Well…I hope you like reality shows
…because that’s probably all you’ll be seeing after Thanksgiving and well into next year at this rate.
It’s kinda funny, everyone who’s still trapped in teevee land is going into November sweeps, and here the Writer’s Guild of America is, going on strike for the first time since 1988. I remember that year, and I was “into” the behind-the-scenes machinations of TV enough at the time to be aware of the strike. That probably says more about the state of my life at that point than it does about the state of TV, but I remember the glut of oddball specials and dismal variety shows that the networks had to fall back on during that summer, and it was a mess. We didn’t have “reality TV” as such back then (and with a few shining exceptions, I think our cultural lives were richer for it; this was back before more people were interested in voting on the next American Idol than there were interested in voting for the next President of the United States).
The thing is, my wife and I were talking tonight, and we were really able to count on one hand the number of scripted shows we follow that will be affected by this strike. Now, let me say this – in principle, I’m behind the WGA on this one. The studios are putting the screws to union writers any way they can, whether it’s in the area of new media (i.e. webisodes), residuals for DVD and paid download (i.e. iTunes) usage of scripted shows, or just forgoing scripted shows altogether, even when the “non-scripted” stuff is just as scripted (just not by folks whose paychecks have to cover residuals and pension). But the number of shows we follow that would actually be affected by the strike is pretty small – Heroes, Lost, The 4400, Dead Zone…maybe Stargate Atlantis (though my enthusiasm for that show hasn’t just bottomed out, it’s hit rock bottom hard enough to leave a crater)…and then…after that…oh, wait. We’re already in the process of getting over network TV as we know it. … Read more
