Friday, November 02, 2007

Who Needs a Scab?

No, not that kind. But I am willing to shank someone, should they ask nicely. Just thought I'd put that out there.

I speak of the forthcoming writers' strike in Hollywood. This has been brewing for months now as the Writers Guild of America (yay!!) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (boo!!) have not seen eye-to-eye in regards to DVD royalties and some amount of reimbursement for "new media" revenue.

Should this strike go into effect on Monday, shows like "The Daily Show" and "Late Night" will be the first affected, as they write their shows on a regular basis. Primetime shows usually have a few shows in reserve, so they'll be covered for a few weeks (depending on their number of finished episodes). It's really too bad that David Letterman and Conan O'Brien will be immediately hurt, while shows like "Journeyman" and "Desperate Housewives" are safe for the time being.

Of course, I side with the writers, and would never dream of crossing the picket line to help out the enemy (although if you make the right offer, Viacom, I could maybe write for Comedy Central...just sayin'). What the writing staff does is amazingly important and usually looked over, as the emphasis is what usually goes on in the front of the camera. The creative process is a tough one, and I think they should hold out as long as they need to...entertainment industry be damned!

Right now, the shows I could soon be missing are few: Heroes, Dexter, various late-night shows. But what I'm really afraid of isn't the fact that we'll be seeing more reruns, it's the probable increase of reality shows and game shows. You thought "Who Wants to Marry My Dad" was bad? Just you wait until the producers are given the reins to think up new reality pap. I'm shivering at the thought of eighteen "American Idol" ripoffs, three simultaneous "Celebrity Moles," countless dating reality shows, and maybe (fingers crossed) "Honeymoon in Cambodia." Actually, I may watch the last one and bet how long until they're murdered and their organs are sold for opium. Now that's good television!

Stay tuned, fooligans, and see what happens.

2 comments:

3kalb said...

How about a reality show based on The Running Man. Nothing like giant homos dressed in tights and lights singing opera while manhunting. Also, Have you heard that "Holiday In Cambodia" is on Guitar Hero 3. It's a bitch. Say, on another note, what is your Wii friend code? We could be Wii buddies.

Greg "Danger" Klein said...

Hey, that would be wiitastic! Yes, I have heard "Holiday in Cambodia," and I heart it, as I heart (almost) the entire GH3 catalog.

And yes, Running Man = good TV. "Here's you Subzero. Now plain zero."