Spring/Summer 2000!

Got something worth Dotting or Slashing? Send a note, and it might be added to the latest list!

Each seasonal list is updated periodically; newest entries at the top...

DOT : ...with all due respect to the cast of NBC's Friends, you really have to hand it to NBC, to know where the line is drawn. After so many battles with salaries of the young stars --all 6 of them!-- NBC has decided to yank away all of the pricey "perks" they had put on the set, like free personal trainers, and so on. The diva stars insist that this isn't fair, and yet you can't help yourself when agreeing with the top brass of the network; with what they're paying them by now, they can afford it themselves.

Slash : To actresses not looking before they leap! Sure, Jennifer Anniston, fresh from her much-ballyhooed marriage to Brad Pitt, would be too emotionally high to think clearly. Case in point: just days afterwards, Jennifer threatened to sue a tabloid overseas, for publishing photos of her topless, snapped near her own backyard last fall. The problem...? These photos didn't show her face, so the only way everyone now knows it was really her is all thanks to HER! The only reason they weren't uploaded everywhere was because nobody could definitively confirm it was the real Jennifer Anniston. Now, Jennifer herself confirmed this...and the photos have now been spammed to every newsgroup, web site, and message board, overnight. OOPS.

DOT : Talk about a mega-happy DOT! Ion Storm, the software company that delivered the intricate action-adventure game, Deus Ex, has made sure that the Thief game series will live on! They will take over the series, as they have gained the rights to both future Thief games, as well as the game engine itself! After hearing such sad news of the series' original company closing down earlier this year (see below), its nice to see their crowning achievement live on!

Slash : To web sites that want hits, then...don't? I'm talking about the now infamous site, Survivorsucks.com. This is the site that loves to hate (or, perhaps, hates how much they love) the CBS summer hit, Survivor. After all their posturing for spoilers of who goes --and who wins-- they finally close their message board to any new traffic, just before the show airing July 19th. As Survivor's irrepressible "Rudy" might put it, If you didn't want visitors that badly, you shouldn't have opened your yaps in the first place! 

Slash : To commercials in movie theaters. What nitwit who loves television that much, decided we needed a few ads before a film? Guys, there's already nearly 15 minutes of movie trailers as it is! Before one of the children's films I reviewed for this site (either Disney's The Kid or Chicken Run; I forget which), there were commercials for M&M's, Coca-Cola, and even Rice Crispy Treats! I doubt these commercials are half as worth it as they think (heck, I can't even remember which film followed them!), so it seems like a waste of everyone's time. Where's the chance to leave for the fridge, when you need it?

DOT : To a confirmed Star Wars Episode 2 casting coup. Jimmy Smits, fresh from his NYPD Blue days on TV, will play Bail Organa. Trivia buffs may recall that "Organa" is the adoptive last name of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from the original trilogy. While the former "Dot" has yet to be confirmed, about Ralph Finnes as General Tarkin (the Emperor's right hand man, who helped him create Star Destroyers, the Death Star, etc), this casting move sounds even better.

Slash : To CBS, for not making better game rules. That appears to be the case in CBS' Survivor series, where Rich, Sue, Kelly, and Rudy have created what some are nicknaming the "unholy alliance." Cheater's alliance is more like it. With the show now merged into one tribe, it seems like the whole rest of the show will be dictated by these four nitwits, who decide who is the most threatening, and then vote them off the show. Greg and Sean had a few words to say about this sickening display of foul play, and yet the real final word should come from series host Jeff Probst, and the show's producers; this should not be allowed! This is bad for the game, the series, and the whole worth of watching. You might as well give an Olympic Skating medal to Tanya Harding.

Slash : To all those "affordably" priced computer ads, which aren't. So many ads these days offer top of the line computers for ridiculously less than you'd expect; often from $300-$900 less than the competition. Then you read the fine print: this is only if you agree to around 36 months paying for a new Internet service. How stupid is this? Hello!, if I can read your ad online, on the Web, I already have an Internet service, DUH! A small cheerful DOT goes to the Federal Trade Commission, who convinced two of the worst offenders (claiming their PCs were "free"...with 36 months Internet service) to give actual prices up front. Still, there are many more offenders out there. Time to find a new sales tactic, guys...

DOT : To amusing, subliminal advertising. In an episode of CBS' Survivor series, airing June 21st, a competition wins the Tagi Team a supply chest with hard-to-miss inner lining. The lining is in fact dozens of red and white "Target" logos; the symbol of the series' main advertiser. Brilliant!

DOT : To bringing back a great gaming tradition! In the old days, games used to come with all sorts of intriguing trinkets relevant to the storyline; Ultima IV, for example, came with a cloth map and an metal ankh. Classic Infocom text adventures included trinkets galore! Finally, certain recent games' "collector's editions" include similar gifts-with-purchase, just like in the old days. Last Winter, Tomb Raider 4's "Millennium Edition" included a pewter miniature, a game card, and a B&W prototype of the upcoming comic book. The recent "collector's edition" of Vampire : The Masquerade gave the player a hardcover novella (!) and a necklace relevant to the storyline. The "collector's edition" of Diablo 2 offered --get this-- a DVD of all the game's FMVs, in sequence! These are great salutes to the game boxes of yesteryear. However, a small Slash within a "DOT" due to how few collector's editions are made. IMHO, they should be sold in far greater supply.

Slash : To truly sad game news. Looking Glass Studios, the makers of such amazing 3D game variations as System Shock and Thief, are now no longer in business. Apparently, the excellence of their games did not mean they had an excellent accountant. An even bigger Slash goes to other companies, which aren't willing to buy this company for their own distribution. Let me get this straight: Sierra On-Line, after years of mistakes, gets bought out --twice-- and Looking Glass is left for deceased? Talk about unfair.

Slash : To hypocrisy. Many a Star Wars fan had a lot to say (negative) about Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. These gripes didn't change when the movie was put on sale on VHS April 4th. So why the sudden flames at Lucas for not offering a DVD version? "Man, that was the worst of the Star Wars films...and that jerk Lucas won't let me buy it on DVD!!!" Make up your mind, dudes; do you hate the film, or do you want to buy it permanently on DVD? Suddenly, Trekkies look cool...

Slash : To sore losers in the Nielsen Ratings wars. Opening jokes against Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, on Saturday Night Live's May 6th episode, were so blatantly bitter they were almost sad. Among such messages was a jab at ABC's devotion to "a @#$%ing game show." Note to NBC, as well as SNL; ABC's "@#$%ing game show" is prominently kicking your @#$%ing butt! It pays to have some humility.

DOT : To a very smart potential move. Any number of alternate networks --including HBO and Showtime-- have shown interest in ABC's Sports Night, if ABC is stupid enough to cancel it from their line up next fall. This could be just what the series needs; a pay cable channel environment, where there are no censors, and no holds barred. One can only hope, either way, that the series returns...

DOT : Comparatively to the above network move, ABC's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch has been adopted by the WB network for next season, which should make for a way-cool new look to the show. WB, after all, is the network for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Charmed. Stay tuned...