I .-
Dada plays at the Blind Pig tonight. Remember the song "Goin' to
Doeyland"? Well, Dada is back to promote its latest CD. Doors
open at 9:30 p.m, and tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the
door. Tickets can be bought at the Michigan Union Ticket Office.
Ulre£du~rx al
Toinorrow h Daily Arts:
9 Check out the Daily Arts review of the new Robert DeNiro
flick, "Ronin," as well as a feature about its director John
Frankenheimer.
Tuesday
September 29, 1998
9
'Felicity's'
By Eri Podoisky
Daily Arts Writer
What do the pink Power Ranger, Janeane
Garofalo, and a girl with hair to rival that of any
Noxzema poster child have in common? "Felicity"
boasts all three and much, much more. As any
faithful WB watcher knows from the barrage of
advertising, "Felicity," the latest addition to the
utrt network's arsenal of teen-queen dramas,
premieres tonight at 9 p.m. The WB execs would
have you believe that "Felicity" is a show you
shouldn't miss.
They're right.
We meet the title character, Felicity Porter (Keri
Russell), on the day of her high school graduation.
She's been the shy girl in the corner for her entire
high school career, but on this final day she gets
up the courage to ask the most popular guy in her
cl to sign her yearbook. He writes something so
pi ound that Felicity is forced to reevaluate her
entire life.
She decides, against her parents' wishes, to give
up her plans for Stanford and pre-med and follow
a heartthrob, Ben Covington (Scott Speedman), to
the University of New York.
It sounds corny and melodramatic, but the
show's strong writing and acting make it somehow
college life inspires
Wrestling slams into
Joe Louis Arena
By Gabe Seitit
Daily Arts Writer
Surprisingly, more than nine mil-
lion viewers - a staggering number
- tune in every Monday night to
professional wrestling. Many of us
grew up watching the World
Wrestling Federation (WWF) back in
the day when Hulk Hogan was as
popular as Mom's apple pie. Hogan's
persona, not his wrestling abilities,
appealed to all of us during those
adolescent years. We ate our vita-
mins, said our prayers and exercised
so that we could all be fellow
Hulkamaniacs. It was good, clean
entertainment.
WWF Raw
is War
**
USA
Mondays at 9 p.m.
Hogan has
since defected
to the WWF's
biggest rival
organization,
W o r I d
Championship
Wrestling
(WCW), but
that doesn't
matter. The
WWF is new
now. Very few
of the house-
hold names are
still there, bar-
Felicity
WB
Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
believable. It helps that nei-
ther Felicity nor Ben are
paper cut-out characters.
Instead, they're more like
people in progress - and isn't
that what we're all here for?
To find ourselves in this big
mess called college is the
ultimate goal, and watching
Felicity and company under-
take that gargantuan task over
the course of this television
season is a welcome prospect.
Upon arriving in New York,
Felicity moves in to her dorm
and meets her resident advi-
"General Hospital" or any other soap
opera. The only difference is that you
don't get the love triangles, botched
marriages, possessions and people
being reincarnated. Instead. you have
guys issuing threats and later kicking
the tar out of each other. And just like
a soap opera. it is easy to get hooked
on the theatrics.
With the monthly WWF Pay-Per-
View special airing last night, titled
"In Your House: Breakout," expect a
gigantic evening planned for the
upcoming Detroit match. The past six
months have seen WWF owner
Vince McMahon attempt to snatch
the belt away from current title hold-
er "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
McMahon doesn't have any actual
reason to take the belt away; he just
doesn't like him. Austin has been a
tremendous crowd favorite, and has
answered every challenge.
But there was a time in the early
'90s when the WWF was the show
that everyone could love. Kids had
their favorite wrestler to root for,
whether it was Hogan, Slim Jim
spokesman "Macho Man" Randy
Savage, The Ultimate Warrior or
Andre the Giant. But professional
wrestling is about television ratings,
and with the influx of former WWF
wrestlers defecting to the rival WCW
organization, changes had to be
made. Storylines have gotten cruder
and language only found in a Steven
Bochco show was put in. But five
million viewers can't be wrong.
Consequently, the WWF's ratings
soared into the lead.
Nevertheless, a wrestling event is
quite a show to watch, with thou-
sands of screaming fans, beer thrown
everywhere and an occasional chair
being tossed around. Once in a while,
a wrestler might come out of the
audience. You can watch it on televi-
sion tonight, but why do that when
you can see it live?
Macho Man, Hogan and Ultimate
Warrior (or the 13th man to take on
the role) may now reside in the
WCW, but how can that compare
with midgets, bikini contests and co-
ed tag team matches? Only on "Raw
is War" can you find such a thing.
Oooooooo yeaaaahh! Whooops.
Wrong wrestling federation.
Courtesy ot Touchstone Television
Scott Speedman, Kerl Russell and Scott Foley star In "Felicity," WB's new college drama.
sor, Noel Crane (Scott Foley, a "Dawson's Creek"
refugee).
Noel is full of helpful advice and never misses a
:hance to chat with Felicity, whose confusion over
ier situation quickly makes it clear that she is any-
:hing but what her name suggests. It's fairly obvi-
us, even in their first meeting, that Noel is inter-
sted in Felicity in a way that RAs ought not to be
unless the rules of conduct for resident advisors
s erent in the wild and crazy city that never
1le s).
Like so much of the show, it's predictable that a
trange love triangle is in the works, and that it
i be just one triangle of many. We all know that
rime time television thrives on all sorts of emo-
:ional tension, and much of the time it doesn't
york or becomes irritating (attention, Kevin
Vlliamson!). "Felicity" is different. It's pre-
dictable, but even the predictability of it is fasci-
nating. There's so much in this show waiting to be
explored - how the cliches are stacked up and
torn down and the formulaic plot devices tossed in
at every opportunity function to bring otherwise
bland, stereotypical characters into vivid three-
dimensional life.
The fourth main character is Julie Emrick (Amy
Jo Johnson) as Felicity's new friend who wastes
not a moment before inadvertently creating a tense
situation between Ben and Felicity.
Again, the show doesn't treat this with kid
gloves or overblown cliches. Instead, Felicity is
unafraid to speak her mind and tells Ben exactly
how she's feeling - and it sounds completely nat-
ural.
Janeane Garofalo lends her vocal talent in an
unbilled cameo as the voice of Felicity's ex-French
tutor/pen pal. They write letters back and forth
using cassette tapes rshe show's voiceover fram-
ing device, yet another element that could easily
have been botched but instead comes across as
inspired.
Two, three, four years ago, you may have been
Felicity, crying in her first lecture because she
thinks that coming to New York was a huge mis-
take.
You may have been that popular guy who wrote
something in somebody's yearbook and had no
idea what the ramifications would be. Yo~u may
have been that person sitting in class wondering
what everyone else is thinking. Or maybe you've
gone through your time here at the University
without being any of those things.
The fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter.
"Felicity" has something with which we're all
familiar. It's a wholly engrossing portrayal of
those first wondrous moments of college. What
matters is that it sends the other new shows of the
season back to high school and graduates to a
standard of television totally unexpected from the
little network that could.
ring the likes of "The Undertaker"
Guys such as "Kane," "Vader,"
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "The
Rock" now take center stage. Sound
silly? It is. But the WWF has also
brought in actual wrestlers such as
Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn (who
reside in Coldwater, Michigan) from
the Ultimate Fighting
Championships. Mark Henry, a for-
mer Olympic weightlifter for the
United States, is now a member of
the "Nation," a group of militant
African American wrestlers.
"Monday Night Raw," WWF's
Monday night program, airs 9-11
p.m. on the USA network, but
wrestling fans in the state of
Michigan will be happy as the WWF
will invade Detroit's Joe Louis Arena
for a live taping. The next night,
"Raw" will invade the Breslin Center
in East Lansing, three days after
Michigan's trouncing of the Spartans.
It's difficult to take the WWF for
what it is - a giant show not unlike
Graham is golden in 'Guy'
By Matthew Barrett
and Aaron Rich
Daily Arts Writers
Let's face it. There aren't enough movies about
birds.
But from the depths of this dark abyss comes
"Paulie" the story of a talking bird. Not since the
chatty swine from "Babe" has
an animal movie packed such a
potent punch.
Jennifer Aniston, known
New On more for her magazine spreads
Video This than her talent, stars as a love
week struck-lass in "The Object Of
My Affection." It's your classic
hot, straight girl falls in love
with your hot, homosexual guy
story. She gets pregnant; problems ensue. Like many
things once buoyant, her career is going down with
Jack Dawson.
Jeremy Irons stars as a British colonial in Hong
Kong around the time of the reunification with
China in "The Chinese Box." Directed by Wayne
Wang, the film is sure to be a hit with both art house
and action fans alike.
And then there's Heather Graham. Even the name
makes you feel like you're a child of the rainbow.
From swing dancing in "Swingers" to skating
around Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights," the actress
has etched a permanent place in movie-babe history.
Those who were disappointed by the limitations
of her role in "Lost In Space" will be pleased to see
that Golden Grahams is back in action in "Two
Girls and a Guy." Starring opposite a freshly
rehabbed Robert Downey, Jr. and Natasha Wagner,
Graham plays the seductive blonde in this erotic
threesome.
The film finds Downey in a awkward predica-
ment when his two girls discover that he has been
two-timing them like a dirty dog.
The real-life convict gives a strikingly true-to-
life performance as a pathological liar suffering
I
-II
L
Courtesy of reaniWorls
Cheecht Mann gives us the bird.
Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures
leather "Golden" Graham gets sweeter than sugar in "Two Girls and a Guy."
Can you not go a day without the
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Online with all of your favorite stories
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WWWmich gandaiy3 corn
from a strong case of oedipal syndrome.
The cure for his ailing, yep, you guessed it,
Heather "Golden" Graham. Shouldn't we all be so
lucky?
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