These scholars are 'Buffy' buffs
NASHVILLE -- It's tough for scholars to be taken seriously when their subject is a TV show about a California blonde fighting evil in a high school built on a gateway to hell. Particularly when the title is as campy as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
But enough professors and writers study the comedic drama and its spinoff, "Angel," to hold a deadly serious academic conference here this weekend attracting more than 325 people.
Buffyologists from as far away as Singapore were presenting 190 papers on topics ranging from "slayer slang" to "postmodern reflections on the culture of consumption" to "Buffy and the new American Buddhism."
There was even a self-conscious talk by David Lavery, an English professor at Middle Tennessee State University, on Buffy studies "as an academic cult."
Lavery and Rhonda Wilcox, a professor at Gordon College in Georgia, cohosted the conference and are known as the "father and mother" of Buffy studies. They acknowledged they've endured a lot of ridicule from colleagues, but said that's part of the topic's allure.
"It keeps the uncool people away. If you can't get past the title you have no business watching," said Lavery. "It's a badge of honor," said Wilcox, adding that the feeling is similar to a central theme of the show. "The main characters are outsiders. Others are looking at them funny, but they know they're doing the right thing so they do it anyway."
Wilcox, who wrote her doctoral thesis at Duke University about Charles Dickens, compared the show's depth and texture to his 19th-century serial novels. "I think it's a great work of art." It's also become quite a teaching tool.
College courses across the globe are devoted to the show, which was canceled last year, and secondary schools in Australia and New Zealand also provide Buffy classes. Episodes often are used to reach troubled teens, Lavery said.
Geraldine Bloustien, a professor who teaches Buffy among classes on communication studies and media production at the University of South Australia, coordinated a similarly popular academic Buffy conference last year in Adelaide.
"It's fascinating that here is a piece of television enjoyed all over the world," she said. "It has a coherence and a depth I hadn't seen for such a long time. It's like `Sesame Street,' which you can appreciate on several levels."
About a dozen scholarly books on Buffy have been written, including one from the prestigious Oxford University Press coming out next year.
Nielsen stays with new rating system
NEW YORK --Nielsen is switching to an electronic system for counting viewers in some big cities, a move that some critics contend will undercount blacks and Latinos, which in turn could endanger programs that appeal to minority audiences.
Nielsen says the June 3 New York start date is solid despite the appointment of a task force to study the change, a congressional audit and, now, the decision by the Media Rating Council not to recommend accreditation of the service.
The council is an association with members from the television, radio, and advertising industries that investigates measurement systems and estimates their reliability.
The council, in a four-paragraph news release, did not specifically say why accreditation was denied. A spokeswoman said the group never publicly talks about the results of its audits. Nielsen is still seeking accreditation and is awaiting a letter from the MRC detailing where the council believes the new system falls short, Nielsen spokesman Jack Loftus said.
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Talk of the dial
10 a.m. WBIX-AM (1060) -- "Stu Taylor on Business." Guests: William Hartog, dean of admissions and financial aid, Washington Lee University; Steven Carney, author, "The Teamwork Chronicles."
Other radio highlights
7 a.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) -- "Classical Weekend." Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12; Holst's Double Concerto; Dvorak's "In Nature's Realm"; Glinka's Cherubic Hymn and Nocturne, "La Separation"; Ravel's Piano Concerto in G; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
8 p.m. WCRB-FM (102.5) -- "The Boston Pops Orchestra Live." Keith Lockhart conducts Celtic music with Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster and Motown music with former Doobie Brothers member Michael McDonald. 