Hollywood Gossip and Political Hoopla

I was just about to take a break but damn, MSNBC is breaking with this shot of a rally being held in California to support the writers strike. It’s almost like one of those crowds in Rome when the Pope pops up on a balcony or something, except it’s not quite as big. Still, it’s flipping huge.

They also said Arnold Schwarzenegger is currently talking to both sides personally in an attempt to get them to work out their differences because naturally this strike is affecting more than just the writers and the studios and it’s kinda screwing up the economy there. I think after the past couple days regular people are starting to realize just how big the scope is of this thing and the effect it’s really going to have on TV shows if it continues on. There’s going to be a lot of happy people if a miracle gets pulled out but all I ever hear is how the studios don’t want to negotiate their terms, despite the ever growing number of people, including actors, that are behind the writers now.

I determined after the last writers strike post that I was on the side of the writers in this whole hollywood picketing drama because the studios were being completely unreasonable. Today, that’s all changed, because not only has this strike screwed up 24 which will find it’s season 7 debut delayed, it’s screwed up Prison Break. Prison Break is one of my few simple pleasures in life but after next week, it’s gone until January 14th. Seriously, %&#( a writers strike.

Don’t worry though, Fox is going to be filming shitty new reality shows to take their place, including a show called When Women Ruled the World about educated and independant women taking over a party of unsuspected men in a remote location, and a Mark Walberg hosted show called The Moment of Truth involving people taking a lie detector test. Because the world needed a reality show based off of Maury Povich. As well, if you love American Idol expect to see a lot more of it. The only good thing is this means more episodes of Kitchen Nightmares that actually ran an emergency casting call ad last night during the show. I’m fine with Kitchen Nightmares. Gordan Ramsey is a great man.

I discovered a post this morning at the Futon Critic that has a press release detailing Fox’s revised lineup for the coming months.

Futon Critic - Revised Fox Lineup

Two days in and it’s already starting to get really depressing for TV viewers. I can’t tell you what went on with the late night shows as I had just got done watching a %#:*ing awesome two hours of Prison Break and frankly nothing else was going to compare after that. I felt like I just needed to end my day immediately because it wasn’t going to be topped at that point.

Ain’t It Cool has some updates about what shows are currently being affected due to writers / actors jumping into the picket lines. Most of the cast of the Office is striking now so production could be considered done for them at this point. Tina Fey (30 Rock), Julia Louise Dreyfuss (New Adventures of Old Christine), Roy Moore (Battlestar Gallactica), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Marg Helgenberger (CSI) all showed up in the line at some point or another during the day. Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, Rules of Engagement, Pushing Daisies, The Unit, The Shield, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Lost & Heroes have all apparently shut down production due to some producer or major part of the writing staff walking off set. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean these shows are going to jump immediately to reruns. As shown in the show guide from yesterday, most of these shows have episodes sitting on the shelf that haven’t been aired yet. The problem is that eventually they’re going to run out and in the case of some of these shows, they’re just missing their season finale like the Shield and I believe Heroes.

The WGA website has details of the last minute negotiations held Sunday night where they mentioned they actually pulled demands for DVD residuals off the table and only wanted to talk about establishing new media residuals. The studios refused to listen to them and took a take it or leave it stance, informing the WGA that they intended to create an independant group to explore the economic model of selling shows online, a process that would take three years to complete. So in other words, the studios want the writers to wait three years while they roll out video on demand and movies for download while they keep 100% of the profits for themselves.

Of course, this makes it much easier to understand the writer’s side of things now because the studios are basically telling them to their face they want to screw them for at least three years. The studios have done with before with DVD technology and before that VHS. The most ridiculous part of the studio’s argument is that all shows if shown through an online source are considered promotional. That means every time a full episode of Lost is shown on ABC.com for instance, the writers don’t get jack for it. The key word is promotion. Despite the fact that you just watched an entire episode online, it’s considered promotional material used to get you to watch it on TV. They really are trying to pull some serious bullshit here.

Aint It Cool: Show Updates

The Hollywood writer strike has claimed it’s first two victims. MSNBC just broke that the Tonight Show and the Conan O’Brien Show will now officially begin airing repeat episodes until further notice. I’m sure the Late Show will be soon to follow.

I have the upbeat energy of a corpse pulsing through my body right now so today should be a fine affair. The Writer’s Guild of America officially stated their intent to strike over the weekend and last minute negotiations have failed, and the general public has thus been sentenced to reruns of the Tonight Show and a constant barrage of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader two hour specials. For all of you who watch a great deal of television, my heart goes out to you during this difficult time. I assure you that I will feel the same sort of pain if Prison Break gets affected by this and I’m sure it will come mid-season break.

The rumors are that this could last up through some point in 2008, something that seems almost unfathomable unless you were around for the 1988 strike that lasted some six months or so. I was, but I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention due to my obsession at the time with Nintendo and Mets baseball. I’m sure Perfect Strangers fans were devastated. Many of you are more than likely wondering what shows are actually going to be affected by this and I can tell you that late night shows are going to take the first blow, probably going to repeats as early as tonight unless someone like Jimmy Kimmel opts to do some improv on his show. Soaps will be next, and somewhere down the road you’ll start to see this influence some but not all of the late night dramas and sitcoms.

I have found a handy dandy guide from the LA Times that lists what’s going to happen with at least some but not all of these shows.

LA Times: - How Shows Will Be Affected By WGA Strike