Strike

The Writers Guild of America is on strike. What does this mean? That the TV world may end in January, or even sooner.

For some background, Entertainment Weekly has a Hollywood blog that chronicles both the run-up to the strike and current happenings. Eric Snider has a nice run-down as well. He starts thusly:

You may have heard snippets of news items about an impending Hollywood writers strike and didn’t let the magnitude of the situation sink in. Perhaps you were in denial. But I’m here to tell you that it is real, and that it will probably be disastrous.
How does seven nights a week of nothing but “American Idol” and “Dateline NBC” sound?!!

Yikes. I probably watch too much television. Of the TV that I watch, most of it is drama, with a few comedies. I generally am not as attracted to reality shows (with a few exceptions). For me this means I will watch less TV, but possibly be more productive. That's not all that bad an outcome.

I mention above that the TV landscape seemed to be okay until January. That outlook is threatened somewhat by news like this:

"We’re trying to shut down ‘The Office,’” Mr. Daniels said. “We have the star of our show and the entire writing staff behind us."

Showrunners and cast leaving production to show support for writers may mean that even less new TV is on the horizon. The outlook is bleak for my favorites, like The Office, 30 Rock, The Unit, Lost, 24, and Battlestar Galactica. It is a shame that it has come to this.

Strikes are something that I have some difficulty sympathizing with, particularly in the entertainment and sports industries. There is a huge disparity between bankable stars, directors, and writers and the rank-and-file. They all hang together at a time like this, but I wonder what kind of financial impact this is having on those earning lower wages, especially those that had found success on newer shows. It's hard to say at this point who will suffer more from the strike. I don't think it will be the studios.