Okay, so here we go again. For those of you just joining us, I began WGO a long, long time ago as a feature of the site, primarily as a place for me to dump my opinions in a safe place so they wouldn't out and out hurt anyone. As you can well imagine, it wasn't completely safe and sometimes my opinions freaked people out anyway. C'est la guerre. During my stint at Corona's Coming Attractions, it just didn't make sense for me timewise to be putting out two complete columns on a regular basis, so WGO sort of folded up into that monster at CA, The Phantom Grimace. Now, fifty-one columns later, the Grimace has retired and...well, the poisons just build up in the bloodstream--they had to go somewhere. So as I said, here we go again. Hopefully I'm not as bad at this as I remember.

A Word About 9-11 and the Entertainment Aftermath.

I've heard some people concerned about the effects that the terrorist attacks have had on Hollywood. Namely, they're worried that by basically removing any images of the World Trade Center from art, films, and whatnot, we might be doing a disservice to the memories of those who lost their lives there. Or worse, we might be handing a victory of sorts to terrorists.

So let me just say my piece here, because it's important you understand. Unless someone in Hollywood actually sets out to make a statement, the last thing someone in Hollywood wants to do is make a statement. Mostly they're concerned about money, and rightly so: Hollywood is a business. They don't exist to provide you entertainment. They exist to make money. Providing you with entertainment is just the means to that end.

For instance. The last thing Sony Pictures wants is, for next year, somebody to see the World Trade Center in the Spider-Man movie--and have an adverse emotional reaction. They want you to go the movie and be diverted for an hour and forty minutes. They don't want someone whose cousin lost their life in one of the towers to start weeping. And really, it's understandable. They're playing it safe and not wanting to trigger anything negative for people. Again, it's business. So they're not overreacting at all, in my opinion.

That being said, I'd like to send kudos out to the people behind The West Wing. You have to understand: I don't watch TV. Members of my family have gotten me addicted to Law & Order. I don't have oodles of time to spend in front of the boob tube, and I have a highly addictive personality--I know my shortcomings well. You put me in front of a television, I zone. But dammit, I'm going to end up watching West Wing.

And not just because they had the balls to quickly step up and address recent events when everyone else was going to great pains to remove anything having to do with terrorists from their lineups. Some of these could be construed as overreactions on a case by case basis, however: the cancellation of the Law & Order mini-series with the bio-terrorist attack on Manhattan scheduled to air in May--that was probably a wise choice. But some of these others...I dunno. Regardless, West Wing managed to give a crash course on Islamic fundamentalists, presented different points of view regarding the issue of liberty vs. security, and managed to do all of this without ever seeming like a class in Terrorism 101 was actually being taught. Damn fine episode, and like I said, I'm afraid I'll be glued to my set for the actual series premiere this coming week.

Manhattan skyline sensibilities aside, Hollywood isn't sure yet what people are going to be in the mood for. "I don't buy that everybody will only go to see Zoolander," Oliver Stone said recently. And well, they won't. Because the box office showed that Michael Douglas' latest thriller, Don't Say a Word opened on top. That's over the Ben Stiller comedy and the pitched-as-heartwarming Hearts in Atlantis. This past weekend, Denzel Washington's cop-on-the-streets Training Day beat the romantic comedy Serendipity for first place by $10 million.

In fact, Hollywood Reporter had a survey conducted. Should violence in TV and movies be reduced? Oh heck yeah, the people responded. But will people change their viewing habits? Hell no. Whereas over 60% said yes, reduce, they meant that for everyone else's benefit apparently. 70% said they're not changing what they view. Typical.

So the good news for those of us not wanting a tremendous paradigm shift in our entertainment is that, well, studios will put out what America wants, for good or ill. This accounts for movies dealing with serious subjects like terror in this day and age just as it did for Rob Schneider movies mere months ago. I guess there's some kind of comfort to be had in that...somewhere.

Be good.

=Widge.

P.S. Box Office Poison

Look for Bandits to take the lead next weekend in box office terms. Somewhere in the mid-twenties. I fear Corky Romano will more than likely come in second with Training Day taking the smallest drop in its sophomore segment, probably less than half. Serendipity won't do too badly either, since it’s the only romantic comedy out there, but it'll still dip quite a bit. Everything is going to slide off into nothingness, especially Hearts in Atlantis, which got handed its ass last time around by Zoolander of all things. Sad. Anyway, box office is back up to better than last year's numbers as we're getting out of the post-summer doldrums. Stuff isn't going to get crazy until Monsters, Inc. on the second. Then you'll start seeing major box office. Until then, mid-twenties, but I don't see any breakouts. I do leave myself an out for 13 Ghosts and possibly Donnie Darko. Halloween makes everything wonky, and in a world where Bats can clean house just because it's the only "horror" film released that segment--anything can happen.