http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=3819104

Looks like the Writers Guild of America has officially gone on strike.  The last such strike by the WGA was in 1988 and lasted for 22 weeks.

You know what this means people.  Get ready for reruns.  Also, prepare for a sudden explosion in the number of reality shows on the air (I hope we don't return the reality tv boom of 2001-2003). 

Not sure how we are supposed to react on this one...

While I totally agree that writers are getting the shaft when it comes to DVD and Internet content that they are not getting paid appropriately for, I gotta admit they are pushing the fence with a strike.

With so much media offered to the public, both via TV, Internet, podcast, etc, a strike (at least as it applies to TV content) it dosen't have the same impact as it may have had in the past.
We may go into reruns of current daytime soaps or day and night talk shows, but there is SO much more content out there for the average media saturated person, what are we really going to miss out on by writers striking?

TV is just not the dominating media that it was when the last strike took place (nearly 20 years ago), and their impact of striking to effect it, is not the same. The average public viewer has much more choices than regular TV to choose from today.

I understand that what they do or don't do effects both actors, directors and down the line, but there is SO much content via the Internet and otherwise just WAITING to fill the void, they may be showing how easily the entertainment they provide can be replaced by all the electronic media we have readily available to the the regular public...this strike may backfire on them.

TV is just not the dominating media that it was when the last strike took place (nearly 20 years ago), and their impact of striking to effect it, is not the same. The average public viewer has much more choices than regular TV to choose from today.

I understand that what they do or don't do effects both actors, directors and down the line, but there is SO much content via the Internet and otherwise just WAITING to fill the void, they may be showing how easily the entertainment they provide can be replaced by all the electronic media we have readily available to the the regular public...this strike may backfire on them.


I have to agree with you.  I know I will be just turning to my Netflix queue (which I recently bumped up to 8 at a time) and just filling the void with great stuff I've wanted to check out and haven't had time for. I already use the Internet more than I watch TV, so there's maybe a handful of shows I even watch anymore.

Reality shows have writers too, so I doubt this will enable them to create more, unless they are using scabs.

I'm an old leftie.  Guild all the way.  Union, union, union!  I'll put up with reruns for a good cause!

This means that current TV shows will have shorter seasons than normal.  The viewers are gonna be soooo pissed off. 


Also, prepare for a sudden explosion in the number of reality shows on the air (I hope we don't return the reality tv boom of 2001-2003). 


This is what scares me.  If the strike goes on long enough, the networks might just dump all written shows completely, and fill their entire prime time line-up with nothing but reality TV

The only good reality shows are the ones built around music and dancing.  The rest are all repetitive garbage, and to see that on every network during prime time would be a disaster .. ratings would sink faster than the titanic .. people would boycott all prime time television

Video Rental stores though would be celebrating big time as they would see a BOOM in rentals and sales

I'm watching the picket line right now.  Those guys manage to make themselves look like they work in a saw mill or a brewery or something!  That's gotta be a put-on!
;D

Meh, I just don't care. Wouldn't surprise me if these big shot hollywood writers get paid more than those who really deserve it (doctors, teachers etc). I've all but given up on TV anyway. The internet has almost completely taken over what used to be my TV viewing times.

I'm an old leftie.  Guild all the way.  Union, union, union!  I'll put up with reruns for a good cause!


My friend is a writer so I have to support the writers. I'm and aspiring writer but most of my scripts are in my head... this strike gives me one more excuse to procrastinate putting them on paper.

I'm hoping the networks have canned enough shows to fill the void. I have to believe the pending strike was the reason to put returning favorites on the mid season schedule instead of starting in the fall as usual. If you think about it we're in the 8th or week of this season. If the shows that haven't started yet have already filmed the bulk of their episodes then maybe we'll get an early start on these shows and have a few extra weeks/months before we feel the effects.

I hope the networks dip into their vaults and air some shows they never gave a chance or pulled too soon.  What I am mostly curious about are the live shows... like SNL (which sucks anyway) and the reality. Are they going to have the hosts wing it on Dancing w/ the Stars. What will SNL do this week? They have already re-run their entire season. - they came back this season with three new shows. Had reruns for two weeks and then a new show this past Sat.  This saturday's is supposed to be a new episode... I wonder how they'll do that. 

and what about the writers who are performers. Do they strike but still go on and perform improve... isn't that writing... actually... if they improved skits this could the best thing to happen to SNL since Tina Fey left the show.  (I mean Tina Fey was the last good thing about SNL not that it was good for SNL that she left... )

Late night talk shows in repeats ... okay now this sucks harder than it did about an hour ago...

Primetime will be good for about two months but not so much for the other programming.

I totally forgot about the late night talk shows.  Damn this writers strike.  Looks like I'll be watcning more of my TVs on DVDs.  I still have 50 some that I haven't watched yet (I bought too many too fast LOL)

I totally forgot about the late night talk shows.  Damn this writers strike.  Looks like I'll be watcning more of my TVs on DVDs.  I still have 50 some that I haven't watched yet (I bought too many too fast LOL)


you and me both... actually- belive it or not I've never seen 24, House, Earl, the office and the Shield so I'll be busy for awhile....  Thank god for Netflix!

You know I would love to see someone ballsy enough to, instead of airing reruns- show a black screen with a white titles saying this show has been pre-empted by the writers' strike... now that would be cool!

This means that current TV shows will have shorter seasons than normal.  The viewers are gonna be soooo pissed off. 

This is what scares me.  If the strike goes on long enough, the networks might just dump all written shows completely, and fill their entire prime time line-up with nothing but reality TV

The only good reality shows are the ones built around music and dancing.  The rest are all repetitive garbage, and to see that on every network during prime time would be a disaster .. ratings would sink faster than the titanic .. people would boycott all prime time television

Video Rental stores though would be celebrating big time as they would see a BOOM in rentals and sales


The networks & studios are not in a position for viewers to have a reason to turn away, and subsequently neither are the writers.

Look at it this way; the networks have been on a steep viewer decline first from cable in the 80’s, then video tape (80’s)/DVD (90’s), video games, now the internet, i-pod/podcast, streaming media choices of today.

What big TV and the studios don’t need is what small percentage of viewers they still have (or have managed to snag) in the 18-40 year old age group to fully embrace their PC’s and other media options (in a even bigger mass exodus than they previously have) due to a writers strike now.

For right now, and from what I’ve heard, any real pain from this situation won’t be felt by the networks or viewers until after the beginning of the year. Only day and nighttime talk shows and daytime soaps will feel the immediate effects. Most network sitcoms and the like are already “in the can” for the next few months, though re-writes will be an issue.

Reality TV is only a stop gap measure, only so much of that dreck is going to be able to fill the gap.

So…for the most part, with the holiday(s) specials coming up (and regular programming stopping for it anyway), there isn’t much new programming to be expected. The only ones that will be suffering in both the short and long term will be the writers. The producers and studios have deep pockets and many other wells of writing talent to dip into outside of the union.

Question is, can the writers afford to strike that long without pay? And will the viewers that go away want to, or care to come back once they end the strike?  What kind of bargaining power will writers have in a severely smaller and splintered TV and entertainment market than they left before (and due to) the strike?

Late night talk shows in repeats ... okay now this sucks harder than it did about an hour ago...

Primetime will be good for about two months but not so much for the other programming.


Comedy about current events now off the networks... okay now, this rocks harder than it did 24 hours ago.

Primetime will be just fine in about two months, because the next Stewart, Leno, Colbert, or Letterman is sitting in his mother's basement in front of a webcam uploading his schtick to YouTube.  It'll take the 'net about one month to find him, and another month for word to spread by means of the intertubes to the point that he's drawing as many viewers as the networks were.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=3819104

Looks like the Writers Guild of America has officially gone on strike.  The last such strike by the WGA was in 1988 and lasted for 22 weeks.

You know what this means people.  Get ready for reruns.  Also, prepare for a sudden explosion in the number of reality shows on the air (I hope we don't return the reality tv boom of 2001-2003). 


I told my brother that we should work with our scripts and get an agent.

I told my brother that we should work with our scripts and get an agent.


scabs'll have a difficult time keeping work or getting new work once the strike is resolved... aren't SAG and the DGA contracts up next year... imagine what'll happen if the directors and actors strike too...

Wouldn't it be funny if Arnold changed a few labor laws out in California, in order to make it possible for non-unionized writers to take their places?

Perhaps, states like California and New York will warm up to ideas like North Carolina's "right to work, right to hire" policy.

In other words, if you choose to go on strike, your employer should have the option of replacing you.

We may see more reruns and reality shows, because of this.