadcasts at 94.7 FM, returned to the air Monday. It ceased broadcasting last month so that its studio and transmitter could be moved. No doubt the feds will catch up with the station in short order, not that it seems to matter. The Federal Communications Commission knew FRMs previous location for months, and even sent an agent to visit, but never took legal action.
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