Ox Notes: July 9, 2007

Variety has an article about network shows making their final runs this summer, as well as a piece about good new dramas on cable that might get overlooked.

A physical therapist who's worked on some of the stars of the Dancing with the Stars tour says the rigors of dancing give them the same kinds of injuries as factory workers.

Finally, Variety also features a review of coverage of the Live Earth concerts this weekend. I watched on and off throughout the day on Saturday, mostly on the Internet and Bravo. What struck me was how different the concert footage was from region to region.

During all of the New York concert performances I saw, cameras spent just as much time focusing on bouncing female audience members as they did on the musicians -- even during the final performance of the night by The Police. The band is touring for the first time in 20 years, so why would I be more interested in watching some blonde girl talk on her cell phone?

In contrast, the cameras at the Sydney concert stayed firmly on the stage for headliners Crowded House, except when singer Neil Finn asked the crowd to sing along. The show producers were as reverential of the band as the audience was -- and that was after a mere 11 years since Crowded House's last performance in Sydney.

Videos of all of the Live Earth performances are available here.