I haven't written much about the Writer Guild strike, which officially ended Tuesday. I don't know the particulars of the deal; it doesn't matter much, it's not like I wasn't getting writing work because of the strike. I supported the writers- in my own ineffectual way- as I do all people in the creative part of the creative arts. As unfair as the music business often is, songwriters are pretty well taken care of, assuming that they're on top of their performing rights. The way the movie and TV industry are so star, focus-group and opening-weekend driven, it seems like they forgot long ago that writing is the foundation of everything and their reluctance to deal with the WGA dealing with "New Media" was proof of that.
No, I might not be a "real" writer, but I am a real fan and I'm psyched that this is all over. Besides the headlines that all the Law and Orders can be ripped from have been piling up awfully high.
The Good News:
1. Among many other shows, The Daily Show and Colbert Report are now going to be at full strength. Not that they've been bad lately, Colbert especially has used this opportunity to display how gifted a performer he really is, it just hasn't been the same.
2. Great, now The Oscars can go off with out a hitch! Is it wrong to say I don't care? I didn't care about the Grammys either, though I love that Barack Obama and Flight of The Conchords won.
3. All of the production assistants can get back to work, too. These folks where the ones that people tended to have to most sympathy for in all this because they just regular folks that weren't striking, but they weren't working either. The thing is, most of those people belong to unions too and should have some idea how collective bargaining works. Not that I don't have compassion for them as well, but the effects of striking should an assumed risk in this union-driven industry.
The Bad News:
1. Now the seasons are shorter. This affects some shows more than others, but for a show like 30 Rock that's had a hard time finding an audience, loss of momentum could prove fatal. That would be a flat-out crime, it's becoming dangerously close to my favorite live-action sitcom ever. This world would be so much easier to live in if I liked According To Jim.
2. If the shows come back at all. Unfortunately Battlestar Galactica might be one of them. If you've followed that show, you know how devastating that is; they were only halfway through their last season before the strike started and it's possible that it won't be completed. Sure, folks on the internet will protest, but-as Firefly and Snakes On A Plane proved- that might not mean anything.
3. According To Jim Is Coming Back.
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