Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 41

TV: Where's Y2K75D Coates Puzzles Ann Landers 40 8D 90 Coming Saturday We'd preview a TV movie VjLjLlVjLiNA Wisconsin State Journal about the Virgin Mary. In Daybreak. Features Editor Chris Juzwik. (608) 252-6180 Friday. November 12, 1999 TOM ALESIA MEDIA MATTERS NICOLE E.

ROGERS ON TELEVISION if cj 1 Jim Was spat just a Sly trick? They Ve shown the money, and we're watching I don't have much time. I've managed to tear myself away from the parade of nerds who want to be millionaires but never seem to know the answers that seem so obvious to me to jot down some thoughts. Quickly, though: Regis is due back on the air any minute. I i Mil i i Sony Pictures photos "American Movie's" national marketing showcases the documentary's oddball main characters who live in the Milwaukee area: Mike Schank, left, and Mark BorchardL i Movie splash makin ga IS-- I With the success of ABC's summer series "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," it was only a matter of time before other networks cashed in on the ratings riches NBC is planning to resurrect "Twenty-One" scandal- -free, this time around. I guess.

CBS has remakes of classics "What's My Line?" and "The S64.000 Question" in the works, as well as "Survivor," where "Lord of the Flies" meets Wink Martin-dale: The last one of 16 left on a desert island wins $1 million, and contestants vote to kick out the losers. Sort of a survival of the nicest But it's the Fox entry that makes me wonder if maybe we haven't gone too far. Banking on the "80s trend that "Greed" is good, Fox signed up Chuck Wool-ery to taunt contestants with not $1 million, but $2 million. It's got the same funky light show and the same dramatic music as "Millionaire," but "Greed" offers something that Regis doesn't: the chance to turn on your teammate and run off with all the money. Now, I realize that the trend in television game shows is to up the ante.

It worked with the promise of a $1 mi llion prize, and then a $2 million prize. But maybe the producers of "Greed" thought $2 million was too subtle; they wanted betrayal and bloodlust savage and ruthless. After all. this is the Please see MONEY, Page 2D Fans can choose Beastie Boys' greatest hits By David Bauder Associated Press NEW YORK When the three members of the Beastie Boys sat down to pick the songs that would appear on an upcoming CD career retrospective, they decided to invite a fourth participant -r- their fans. Devotees of the rap-rock pio-; neers are being offered a chance, through the Internet to construct their own custom CD compilation of the band's work that will be mailed to their homes.

They can even pick their own title. The Beastie Boys are believed to be the first major artists to do this. It is another indication of how the Internet is changing music distribution and how fans relate to their heroes. "It's very new, but at the same time it's sort of a stepping stone in the evolution of music delivery," said band member Michael Diamond. "Sometime in the foreseeable future, you won't even need the hard medium." Through World Wide Web sites of participating music retailers, fans can choose as many as 40 of 150 available songs including hits like "Sabotage," last year's "Intergalactic" and a new single; "Alive." Custom CDs will be delivered after Nov.

23. when the two-CD anthology of songs picked by the band, "The Sounds of Science," is available in music stores. Both packages will sell for $17.85. Some artists would be reluctant to give fans such decision-making authority. But Diamond said that since the band has gone through Please see HITS, Page 2D Two years before Sly's recent headline-grabbing feud with Mayor Sue Bauman, he was Madison's most popular morning disc jockey.

At WIBA-FM (101.5) for almost a decade. Sly dominated the air waves, ranting about local politics to an audience that wanted to hear Led Zeppelin or the Steve Miller Band between the host's diatribes. When I moved to Mad ison in 1993, 1 thought Sly's raucous, issue-oriented show was the most unusual morning program for a rock station anywhere. Still, it has taken Sly's fall 1997 jump to an upstart AM talk outlet WTDY (1670) where he draws about one-third of the audience that he did on the FM side for him to gain notoriety among local officials and TV and print outlets. Would Mayor Bauman have noticed Sly's criticism had it aired on WIBA-FM after, say, ACDC and Jethro Tull songs? "That's a very interesting question.

I don't think so," Sly said. "It got more publicity because a lot of newsmakers make regular appearances on my show. I know a lot of opinion leaders and lawmakers driving into Madison are listening. That's how word got back to her." Sly. 38, has been a constant critic of Bauman's during her first full-term in office and has called her a derogatory name.

Bauman's response she threatened to pull city advertising from the station and briefly hampered WTDY's reporting staff gave Sly invaluable attention; Yet hinting that he planned this scenario is absurd, he said. "I do know how to push buttons. That's my job to push buttons," Sly said. "But I don't know how anybody could think I could possibly dream up such a scheme." The fallout, of course, has brought Sly new callers and E-mail messages that say, "I'm checking you out again," he said. According to quarterly Arbitron ratings released this week, Sly's show is in the middle of the pack among listeners 12 and older.

He's drawing less than half the audience of pop-rock outlet WZEE-FM (104). (Among WTDY's target audience, men ages 25 to 54, Sly's numbers improve.) i WTDY program director Glen Gardner said Sly's ratings will jump in the next ratings book, which will include figures taken, he added, "P.B1" P.B.? "Post-Bauman," Gardner said. Sly agreed: "A lot of people haven't figured out there's an AM dial on their radio, especially my blue-collar audience. "They come up to me, 'Oh, we miss I say, Tm still here! I'm still That's frustrating. I'm hoping the mayor thing has reminded some people I'm still on the radio." Although the straightforward morning news on WIBA-AM shines in the ratings, Sly said it has been a slow process bringing 30- to 50-year-old listeners to the AM side.

"People can put different spins on how I'm doing" in the ratings, Sly said. "But I think if you take everything into account we're on a new frequency, we really haven't advertised my show we're doing all right We're mak: ing progress." Tom Atesia can be reached at 252-61 22 or by E-mail at Lincoln(i itis.com. Radio ratings1 ID SOFT STUFF If you want to know more about the Microsoft antitrust tnal. go to www.msnbc.com SpecialsmsfAochtm, where you'll find the complete text of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's findings of fact Sly By Tom Alesia Wisconsin State Journal ilmed entirely in Milwaukee, "American Movie," the year's most acclaimed documentary, likely will receive an Oscar nomination. Its subject is Mark Borchardt, 33, an oddball, funny and troubled resident of Menomonee Falls, just beyond Milwaukee's northwest corner.

Borchardt's passion since his early teens has been horror filmmaking. His talent is suspect, but his determination is unparalleled. Milwaukee filmmaker Chris Smith, now 29, was editing a documentary at UW-Milwaukee when he met Borchardt in 1995. Borchardt's drive impressed Smith so much that he started filming Borchardt "American Movie," as a result "is not about filmmaking. That's the hardest perception we have to overcome," Smith said.

"It wouldn't have mattered if Mark was golfing or driving in demolition derbies. It's about Mark and his relationships with his family and friends and the journey he goes on, trying to make this film." Smith, "American Movie's" director, experienced his own odyssey over several years to finish the documentary. Working with cohort Sarah Price, Smith spent two years following Borchardt through crummy jobs, family woes and constant roadblocks while Borchardt made the short horror flick "Coven." "American Movie's" early footage helped attract financial backing from an unlikely source: rock musician Michael Stipe. The R.E.M. frontman co-founded a production company devoted to independent film.

Still, it took last winter's Sundance Undeterred by cost and personal woes, "American Movie's" focus, Mark Borchardt, made the short, direct-to-video horror film "Coven." Borchardt, rear, joins "Coven's" cast Film Festival to launch "American Movie" into the spotlight. Sundance screenings of "Mov ie" prompted a bidding war between distributors, and Sony won after offering nearly $1 million. "Sundance is like high school," Smith said with a laugh. "If there's word of mouth about something, everyone wants to see it" But documentaries face uphill battles to reach theaters, which makes the fact "American Movie" will run in art movie houses nationwide during the next few months more impressive. "American Movie" debuted on a single screen each in Milwaukee and New York last weekend.

The film reaches Madison today at the Orpheum Theatre's small auditorium. "It appeals to people in their 20s," said Smith, calling by phone from Houston before promotional appearances there. "College students can appreciate it because it's funny and there are these unforgettable characters. For people (ages) 25 to 30 it hits them in a different way, because they're trying to balance maintaining dreams and making a Milwaukee filmmakers Sarah Price and Chris Smith, both 29, stayed in Wisconsin for their critically acclaimed documentary "American Movie," opening at the Orpheum Theatre today. A native of the Lansing, area.

Smith attended UW-Madison for one year in 1990-1991, then transferred to the University of Iowa. "(Iowa) had more of a film production department at the time," Smith said. In the mid-'90s. Smith moved to Milwaukee when UW-Milwaukee allowed him to use its editing equipment for another documentary he made. Then Smith began "American Movie," which presents an unflinching look at Borchardt (the father of three) and his friend Mike Schank, who reels from past drug abuse, Smith believes audiences ill laugh with them, not at them.

"They're original characters," Smith said. "(Borchardt) does things in an unorthodox way. That's the beauty of him." Smith hopes to arrange a question-and-answer session in Madison for himself. Borchardt and Schank after a screening at the Orpheum on Thursday. Despite the film's countless accolades, Smith relishes having "American Movie" presented at the Orpheum.

"That's where I saw so many movies." he said. "It was part of my education." If you go What "American Movie." Where: Opens today at Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St rjJ'X 1 Screen times: Friday, Monday ''n I through Thursday at 4:30. 7 and 9:30 p.m.: Saturday and Sunday at 2, 4:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m. What critics say: a not-to-be-missed documentary. Funny and affectionate." New York Times "Immensely entertaining the official could-; be-big little movie." USA Today iLf 'Awesome! Funny and moving." Spin magazine 1 fit FOR PARENTS At 7 p.m.

Sunday, at www.parentsplace.com, a chat group on adoption. At 9 p.m. Monday, at www.iviliage.com,books chat, a discussion of children's books. HEALTH CHAT At 7 p.m. Thursday, at www.healthology.com.

there will be a Webcast with Eric Davis, major league baseball player, and Lance Armstrong, nght winner of the 1 999 Tour de France, both of whom have survived cancer. I.