Television: The Return

Now that the writer's strike is officially over, attention turns to the fate of our favorite shows. Immediately, people started asking, "Which shows are coming back? When? For how many episodes?"

I figured that, if anything, the strike would finish weeding out the shows that were too weak (either in viewership, story or both) to continue. In a way, letting certain shows vanish in the giant chasm of the three month-long strike is an incredibly convenient (and less harsh) way of dropping the axe. Instead of stopping abruptly, they sort of just...floated away into the backs of our consciousness and disappeared.

That's all well and good for crap like Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Big Shots (Vartan, how could you? Christopher Titus was your co-star, dude. If that's not a warning sign from God to sprint in the other direction, I don't know what is). But here's where it gets troubling: when the strike threatens to let the same thing happen to shows like Friday Night Lights and Scrubs.

One of the greatest comedies of the last 10 years: going straight-to-DVD?

Also less than awesome? Lost squeezing 16 episodes of material into 13; for a show that's already dense and confusing enough as it is, that's troubling. Depriving me of precious episodes of Bones that allow me to stare dreamily at David Boreanaz (in a suit, carrying a gun and smiling a lot) for 42 minutes. Postponing the return of Chuck, Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies and Heroes until Fall '08. Forcing pretty much every other show to operate on a very shortened season (less problematic for episodic series, but a minor kiss of death for serialized shows with season-long arcs).

Supervillians: on hold until September.

Of course, trying to find an upside to everything...buying TV on DVD from the '07-'08 season will be a heck of a lot cheaper (at least, it better be).

For the curious, here's a link to an Ausiello Report article chronicling the future fate of all Primetime telvision shows: http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Wga-Strike-Favorite/800032698

WGA Strike: The End is Near!

Yay! No more fighting!

Entertainment industry employees (like myself) are prepped and ready to breathe a huge sigh of "the strike is finally over" relief. And, you know, I bet the writers are pretty happy too.

WGA members, 3500 strong, met at the Shrine Auditorium on Saturday night to hear details of the proposed deal. Reportedly, though the deal doesn't completely satisfy all of the terms the writers were asking for, the concessions were enough of a step in the right direction to persuade the WGA to accept the terms.

Writers have 48 hours from the day of the meeting (until Tuesday) to vote on the deal. If, as expected, it is approved, the three month long strike will come to an end.

Assuming the best, the Oscars will go on as scheduled February 24 with actual writers penning jokes (though that doesn't necessarily guarantee they'll be funny - Bruce Vilanch, I'm looking at you). Most shows will resume production and try to turn out an additional 4-7 episodes before the end of the television season...though it will take at least four weeks for new episodes to make it to air.

This news makes my television-addicted soul sing with joy. My withdrawal symptoms aren't pretty, people.

See complete settlement details here: http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf

Report from the front lines...

This photo was taken from one of the top floors of the Fox Plaza not that long ago. All of the WGA strikers have converged on the Fox Lot (where I work) today from 10am-4pm.

Here's one more photo:

Essentially, no one can get on or off the lot and rolling street closures have been instituted for the streets around the two main lot entrances.

Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave are going to play later on today for the strikers. My co-workers and I will probably head to the top of one of the parking structures to check it out later. Regardless of how you feel about the strike, I think it's a fascinating thing to see firsthand. It's a part of history (Hollywood history, at least), as strange as that may sound.

More later...

A Time to Strike (to everything there is a season)

The last time the WGA went on strike, I was four. Since I didn’t watch anything beyond Pooh Corner and Sesame Street at that point, I really don’t remember the impact the strike had on Joe Viewer, let alone the studios and the writers themselves. I’ve heard about people losing homes and jobs and being forced to suffer through an endless sea of reruns (the horror!). I don’t think I really understand what it MEANT.

But I think I’m about to. As of 12:01 this morning, the WGA went on strike. Many productions (television and film) ground to a halt; lacking a showrunner and/or EP, it’s hard to, you know, run a show. Should this conflict drag on into weeks and months, this whole thing will start to get “really real.” No more new television. More reality (though, I hate to burst your bubbles people…reality shows have writers too). People may lose their jobs. People put out of work may lose a lot more than that.

I crossed a picket line this morning on my way to my desk at a major studio, something I’ll have to do every day until this conflict gets resolved. I feel a little guilty about it, I’m not gonna lie. I sympathize with the WGA members (since I fancy myself a bit of a writer, on occasion), but I also understand that this is the sort of conflict where both sides have incredibly valid points and there really isn’t a clear “right” way for things to shake out. I just hope a compromise can be reached sooner rather than later. Especially since things have already gotten ugly: a WGA member was run down by a car in front of a studio earlier today for “not getting out of the way.”

Buckle up, kiddies. Things in Hollywoodland are about to get even more interesting and intense than usual.