Any end to the WGA Strike soon?

[Iowan]

Let's hope so, 'cause if it doesn't, more of our shows will run out of fresh new episodes to air! Just out of curiousity, how's My Network TV doin'? It should have bigger ratings on account of this strike!

 

[BRice16]

Hopefully the union will crumble soon and the out-of work writers will start coming back one by one.

Bottom line is this: If you don't wear a hard hat or bulletproof vest to work, you don't need a union.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

I'm in no hurry to wish this strike to end because I really love gameshows. (that's gameshows, not reality tv)

So, if this strike encourages more gameshows to exsist, then, excuse the sadist in me, but...long live the strike!

 

[1069_KIFR]

No.

 

[Skynet74]

From what I understand there is more tension than ever. Especially with NBC pushing ahead with certain programs even though the writers arn't there. Leno, Conan, etc...

From what I understand there arn't even any talks scheduled at the moment to end this strike.

This strike is most likely just going to kill the rest of this television season and possibly last even longer than that.

 

[sack]

I'm all for unions, but on the other hand, unions keep barely adequate workers in jobs.

With that said, there are plenty of good/great writers, but even more bad ones. Maybe if they consistently wrote quality material instead of the brainless junk thats on TV???????? Every day here there are complaints about how crappy TV has become, doesn't some of that blame fall to the writers? Everyone knows television executives want "stupid" on TV, but someone has to write that "stupid" stuff.

I know they are getting screwed by the networks, taking their work and using it on other platforms for network profit (not sharing with the guild) and all that, but its hard for me to get behind a group that doesn't do such a wonderful job to begin with. And I know its not as simple as I make it here, but you have to admit, the writing for television over the past few years has really sucked.

NOw that should get some fur flying...

 

[johnnyu]

With any kind of luck, the writer's strike will never end. There is nothing worth watching on television.

 

[Markxxx]

Part of the issue with writing and acting etc, is you don't have to be great to be successful.

Most of it is luck. I hear a lot of singers in clubs that are far better than anything on American Idol, even Mariah Carey with a wonderful voice, stopped using it and screeched her way on to records in another style so she could start selling records again.

In the end talent wins out but with the Internet and such, a mediocre writer, singer, actor can get lucky and it'll take years and years to weed thru the mediocre to come BACK to the talent.

It doesn't matter how GOOD you are, if you aren't exposing your product.

 

[Iowan]

And what about soap operas? How long will it be before they wind up airing "soap classics"?

 

[Mark Giardina]

With any kind of luck, the writer's strike will never end. There is nothing worth watching on television.

Amen brother; Amen!

One positive thing about this strike is that these awards shows won't be televised. Golden Globes have been reduced to Larry King reading the winners on his show. Let's hope the Oscars also go down the toilet.

Meanwhile TV executives will put more reality shows on the air and eventually the public will tire of them and (hopefully) they will go away forever. Meanwhile the strike is costing Hollywood, and the local economy lost revenue, so I believe some settlement will be reached very soon.

 

[JayR]

WGA Strike...

It looks like there might be some progress with ending the strike...

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/business/media/04writers.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

Strike May End Soon, but Writers May Confront a Hostile Hollywood

As movie and television writers deliberate whether to end a strike that is about to enter its fourth month, they will also have to grapple with a sober realization: the work world to which they return may be even less friendly than the one they left behind.

This is what US viewers have to look forward to:

(T)elevision producers are obviously flirting with ways to acquire or develop shows without all the overhead. In the last week, NBC bought 13 episodes of “The Listener,” a Canadian show about a psychic paramedic, while producers of “The Border,” about Canadian border agents, were negotiating with CBS and ABC,...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the networks should have looked north of the border for programming a long time ago.


[Repaired link added as a courtesy by Radio Info]