MEDIA

Rip It Up, Issue 165, 1 April 1991, Page 28

MEDIA

Two new import TV shows are worthy of a mention and both are screening on TV3. Firstly, a must for chat show freaks is the Arsenio Hall Show (10.30 pm Sundays) fronted by a former stand-up comic and Solid Gold host. He's a mate of Eddie Murphy but Madonna told Hall that his haircut was "tired" and Spike Lee called him an Uncle Tom. His critics include the "Queer Nation" (not enough gay guests) and "Big Beautiful Women" (too many Roseanne Barr jokes). In his defence Arsenio Hall has said, "I'll be hearing from some organisation for Milli Vanilli — people who lip sync and are proud of it." Secondly, we get the worst of Australian TV so it's good to see their leading satire show, Fast Forward. ideally positioned, following Twin Peaks, 9.30 pm Tuesday nights. The sketch-based show is known for its piss-takes of rock videos (Heart, Sinead O'Connor), Moscow breakfast TV, ETWinterviewers, airline stewards and ethnic TV presenters. Former RipltUp writers Russell Brown and Fiona Rae are returning from London with their very own baby son. Recent changes in the UK music media scene includes the closure of Record Mirror and Sounds and the purchase of the titles Select and Kerrang by the publishers of Q magazine... former pop star and RWP host Richard Driver shows his serious side with his directing and co-producing the doco Hokonui Todd, the story of Kiwi missionary Garfield Todd, who became a liberal Prime Minister of Rhodesia. Narration is by one David Lange and it screens on TV], April 23. MURRAY CAMMICK