For those of you who have better things to worry about… Talks between Hollywood writers and producers have stalled.
Translation: Your favorite TV shows could be disappearing in the weeks to come if a settlement is not reached.
According to leaders for the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), a strike could happen as early as tomorrow if enough members decide NOT to work without a contract while a deal is being hammered out. WGA members’ contracts expired last night. Earlier in the day talks between the writers from your favorite television shows and show producers ended abruptly with both sides saying they were still far apart on issues pertaining to what else—money.
The Writer’s Guild of America wants a fair cut of the digital goldmine that is generated each time a network show is viewed online or films are downloaded from iTunes. Simply put, WGA members want to be compensated for their material sold and viewed on new media (be it streaming online video, downloadable content on portable devices, etc.) and that is the key issue behind the impending strike.
It’s still unclear whether writers will walk off their job, but if they do you can expect some major changes to the current TV schedule. (By the way, the last writer’s strike, in 1988, lasted 5 months.)
First of all, if writers do walk you can kiss your favorite late night talk shows goodbye. WGA members are the ones who write monologues and sketch material for shows like “Saturday Night Live,” Letterman, Leno, Conan, et al. There is the remote possibility the aforementioned late night hosts could write their own material, but well, that would mean they would actually have to work.
Next, you soap opera fans won’t be catching much of a break if WGA members strike. Forget about crying about Victor’s latest medical diagnosis on “The Young and the Restless,” soap fans will be shedding real tears when daytime dramas run out of their month’s worth of stockpiled scripts. After the new material is exhausted, the soaps will be forced to go off the air. Which means you will have to wait until after the strike to see how your favorite character’s psychotic brother offed his ex-nanny using the same weapon his half twin threw into a river after his car plummeted off the side of a cliff.
On a brighter note if you are a fan of reality TV you are in luck. Popular primetime shows like “American Idol,” “The Biggest Loser,” and “The Amazing Race” will air as scheduled since the creative people behind these series are not members of the WGA. As for network dramas and comedies, like “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Office,” those shows would either run out of new episodes or be put on hold for February sweeps. The networks would then be forced to air repeats and you would be forced to watch them or check in to see what Paula Deen is whipping up on the Food Network.