So the Writer’s Guild strike started today and there are going to be so many ramifications from it if it doesn’t end soon. I’m dying to watch David Letterman this week just to see what happens.
Whitney Matheson wrote an article about how this strike will affect certain areas and shows, so check it out after the read more link…some of it is pretty interesting. I specifically like the co-producer from Lost who says that the viewers should keep an open-mind, and not listen 100% to the news being reported by the media outlets that are actually being affected by this strike.
Fair and balanced reporting? Likely not.
The L.A. Times blog is tracking this entire strike, with tons of daily updates. One of the more interesting ones was an entry about Tina Fey out on the pickets lines at 9AM Monday morning, right out in front of Rockefeller Plaza.
It has to be hard for Fey, considering she’s not only a writer, but also an actor and producer on 30 Rock. But she’s out there picketing anyways, despite being contractually obligated to finish shooting since she’s an actor. 30 Rock has finished 9 of 22 episodes.
“My staff and I are wholeheartedly supporting the strike,” Fey said in an interview. “We’re happy to be out here today and hope it gets resolved fairly and quickly. I hope they realize we’re quite serious,” she said of the studios. “I think they need to know we’re very united.”
A few interesting tidbits (taken verbatim from Whitney’s Pop Candy Blog):
- Here’s a story about how the strike could affect stars of The Office. The series is unique in that several writers are also actors – B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein – so they’ll have a conflict of interest to deal with.
- The Hollywood Reporter looks into how the strike could impact Scrubs‘ final season. This series has never had it easy, and the current situation “could leave the final six installments of the underrated comedy’s 18-episode last season in indefinite limbo.”
- As for Lost, co-producer Brian K. Vaughan discusses the strike and why he supports it over on his blog. He gives an excellent breakdown of what the strike means, and even offers advice for what we can do: “Think critically about everything you’re going to hear … especially because so many of the news outlets we all rely on are owned and controlled by the very people against whom we writers are striking.”
- The L.A. Times says TV’s loss could be a gain for the web, and the strike could bring new attention to online-only shows like Clark and Michael and the upcoming Quarterlife. So there’s one positive.
I am bummed about this but I hope that they can come to a quick resolution. I really don’t want LOST to be to negatively effected. I hadn’t even thought of the Office. I hope they have enough shows in the can to keep us going for several weeks. But I guess regardless there will be some lag-time when they have to play catch-up.
I just started re-watching LOST yesterday – I forgot how much season one rocks!
Shawn
[...] the Writer’s Guild Strike in full swing and our favorite shows starting their countdowns to ZERO episodes left to air, it’s time to [...]