No TV Party tonight! Dark days are upon us my friends.
Hopefully by the time you read this, the writer’s strike will be over and the
world will have returned to normal. Even the The Governator is now actively
trying to push a resolution citing the potentially massive financial hit his
state will take if this continues. But if, in fact, that has not come to pass,
I can only imagine the world as it must be right now. (To quote Dr. Peter
Venkman in Ghostbusters, “Human
sacrifices! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!”) If you don’t know the
details already, I’ll brief you. Writers for the movies and television shows
you love get paid proportionately much less up front than some of the other big
players involved. The talent (actors and actresses) and the suits get a much
bigger piece of the pie and the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America—their union)
wants more $$ in the form of residuals for the folks without whom there would
be no shows scripts to shoot. Specifically they want a bigger cut of DVD sales
(Just 4 more cents!) and a cut of the revenue from what is being called “new
media”, or what gets played on the internet. Personally, I think they deserve
what they are asking for though the subject is being WHITE HOTLY debated in
chatrooms all over the web.
No matter where you stand on this
issue, you have to be feeling the fallout from this unfortunate turn of events.
At this writing, daily entertainment shows that run the same day they tape,
such as The Daily Show, Conan, etc have already gone dark.
Next are the weekly sit-coms and dramas. Shows like the Office and Reaper,
that were only a few episodes ahead, will have already been sent into reruns by
the time this issue goes to press, and many other shows like 30
Rock and Heroes ( FYI Heroes: Origins has been shelved indefinitely. ) have just enough new episodes in
the can to last through some of December. Additionally, shows normally starting
midseason, like Lost, could see their start dates pushed way back. And 24?
Looks like Fox is pulling it from the schedule completely for now. And this is just
the tip of the iceberg.
Consequently, almost all that will
be left on television, until 2009 if this thing doesn’t end soon, will be
nothing but reruns, a glut of new game shows currently being rushed to air, and
*GASP* “reality” TV, possibly until 2009!!
(Except Dexter!! Season 2 has wrapped, so buy Showtime now if you don’t
have it already!) Fans of Scrubs should note that this may mean they will never see the much
anticipated SERIES finale. (After seven years we all know how this HAS to end,
but it would be nice to actually see it.) And as ER devotees know, this
has been rumored to be the last season for the decrepit drama. But faced with
the choice of leaving fans (if there are any left) with no satisfying series
finale, word is that Executive producer would rather opt for a 15th
season, so things could be wrapped up all nice and tidy. So at the very least
we are looking at painfully shortened runs this time around for our fave shows,
with no season finales, and the worst, well…cancellation looms…
Perhaps we will all be better off
if a mass extinction hits the industry. Maybe it’s time to shake things up for
real and let some of the ridiculous fluff (People, According to Jim is in its SEVENTH season!!) blow away.
Perhaps whittle down the sheer volumes of CSIs and Law and Orders out there? We may be on the cusp of a
paradigm shift in the television and movie industry and a little Darwinian
natural selection can only serve to make the shows that do survive that much
better, right? So in the grand scheme of things, this may be just what was
needed, but in the short term, I am of course, utterly shattered.
But, let’s hear it for CourtTV who
announced some time ago that as of the first of the year they were changing
their name and their format. Soon to be TruTV’s new taglines are, “No actors,
no scripts.” and “Not reality, actuality.” Did they call this or what? I
predicted TruTV was going to tank big-time, but this recent turn of events may
leave them as one of the few channels with a boatload of fresh new stuff to
watch. Imagine a piss poor business decision inadvertently leading to a pot of
gold. It would be remarkable, but wouldn’t be the first time. New Coke anyone?
Comments (
