I was just wondering what everyone thinks about the writer’s strike. I’m usually anti-union, but for some reason I just assume the writers are getting screwed by the studios. There’s a lot of good TV shows out there right now (it seems to have better stuff than movies these days), and I think the writers deserve good money. Stupid actors usually get all the credit.
IGN has a good break down of the important thing: How this strike will affect us. Basically, topical written shows like the Tonight Show and the Daily Show are already shut down. Next will be soap operas, then sitcoms which usually have lots of rewrites while filming. After that will be the dramas and finally movies. Last to be affected will be blogs that write about TV. There are some exceptions for particular shows (24 may not air at all in January, animated shows have a long time between script and production so they’ll take longer to be affected, and South Park, the only topical animated show, is — surprise surprise — non-union).
Apparently there was a similar strike back in 1988, but I don’t remember that (I was nine). Anyone know what happened there?
Hopefully political speech writers aren’t union, because we got a preview of what would happen if they go on strike with Hillary in the last debate.
So what do you think?
Spoiled little children, well I won’t be effected, I don’t have TV anymore!
No your right, writers deserve much more than the 2nd rate actors of today.
I’m like you, Frank. I detest unions, but writers, among the other small people that make entertainment work, get a rediculously tiny fraction of what they produce. If I were in their shoes, I would also find it particularly galling when they hold me up as an example of who gets hurt by piracy, but don’t give a crap if they’re sticking me.
But as far it’s impact? I watch so little TV I’ll never notice. In fact, I think it would be good for America to be forced off the TV teat for a few months.
They should instead read a book. Or IMAO.
As long as the writer’s strike gets violent, I’m fine with it.
I don’t want a bunch of mincing auteurs whining into mikes at the Poetry Slam. I want Management to bring in Underwood-wielding scabs to force their way through the picket lines. I want to see sitcom pilots outsourced to Monterrey and Bangalore.
Firehoses! Rubber bullets! Caravans of destitute scribes dragging their families across the nation looking for jobs at local community theaters and public access TV shows. To the barricades, men!
And since the cameramen aren’t striking we can watch it all TV. Not like there’s going to be anything else on.
Writing is a whole lot more trouble than it seems, so these guys really deserve a good cut. Plus, they come up with a new script for each week (more or less), and that is just crazy mad work.
Although I am sad that Heroes and Supernatural will be affected. Stupid unions.
I think I will continue to watch Arrested Development in reruns on the internet.
I missed it when it was in production.
But if there was ever a show that needed uncanceling it’s that one.
The manatees pushing the word balls for “The Family Guy” – are they still at work or are they also on strike? Because they come up with some pretty good stuff, if you ask me, and I don’t want to have to watch reruns of Stewie and the rest unless absolutely necessary.
Since football should not be impacted, I’m good.
I wonder if the writers will try and prove that the pen is mightier than the sword when the studios goons attack the picket lines.
I really don’t care. I never watch TV anyways, I spend all my time working, shooting, drinking and reloading ammo.
I think that I’ve made a very good decision in deciding not to have a television.
Hollywood is just recycling salacious drek so anything that cripples Hollywood is great for us. I love it when libbies eat their own.
Plus it will drive more people to IMAO looking for teh funny. Yay strike! Long live the new media!
Perhaps you should start some ugly rumors about the writers and the studio head cheezes to make the strike last as long as possible. It could be fun and profitable!
I’m looking forward to it. The television writers being on strike is like Congress being on break…it’s a good thing.
Every day they’re on strike is another day they’re not producing propaganda shows with story lines promoting their ridiculous liberal agenda. Hopefully they’ll stay on strike long enough that the shows will have to hire some new writers…and maybe the replacements won’t all be flaming libs.
I don’t watch television, so it won’t affect me. I wonder if the “reality” shows can continue, since they’re not scripted?
1988… let’s see… it was an election year… GHW Bush v. Dukakis…hilarious. Winter olympics that year… Calgary… Eddie the Eagle… hilarious. Nope, no writers’ strike in the memory banks. Of course, I watched even less TV then than I do now, so I might not be the best judge.
Unions s*ck, period. These guys, were they not unionized, could strike whatever deal they wanted to get the going rates / deals for that which they produce. What’s that Mr. writer, you don’t like the going rate, or the deal you can get? Tough s–t, take a hike, and there’s 10,000 other writers who would die to take the same deal you refuse to get their dreck televised in your place. No, I don’t watch a lot of TV. Why do you ask?
A writer’s strike is like muslims going on a terrorism strike: can we have more of it please?
No, seriously, there’s people that write the cliche’-ridden garbage going on TV? Two kids with access to some of the giant lists of cliches on the ‘net could easily do 95% of the jobs of writers out there.
The only thing that impresses me about writers is their superhuman ability to slide in leftist viewpoints in the most impossible places.
Whenever I thought points straight out of Marx’s Capital couldn’t be fitted somewhere, bang, there comes some anti-capitalistic derangement, a pedophile priest, murderous gun owners, or lengthy tirades about how abortion clinic bombings compensates for widespread abortion.
(Say, how many of THOSE have there been in the history of mankind? Did they even get to the point where more than two hands are needed to count them off?)
When pathetic cliches without even a slight anchoring in reality stop overrunning the words in quantity, I’ll give a crap about writers.
Until then, they can starve.
actually i hear the the teamsters may support the writers which will drag the whole mess to a screaching halt even reality shows no teamsters no transport for all the equpiment
The writer’s strike in 1998 was largely responsible for the reality TV phenomenon. Survivor, Big Brother, Cops, were all pushed by studios that wished to be less vulnerable to strikes.
The writer’s strike in 1998 was largely responsible for the reality TV phenomenon. Survivor, Big Brother, Cops, were all pushed by studios that wished to be less vulnerable to strikes.
I am vehemently anti-union, but I’m with the writers on this one. They are the ones that have made it possible for even poorly acted shows to stay on because the stories were compelling. I think they are getting shafted and deserve a large pie slice.
It hurts to be this torn, because I really F*****G HATE unions.
The last writer’s strike was in 1988. When it lasted a long time, studios came out with unscripted shows like COPS, America’s Funniest Home Videos, etc. Those shows proved so popular, many of the old writer-dependent shows were canceled by the time the writers came back to work.
Yay unions!
I remember back during a previous strike (probably the 1988 one), the networks re-created old shows like “Mission Impossible,” updating the old scripts for the 80’s. I don’t recall any of these replacement shows surviving very long.
Personally, I don’t see how this strike is a bad thing. It’s only TV.
With all the new video games coming out, you people still have time for TV?
Also, anime. Just sayin’.
Why are all the new car plants built in America built in states that allow people the right to work? Can you name one industry with major unions that isn’t completely screwed up and/or outsourced to non-union states and countries? Airlines, Autos, Steel, Railroads, Coal Mining, and especially Government. If it wasn’t for the continuing increase in blood-sucking government employees, unions would disappear in 10 years.
With the intertube-thingy and all the other ways for entertainment and information to be distrubuted, the whole writer’s guild thing is looking more and more anachronistic.
I say screw ’em all for what it’s worth. It’s yet another stupid ass union ploy to squeeze other ugly sacks of mostly water for what they can get. It’s like other social agenda groups like the teacher’s union, and so on; did they not know what the pay scale was going to be before they decided to do that for a living?
The answer is “YES”, but that’s only the half of it. They know that unions wield the hallmark ability to strong-arm rob their patrons a the drop of a dime by using a whole slew of tactics, not just strikes.
And they also forget to mention that they aren’t under a fixed wage for life or some BS like that- they get cost of living raises periodically that tend to be based on what the actual cost of living is in their region, unlike the raise you or I might get based on actual performance at our jobs.
They make it sound as though they are getting paid wages less than that of a Mexican leaf blower, but the reality is that they make more money than, let’s say, union stagehands, who make a fairly good wage & receive unemployment benefits through the union if there’s no work for a while, in addition to state or federal unemployment if the dry spell lasts long enough.
To boot, here’s the figures:
//$70,000 per season to start
A newcomer to TV’s writing ranks earns about $70,000 per season for full-time work on a show. Veteran writers who move up to a story-editor position would get at least a low six-figure salary, with a “written by” credit on an hour-long script paying an additional $30,000 plus residuals.
Writers are free to negotiate for higher pay, and people who produce or co-produce– called “hyphenates” in industry parlance– earn more.// (link)
$70,000 to start?!? Holy S**t! Sign me up for that, Jay! I’d do for half that if I could… I certainly didn’t make that much as a stagehand, and we did all the damn work!
So, given all the the cheap shots at Christians, conservatives, and Republicans plus the pro-death, gay, and Democrat rhetoric all these “talented writers” lob at us through their scripts, I again say SCREW ‘EM. I’ve read posts & comments left here on a whim that would put their carefully crafted writing to shame any day.
Can we have actor’s, director’s, and producer’s strikes now? Please?
Two words: Ninja Warrior
Probably my favorite show on television at the moment. And it’s made in Japan, so I doubt the writer’s strike will have any effect on the show.
As for the writers, I don’t see this ending well. In the end they’ll probably get more compensation, but I don’t think the talent or executives will be pinched by it. I predict DVD and online download prices will go up as a result.
It is amazing to me that the late night talking heads like Leno, Letterman, et. al. who get paid very big bucks have to go into re-runs. You’d think with all that talent money the networks threw out to get these guys, they would be able to wing it.
Does this mean there won’t be any presidential primary debates because the candidates’ scripted answer writers are on strike? If so then I am all for it.
I’m with Son of Bob and AlanABQ – TV writers love to flaunt their distain for middle-American values every day. And now they expect us to feel sorry for them because they think they aren’t getting paid enough to bad-mouth the majority of their audience? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all season.
About six years ago, my hubby and I were given this rocking gift that’s around a million times more interesting than anything we see on television. In sixteen years when he joins the Marines after college we’ll probably start watching tv again. Hopefully this will be over by then.
Ironically, this will have no visible affect on that sterling example of great writing, “Two and a Half Men.” Stands tall with the iconically bad “The World According to John Belushi’s Talentless Brother” in that rarified world of “who the hell watches this CRAP!?”
You were only 9 in ’88? I suddenly feel so old. Granted, I was only 12 and I don’t remember it either, but still.
When writers are writing, actors are working.
When actors are working, they have less free time to express stupid political opinions.
As long as I can watch the NFL, I’m fine.
Actually, come to think of it, I listen to the NFL games on the Internet tubes while I’m doing something else.
So I guess I’m fine with it. Unless it somehow messes up my DVD player and I can’t watch my DVDs. It won’t do that, right?
First they came for the topical written shows like the Tonight Show and the Daily Show, but I did nothing because I didn’t watch them.
Then they came for the soap operas….
Is that anything like when Harvey posts something and people say “Great job, FrankJ!”?
Yeah, they’re really barely scraping by on that 70K+ a year… the poor things.
I hope they can get some temporary food assistance. I wonder if they can use food stamps/EBT to buy peach facial polish, Perrier, and Gorgonzola cheese to go with their prime rib & Martini olives…
Hmmm… just in case anyone is still reading comments a this point …
I do remember the last strike (in 1988). I was so busy working two jobs that I didn’t really notice any shows being affected.
However, I do distinctly remember that the Late Nite talk shows went to re-runs right away. After about a week, Johnny Carson (fed up with waiting around) tried to write the jokes/monologue for his show solo. It worked.
Johnny got back into the swing of writing his own jokes so fast that he ordered any and all other talk shows hosts under his direct influence to start writing their own jokes/monologues/shows.
First, the 1988 strike did not kick start the reality tv craze such as Survivor, Big Brother, etc… If you are too young to remember, a simple search will show those shows didn’t start for another decade. However, most of the reality shows did start over threat of a strike around 2000.
Personally, my favorite TV is sports and the Discovery channel. No issues there. Yeah, I like House, but I’ll live. I’m with those guys who are amazed at the ability of lefties to drop in Marxists ravings into shows. Unfortunately, the other kind of reality shows are the network news magazine shows like “Dateline” or “60 Minutes”. Expect a bunch of special documentaries from these venues.
Finally, while I agree the writers should get money from various distributions methods used by the corporations; I think they could do that better outside an union. So if you want to be unionized and go on strike, have at it. The irony is that you are taking away your best microphone and soap box. Good luck with that.
Need IMAO pool on how many weeks. With an election looming, I’m thinking strike will be over well before summer starts. I’m thinking 15 weeks.
So What! Isn’t that why we have all them other channels? Network TV is getting to be a pain. I haven’t watched the major networks in years.
I think the writers’ summed up their worth with their strike chant:
“We write the storia, not [Eva Longoria.]”
TV stinks. The stupid writers should pay my cable bill if they want me to watch.
Just a couple of comments…..
First off:
“$70,000 to start?!? Holy St! Sign me up for that, Jay! I’d do for half that if I could… I certainly didn’t make that much as a stagehand, and we did all the damn work!”
You’d do it for half…..’if you could’. Well, that’s sort of the issue. Most people can’t. Sure, everyone has a good one-liner sometimes or perhaps a good idea for a sitcom episode. But try writing the dialogue for it or coming up with a plot every week. That’s a totally different story. And that’s why it costs money.
As far as unions “sucking”. I have to disagree. Full disclosure – I am in a union. I was raised however, by “management”. My father was a manager and supervised many union guys at a manufacturing plant. There was a bitter strike one year and he had -among many bad things- his tires flattened many times as he crossed the picket line. I announced one day at dinner that “Unions suck, Dad”. To my surprise, he disagreed. He taught me this lesson: the real problem is imbalance of power – be it companies or unions. When either side is too powerful then you have problems. That’s why unions were created of course- abusive companies; and partly why steel collapsed – too powerful Steelworkers. He pointed out that the union was simply fighting for their guys and had a right to do so. And then he said this, “Believe me, management will fk those guys if wasn’t for their union. I know, I work in management.” Incidentally, I absolutely believe that Hollywood would completely abuse its workers without all the entertainment unions. Hell, we work 12-14 hours a day now with one 1/2 hour break. Trust me, lots of producers don’t care about the hours, safety, crew welfare, etc.
The writers are fighting for something they believe in. I don’t know that I agree or not with their position but I understand what they are doing. They might shoot themselves in the foot. On the other had, they obviously are needed. Late night is already shut down. The media conglomerates DO make a ton of money and the writers want a cut. Maybe some disagree with that or can’t understand it, but it’s the way business has been and is done for many years in Hollywood.
OK, so which union/local & where, Dom? I was in a showbiz union cult for a while too, so let’s hear your take a little more. Believe me, we most certainly got a helluva lot more than a little half hour break on ANY work day. In fact, we’d get a 15 min. break during a 3 hour call… which we’d get paid for as a 4 hour minimum, even if we finished the call in 1 hour. Bear in mind that we were stagehands, the dregs of the industry, in New Mexico- one of the weakest states when it comes to organized labor.
Say what you will about the plight of the po’ union man in show business, but I’ll tell you that he certainly has it better than the working class shlub who’s actually working an honest 40+ a week for a helluva a lot less than someone who writes mediocre plot lines & disingenuous political jokes between catering breaks & coffee outings.
Nothing against you personally, Domino. And perhaps it’s true that I personally could not in fact write as well as the current writers on strike. Maybe. Yet I think I might be able to, except that I don’t think I have a brain soft enough to keep re-hashing the same old crap for sitcoms that have been so prevalent for decades. Seriously, how many ways can a bunch of supposedly creative writers keep reinventing The Honeymooners and All in the Family? That whole schtick was old when The Flintstones was considered good animation. Maybe they could do a show about a bunch of friends making their way through life in New York City… I mean, who’s done that yet? I mean aside from Seinfeld, Friends, Sex & the City, and so on.
Indeed, Sex and the City is the only one that is set apart, but only because well, let’s face it- it ain’t really about 4 women getting together from time to time so they can trade sex stories. It’s a show about how gay men would talk & act if they were really in a womens bodies. The show isn’t even written by a woman to begin with, much less a straight one.
Now here’s an idea: what if, instead of the unions deciding how much someone is going to pay them just because they show up for work, we get all the advertisers to form their own coalition to decide how much they are going to pay during the prime time shows? For example, if they have time slots during certain shows/times, they should get to decide where and to whom their advertising dollar is going to go, based on a few things:
* Are the shows doing well when their advertisements air?
* Do the shows target a wide aspect of the population, or are they pandering to a particular demographic, thereby alienating others?
* Do the shows display an ignorant bias against another demographic?
* Does the quality/content of the show affect their images during the commercials?
* If they asked the consumer about what they felt about certain shows where their products or services were being showcased, would a favorable or unfavorable response from the consumer be fair grounds to reassess where their advertising dollars get to go?
* Are the shows needlessly offensive? (seriously, who wants to buy corn dogs or instant pudding after an episode of Will & Grace?)
* Could they just as well be served by independent writers? Networks?
To be fair, it IS their money, which generally comes from us.
At this point my favorite show is “It’s Always Sunny In Philidelphia”, which shouldn’t be affected. The three guys that star in it write the damn thing, anyways. Besides, what libbie writer would write an episode where the gang finds a dumpster baby and, at one point, considers putting him back in the garbage? I’m not worried about the strike because most of the TV I watch is politically incorrect and tasteless, meaning no unionized writers have any part in it.
Hollywood? Writers Strike?
Three quick thoughts:
1. Nobody ever tells me anything!
2. So what?
3. …