Michael Moore

[JayR]

I found this snip from an Associated Press article regarding Michael Moore:

Michael Moore, a WGA member...,blamed the studios and said they had "shut the town down over a couple pennies."

Moore said if no agreement is reached, he might start a penny drive to raise the money for writer demands, and suggested people would contribute in order to see their favorite shows return.

He's lost his mind!

I'm hoping for the strike to continue at least past Oscar night. This way, that program will be abbreviated.

I can survive without my "favorite shows" for some time...especially if it means the networks are willing to import English-language programs.

 

[OhReally?]

I found this snip from an Associated Press article regarding Michael Moore:

Michael Moore, a WGA member...,blamed the studios and said they had "shut the town down over a couple pennies."

Moore said if no agreement is reached, he might start a penny drive to raise the money for writer demands, and suggested people would contribute in order to see their favorite shows return.

He's lost his mind!

I'm hoping for the strike to continue at least past Oscar night. This way, that program will be abbreviated.

I can survive without my "favorite shows" for some time...especially if it means the networks are willing to import English-language programs.

I actually disagree with Michael Moore on his thinking.

I think the writer's strike will change the landscape of OTA-TV. Look at the success that the reality show-replacements are doing. I think we're going to see each network have the mentality along the lines that if "we produce more shows of lesser quality & costs -- and wrapping those around a couple of our core shows -- yeah, we'll lose some viewers, but our costs will be down and we'll still come out ahead for our shareholders."

 

[Nate Wesley]

He's not THAT far off...an entire season of 24 got postponed and Lost got cut to eight episodes. There will be viewers who will be pissed...however, not necessarily enough to donate to Moore's 'penny' fundraising effort.

 

[FightingIrish]

I found this snip from an Associated Press article regarding Michael Moore:

Michael Moore, a WGA member...,blamed the studios and said they had "shut the town down over a couple pennies."

Moore said if no agreement is reached, he might start a penny drive to raise the money for writer demands, and suggested people would contribute in order to see their favorite shows return.

He's lost his mind!

I'm hoping for the strike to continue at least past Oscar night. This way, that program will be abbreviated.

I can survive without my "favorite shows" for some time...especially if it means the networks are willing to import English-language programs.

I actually disagree with Michael Moore on his thinking.

I think the writer's strike will change the landscape of OTA-TV. Look at the success that the reality show-replacements are doing. I think we're going to see each network have the mentality along the lines that if "we produce more shows of lesser quality & costs -- and wrapping those around a couple of our core shows -- yeah, we'll lose some viewers, but our costs will be down and we'll still come out ahead for our shareholders."

Reality TV, all in all, ain't cutting the mustard. Ratings have fallen since many of the top dramas and sitcoms left the air. Sure, reality shows are cheap, and there's always that chance for a fluke meal ticket like "American Idol" or "Deal Or No Deal." But most reality shows are lousy and uninspired, and the bad shows with poor ratings do nothing more than drive off viewers.

Hollywood's been through this before, Remember, when the actors' strike occurred in the early 80s, there was an onslaught of 'reality' shows like "Real People," "That's Incredible" and countless clones. There were a lot of newsmagazines as well, IIRC. The stuff was insanely cheap and required no actors and few writers. But eventually, that stuff faded away when people got tired of it, and we were back to scripted programming.

Nothing beats good scripted programming, especially with cable networks like HBO, FX, USA, etc. turning out really good product and raising the bar for quality stuff on the networks during the past few years, like "The Office." No network can build around tacky, cheap-looking filler like "Moment of Truth" and the umpteenth Idol clone. Eventually, people will tire of it all and go back to the old fashioned sitcoms and dramas.

 

[OhReally?]

Reality TV, all in all, ain't cutting the mustard. Ratings have fallen since many of the top dramas and sitcoms left the air. Sure, reality shows are cheap, and there's always that chance for a fluke meal ticket like "American Idol" or "Deal Or No Deal." But most reality shows are lousy and uninspired, and the bad shows with poor ratings do nothing more than drive off viewers.

Hollywood's been through this before, Remember, when the actors' strike occurred in the early 80s, there was an onslaught of 'reality' shows like "Real People," "That's Incredible" and countless clones. There were a lot of newsmagazines as well, IIRC. The stuff was insanely cheap and required no actors and few writers. But eventually, that stuff faded away when people got tired of it, and we were back to scripted programming.

Nothing beats good scripted programming, especially with cable networks like HBO, FX, USA, etc. turning out really good product and raising the bar for quality stuff on the networks during the past few years, like "The Office." No network can build around tacky, cheap-looking filler like "Moment of Truth" and the umpteenth Idol clone. Eventually, people will tire of it all and go back to the old fashioned sitcoms and dramas.

You've COMPLETELY missed the point of my post.

 

[TexasTom]

I think we're going to see each network have the mentality along the lines that if "we produce more shows of lesser quality & costs -- and wrapping those around a couple of our core shows -- yeah, we'll lose some viewers, but our costs will be down and we'll still come out ahead for our shareholders."

That's what most of the cable networks do -- consider that even the cable networks that run substantial amounts of scripted programming (USA, FX, TNT, Sci Fi, etc) only have a few hours a week of "marquee" scripted programming. The rest is reruns, reality, and filler. When you consider the ratings difference between USA/FX/TNT/etc versus ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox, I'm not sure that this would be a sustainable strategy. The broadcast networks are able to earn a CPM (cost per thousand viewers) premium over the cable networks precisely because they haven't embraced this type of strategy -- change that, and the broadcast CPMs shrink down to what the larger cable networks are getting. It might take years, but it would eventually happen -- and it would badly hurt the broadcast networks.