WGA strike update
Kathleen Bolton on Dec 17 2007 | Filed under: Business, REAL WORLD
Let’s check in with the state of the Writers Guild of America strike since the disheartening news last week that negotiations had broken down between the WGA and Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers over the ultimatum that WGA accept a flat residual of $250/year for Internet streaming.
The WGAs latest strategy is now a ‘divide and conquer’ approach. The first suffers of the strike, late night comedy shows, are working with WGA toward rapprochement. The first show to strike a deal is David Letterman, whose company Worldwide Pants, is not part of CBS. Therefore, they’ve made an interim agreement, according to Nikki Finke:
“This trumps NBC’s announcement coming Monday that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will be returning by January 7th. Presumably, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel won’t be far behind. “A major announcement will be made by more than one network on Monday,” an insider noted. But Jay and Conan, who are just hired hands and not show owners like Dave, won’t have their writers to rely on when they come back on the air. And Dave will. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, also owned by WP, would return with writers.”
The Golden Globes are taking a hit, too.
Stars Vexed by Picket Line Question
Stars interviewed about their Golden Globe nominations yesterday mainly stood behind their writers, saying that if the Globes ceremony is picketed, they won’t cross the line, Daily Variety reports. Glenn Close, David Cronenberg, and “Mad Men” executive producer Matt Weiner all said they would be hard pressed to cross the picket line, the newspaper says. Some stars, like John Travolta or screenwriter Christopher Hampton, are on the fence about attending, saying it’s too soon to make a commitment, the paper reports.
Meanwhile, scripted television shows are now at the end of their inventory, and networks have turned to ordering more “reality” t.v. to fill the gaps.
Strikers continue to picket, where in NYC, the freezing weather compliments the chill in the air between the two sides.
No end is in sight.
Kathleen Bolton
Therese Walsh
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Frank on 
what if the whole world realized that when there wasn’t anything to watch anymore, tv would cease to be the indispensible form of entertainment? imagine all those people filling up their time spending it with their families, reading books, talking more, exercising or just enjoying the sound of silence? imagine all the unintended consequences to this strike?????
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No kidding, Thea! Maybe around May, everyone would realize their lives were more productive without t.v., and they’d never go back. That really would be something.
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But why is life more productive without TV?
I’m sick of seeing TV denigrated. It’s a brilliant medium for getting information to the world at large, uniting people around the water cooler at work or just sparking discussion.
No other medium allows writers to develop intricate plots and characters, allows viewers to get drawn into a world for weeks on on end and for years on end.
Not even books.
I can multi-task watching the TV. I can’t do that with a book. In a time-starved world, that’s of increasing importance.
I dispute that TV must be “good for you” or “educational”. At best that’s patronising – if I can chose my government, I chose what I want to watch on TV – and at worst, it’s hypocritical. Is every book out there “Good For Me”?
Of course not.
And how dare someone else presume to tell me what I should and shouldn’t like? No one would think of doing it in any other form of entertainment, so why do it for TV?
I don’t always want to think, sometimes I want to watch crap. Sometimes I want to watch who’ll be the next Pussycat Doll, just like sometimes I want to watch something about the evolution of pyramids.
And if I want to sit and watch wall to wall reality, that’s my right. You don’t have to agree, you can even tell me you don’t agree, but you are not allowed to belittle my choices because you don’t agree.
That works both ways.
But the people who don’t spend time with their families or doing things as alternatives to TV, are not going to be amazingly cured of these faults by lack of TV. They’ll just find other ways to avoid what really matters.
TV is not the problem and I wish people woould stop blaming it for societies’ ills.
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tv, in and of itself, is not evil. my point is, if this stike goes on long enough, people will realize how easy it is to live without the overblown egos of dave, jay, craig, conan etc. they won’t be watching reruns over and over cause there’s nothing else to watch. they are going to move on – to books, radio, dvd’s, music, relating to people, etc. yeah, a major shift like that could destroy one of the largest industries in the world. tv, hollywood – they’ve been deciding what they think we want for a long time. they’ve created this dependency. they are all biting the hand that feeds them. nothing is all bad or all good, but something else is going to come along to replace tv if it no longer fills a need or desire. when its not there to plan your life around from 7pm to midnight, something else will fill that space.
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I bet TV on DVD sales increase. There are enough shows I haven’t watched that I can catch up on. I’m glad there’s nothing new.
Started watching The Shield, and I’m only about to start season two of 24. I’ve been getting some strong recommends for The Wire. And I could finally start up Lost.
I’ve only been following Heroes and Journeyman this year, so…
There’s more than enough old stuff to go around for most people, I’d bet. I hear shows like Weeds and Dexter are pretty good too.
There’s always something!
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I’ve got Battlestar Galactica up in my Netflix queue, along with the final season of Alias. I’m also contemplating Arrested Development. So I think you’re right, Eric. DVD sales will jump.
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