I wonder if the writers realize that when a company buys what the writer wrote, they bought the physical, the rights, AND the intellectual property.

The ultimate question isn't "how hard is it?"

The ultimate question is...

"Screwing writers seems to be quite lucrative. How can I get in on it?"

Being a writer sounds fun. But picking television scripts based on which writers are willing to swear fielty to me sounds way easy and is clearly more profitable.

Although there are 10^85 particles in the universe, comparing a politician or celebrity to a sub-atomic particle is not very funny unless you mention John Edward's manhood or Hillary's sense of decency. The fact that we have basically limitless (it's 10^85 raised to the 10^85 power) ways to combine all those particles together gives us basically limitless ways to make fun of people. This means we should have no lack of cannon fodder to make fun of the famous.

On the other hand, it's pretty tough to be funny all the time, though, unless you're FrankJ. Or Harvey. Or if you're really good at Photoshop.

Just a few words on the difficulty of creating a multiple use joke about a famous person:
"Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead."

And while the finite number of discrete objects in the universe is about 10E85, it is only a subset of the possible interactions of those objects that is funny. Sure, you can pair a mention of Paris Hilton with each and every object in the universe just once. But then you can mention her name in connection with each discrete object and ADD A BANANA... and the number of possible jokes goes up by 10E85 again. There are other funny objects out there besides bananas, so let's have Paris Hilton using multiple objects and watch the funny grow!

I'm sorry, but if that is the best that comedy writers could come up with, I see why I never liked the daily show. That was mindnumbingly blah.
Harvey does much better.
I agree with the writers, but that is just a general mistrust of big buisiness and their unwillingness to do trickle down economics.
As an aside, why does SEEBS news need writers, I thought they were supposed to be reporters not fiction writers.

YOINK! I stole this.

"Hydrated Sodium Beryllium Aluminum Silicate Hydroxide Fluoride"

Even that stuff can't scratch Fred Thompson's skin.

You Tube pulled the video so the link no longer works.

Since the writers can apparently produce very funny content without the moguls, I have to wonder just what service the moguls provide. Who needs the overpaid stars and deep mogul pockets in an age where everyone has their own publication/production house in their own computer?

Long as I'm askin... why is Sumner Redstone rich and Frank J eating Ramen noodles? It seems inherently unstable and should be the other way around ...

Correction: The You tube link is working again.

Harvey,

Isn't that the whole point? Most of these union writers suck...have you tried to watch TV lately? Remember when Saturday Night Live actually had skits that made you laugh?

No, instead it's tired old Britney Spears jokes, over and over each night. Maybe their jobs would be easier if they realized that there are other people out there to write jokes about. Perhaps, instead of spending their days trying to fit trite little slams of Republicans into sitcom scripts, or trying to fit the word Clinton into the most inappropriate scenes, they could actually work and come up with something entertaining.

I just hope all these good-ol-boy liberal whiners get fired and we get some new blood in the Hollywood writing community...maybe even a conservative or two.

These writers are striking because of their own stupidity and short-sightedness.

I mean, when was their contract signed? Are we to believe it was any time before 2001? And if it wasn't, what kind of idiot in 2001 did not forsee internet TV broadcast? Really...I watched the Y2K new-years celebration LIVE ON THE INTERNET.

If the moguls were our kind of people, they would be trying to get Harvey, FrankJ et al to sign a contract to replace their writers right now.

The reason the TV is drek isn't because the worlds supply of writers are drek. The reason is that the current moguls are jerks and actively select drek. They love drek, they believe in the power of drek. They are one with the drek.

The reason why Harvey et al are eating Ramen noodles is because they are too good for the kings of drek.

I'm a bit more sympathetic to the writers after watching that video. It was funny.

Son of Bob...well said.

That's exactly why - literally - the only TV I watch nowadays (and for the past several seasons) are unscripted "reality" shows, and sitcom reruns on TV Land, both of which I could easily do without and get rid of the TV altogether. And this is coming from a confirmed couch potato/TV junkie since childhood! Who needs political division and nastiness when one wants light-hearted and good-natured (read: apolitical) entertainment?

I wasn't aware SNL was still on the air, it's been that long since I've seen it.

No wonder TV sucks...

The writers aren't working because they were dumb enough to form a union. Unions tend to whine and then strike which make putting beef and beans on the table. Who the hell is John Stewart?

Hmm, we in the engineering community ignore that stupid Mohs scale. We measure hardness with the Brunell or Rockwell scales.
...I didn't even care about the rest of the post.