Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 August 16

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August 16

Journalists in Harry Potter films

I find there to be a great very many journalistic photographers and interviewers portrayed both following the Minister of Magic around and present at the Ministry when Voledemort reappeared to fight Harry and Dumbledore at the end of Order of the Phoenix, and yet there is one paper -- the Daily Prophet -- that seems to get, well, all the press.

Sure, there's the offbeat Quibbler, but you'd think that with that many journalists, there would be as many papers and TV and radio shows as we have, and yet there's not. Should I suppose it's just Rowling focusing on one paper to cut out a whole lot of extra involvement and confusions of other papers? DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 03:56, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

I find it more likely that the Daily Prophet is all there is in magical Britain regarding newspapers. Estimates for the size of magical Britain are inconsistent at best [1], but are typically on the low size, being tens of thousands at most. That's about the size of a medium city, something that's easily served by a single newspaper. The films showing a large number of reporters could be attributed to the film director (or Rowling, if also mentioned in the books) thinking that's what's looked good, without giving the practicalities much thought. If pressed for an in-universe explanation, one possibility is the other reporters are from newspapers in other countries, as Voledemort reappearing is major news for other countries as well. -- 71.35.121.78 (talk) 04:24, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

There are Wizarding radio shows which carried news (but no need for photographers there). This is similar to the problem with the number of professional Quidditch players - although only one player in seven years at Hogwarts ever goes pro. Rmhermen (talk) 15:09, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

The IP above makes a good point in that there are other countries with wizard societies. This is shown in the films with one of the Weasleys going to find dragons in some other country (Romania?) and the two representatives from other countries (France and Romania again?) coming for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. They both have accents, so presumably speak other languages. Unless the Prophet makes multiple language editions, those countries would likely send reporters/photographers to cover major events. Dismas|^(talk) 15:36, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Imposter - Earth Security Administration (ESA) Facility Door

Approximately 28-29 minutes into the film Imposter, Spencer Olham (Gary Sinise) escapes from the Earth Security Administration (ESA) Facility. When you see him standing outside in the open, he is standing in front of a massive circular door.
Is that the same massive circular door that is seen in The Island when Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) & Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) escape Dr. Merrick's (Sean Bean) underground cloning facility ? 194.74.238.137 (talk) 11:03, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Just to be clear, are you asking if they are the same physical real-world door or if the two universes of the two films are intended to be the same universe and therefore both facilities are one-and-the-same? It's possible that they kept a major piece of the set from The Island though it's equally possible that the second film just made something incredibly similar. That said, it doesn't look like the films were made by the same production companies, so that would make me think that the two doors are just coincidentally similar. Dismas|^(talk) 15:42, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, yes I meant are they the same physical, real-world door. 194.74.238.137 (talk) 10:30, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

song heard tonight on tv

Hi, I am writing from Australia. This evening I watched the first episode of The Town, with Martin Clunes and others. A song was sung by a female artiste and I wonder if you can give me a name. Some of the words I managed to write down " we fight, we cry.....I drag you down.... shout at you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Georgette Wright (talk • contribs) 13:22, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Googling the lyrics you provided suggests it may be Shoulder to Shoulder by Rebecca Ferguson. - Karenjc 18:19, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

So does this (in the comments). InedibleHulk (talk) 19:27, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Difference?

For movies and TV shows, what's the difference between a producer and an executive producer? I've always been a huge film buff but have never been able to tell a clear difference.Theskinnytypist (talk) 19:53, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Do the Wikipedia articles Executive producer and Film producer and Television producer help? --Jayron32 23:00, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Why did MTV turn away from music videos?

I was reading Cory Doctorow's "metacrap" essay, and in it he claims that MTV shifted away from music videos because Nielsen ratings measure programming by the half-hour and hour, "so MTV couldn't demonstrate the value of advertising on its network." I had always wondered what caused this change, but seeing no mention of it in our MTV article, I thought I'd ask if this explanation is essentially correct or more of an urban legend. --BDD (talk) 23:46, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

This NY Times article doesn't answer the question, but does back up the Nielsen ratings piece. My guess would be that people lost interest in videos, at least on TV. Why watch an hour of programming to catch 1-2 videos when you can look them up online? Hot Stop talk-contribs 23:59, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

MTV stopped showing videos long before most people could get them on the internet. It was a simple fact that shows like Big Brother got better ratings and brought in more revenue, the same reason you won't find any history on the History Channel or science on the Science Channel. μηδείς (talk) 01:38, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Or references on the Wikipedia Reference Desk.  :) (Sorry, couldn't resist)-- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:55, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

I don't mind, but I don't think "personal recollection of TV and newspapers of the 1990's" will do anyone much good. μηδείς (talk) 02:41, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Oddly enough, I recently (this week) read a decent article to back up Medeis note about "edutainment" networks abandoning their educational mandate (in the same way the Music Television shows no Music). See here. --Jayron32 02:27, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

We do have an article on the general topic of stations changing their programming called Channel drift. While it lists MTV as an example, no real reasoning is given. Hot Stop talk-contribs 03:23, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Wow. WP:WHAAOE. --BDD (talk) 06:49, 17 August 2013 (UTC)