LIGHTS! CAMERA! JACKSON! CELEB TRIAL MANIA CAPTURED ON E!Byline: David Kronke Television Writer Attorney Robert Sanger, one of the many lawyers representing Michael Jackson Noun 1. Michael Jackson - United States singer who began singing with his four brothers and later became a highly successful star during the 1980s (born in 1958) Michael Joe Jackson, Jackson in his child-molestation trial, expressed umbrage with perceived prosecutorial pros·e·cu·to·ri·al adj. Of, relating to, or concerned with prosecution: "a huge investigative and prosecutorial effort" Lucian K. Truscott IV. misbehavior. ``The only remedy at this point is a mistrial A courtroom trial that has been terminated prior to its normal conclusion. A mistrial has no legal effect and is considered an invalid or nugatory trial. It differs from a "new trial," which recognizes that a trial was completed but was set aside so that the issues could be ,'' he declared. Judge Rodney S. Melville paused thoughtfully, then responded, ``Can I get Michael Jackson's autograph?'' ``Go to my eBay auction,'' Sanger replied. OK, so this isn't how it went at the proceedings in Santa Maria Santa Maria, city, Brazil Santa Maria (sän`tə mərē`ə), city (1991 pop. 217,592), Rio Grande do Sul state, S Brazil. It is a major railroad terminus and the site of an important military base. . This is how actors - Dan Sanders as Sanger and Jack Donner as Melville - ad-libbed during rehearsal for the re-creation of a courtroom scene for ``E! News Presentation: The Michael Jackson Trial.'' It's a co-production with England's BSkyB that shoots nightly on a soundstage at E!'s Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927), an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. headquarters. The ad-libs, obviously, would not be broadcast. Monday was another day when Jackson's fragile physical and emotional state took center stage, with the pop icon For the British television series, see . For religious icons, see . A pop icon is a celebrity whose fame in pop culture constitutes a defining characteristic of a given society or era. sobbing in court and complaining of back pain, delaying testimony and, therefore, delaying E!'s producers from receiving court transcripts serving as their scripts. ``It's an awful truth that at this point, regardless of the verdict, no one's going to come out unscathed,'' says Jeff Shore, E!'s senior vice president of production. ``But there's entertainment value to the information we're imparting. Nothing is as fascinating as the criminal trials where celebrities are involved. Despite the horrific outcome, people are fascinated and want to watch it.'' E!'s show differs significantly from the British version. E! includes commentary from analysts such as celebrity defense attorney Howard Weitzman (Shore concedes that panel observations lean toward hope of Jackson's exoneration The removal of a burden, charge, responsibility, duty, or blame imposed by law. The right of a party who is secondarily liable for a debt, such as a surety, to be reimbursed by the party with primary liability for payment of an obligation that should have been paid by the first party. ). The British version, due to stringent libel laws, focuses solely on re-creations of testimony. In one form or another, the show is seen in more than 100 countries. While E! won't discuss hard ratings numbers, the show has lured a lot of young female viewers, a demographic the network usually doesn't draw. ``Who's better known in the world than Michael Jackson, and he's fighting for his life - this couldn't be more dramatic,'' notes Bob Wood, who plays Assistant District Attorney Ron Zonen. ``People say, 'Oh, my God, this is horrible TV,' which may or may not be true, but since there are no cameras in the courtroom, this is the only game in town.'' Jackson, though he doesn't have much dialogue, is played by Edward Moss
Moss' attention to detail has served him well in creating his costumes. While sewing together Monday's costume, a colorful striped vest, he says, ``The first couple of weeks were easy - he dressed mainly in black and white. But lately, he's been throwing me for a loop - one outfit was green, burgundy and yellow.'' Moss displays a bit of his handiwork, a crest on a jacket he fashioned out of doilies, then produces a photo of one florid florid /flor·id/ (flor´id) 1. in full bloom; occurring in fully developed form. 2. having a bright red color. flor·id adj. Of a bright red or ruddy color. vest that nearly defeated him. ``I could not find that material,'' he sighs; ``I ended up using a woman's flower blouse.'' When Jackson turned up in court March 10 in pajama bottoms, Moss says his first reaction was, ```I gotta go find some pajamas pajamas Noun, pl US pyjamas pajamas npl (US) → pijama msg; piyama msg (LAM .' At the end of the day, this is a job for me, so my reaction was, 'I'm six-(foot)-three - where am I going to find powder-blue pajamas?' That was about it.'' Moss does a lot of research, editing on his laptop computer a series of scenes from Jackson's past, dovetailing into a montage of TV coverage of E!'s efforts. While awaiting the day's transcripts, Moss offers his presentation to the rest of the cast. Much of that coverage has, admittedly, been fairly negative - there are laughs when the group's efforts are derided as ``train-wreck TV,'' and protestations all around when one commentator dismisses Moss' look as that of a ``drag queen drag queen Female impersonator, gynemimetic Sexology A ♂ with ♀ affect–often 'overplayed'; a ♂ homosexual and ♀ wannabe, with ♂ genitalia; DQs may take hormones to ↑ breasts, and thus are hormonally, but not surgically .'' It's not easy making ``train-wreck TV.'' Actors are given scripts literally minutes before shooting, and read their lines off TelePrompTers. Given the lawyerly verbosity Verbosity Clarissa Harlowe longest novel in the English language, total-ling one million words. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 203] Mahabharata epic poem of Ancient India runs to some 200,000 verses. [Hindu Lit. of those in Santa Maria - the destinations of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon's sentences are scarcely apparent when they begin - it's nearly impossible to tell, from the TelePrompTers, where inflection or nuance should be placed. ``It's almost like sight-reading,'' says Wood. ``You don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where it's going. You know they're trying to elicit something, but if you guess where, you might be completely wrong. You have to make a choice and let it go where it goes. It's a different kind of acting.'' Donner, who keeps morale high with his sardonic improvisations as he plays Judge Melville, says ``actors are trained to relate to other people - we have to relate to the TelePrompTer as if it's a real person.'' ``All the information I got was that he was cantankerous can·tan·ker·ous adj. 1. Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable: disliked her cantankerous landlord. 2. and would hold tight reins on the proceedings, so that was my version of playing him. I then discovered that he was really quite light, but that's not coming out in the transcripts. But it's awfully fun to play a no-nonsense tough guy.'' Donner, who still signs autographs at science-fiction conventions nearly 40 years after appearing on an episode of the original ``Star Trek'' series, takes a philosophical view of the trial. ``Everybody has an agenda in court business which betrays justice,'' he says. ``Both the prosecution and the defense want to win at any and all costs. Who's getting to the real story? Who's getting to justice? Who knows?'' On the E! soundstage, there is a tote board inviting participants to bet on when the trial will conclude. It includes side bets - when will Jackson flee the country? When will he be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial? The courtroom set looks as cheesy cheesy (che´ze) caseous. in person as on TV. It's mostly made of particle board particle board: see composition board. and in some places held together by tape. Don't lean on the short wall separating trial participants from the gallery, for it will topple. Prosecution and defense laptops' screens carry press releases for E! programming. A yellow legal pad offers instructions for correct pronunciations, noting that Dieter, a potential witness, should be pronounced ``Dee-ter,'' not ```Diet'-er.'' On this day, both ``Entertainment Tonight'' and ``Access Hollywood'' are documenting the action, an incestuous in·ces·tu·ous adj. 1. Of, involving, or suggestive of incest. 2. Having committed incest. spectacle of infotainers covering infotainers that threatens to create a fun-house wall of mirrors. It's a full 3 1/2 hours from when production was supposed to begin, and in order to make the British show's deadlines, shooting must end in three hours. The cast is getting restless. Then, from a wall speaker, Jackson's ditty dit·ty n. pl. dit·ties A simple song. [Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dict ``Don't Stop Till You Get Enough'' blares. Actors start boogieing in their seats. Once Moss reaches an open space on the set, he lurches into full-blown Michael mode - spinning, kicking, moon-walking. Jackson's life may hang in the balance in Santa Maria, but there's no reason the Wilshire Boulevard doppelgangers can't have some fun. Despite being best known as a Jackson impersonator, Moss says he doesn't worry about his career if the jury finds the singer guilty. ``Once the show is over, it will be better than ever,'' Moss says. ``This has proved I'm an actor, not just an impersonator. People will notice I have talent other than dancing or putting on makeup.'' David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david. kronke(at)dailynews.com ``E! NEWS PRESENTATION: THE MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL'' What: A re-enactment of the trial. Where: E! When: 7:30 and 9 p.m. Monday-Friday; week-recap show Saturday at 10 a.m. CAPTION(S): 7 photos, box Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Pop star Michael Jackson, left, is played on the E! network's trial re-enactments by impersonator Edward Moss, right. Moss transforms himself into Jackson by doing his own makeup, top, and creating his own costumes. Ric Francis/Associated Press Monica Almeida/The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times (3 -- 7 -- color) no caption (Edward Moss) Box: ``E! NEWS PRESENTATION: THE MICHAEL JACKSON TRIAL'' (see text) |
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