Okay so maybe I won’t walk the line at least not the picket line but that happened to be the title of the song I was listening too when inspired to write this post. It comes after reading two headlines on the Drudge Report the other morning, which referenced these two articles that got me too thinking (dangerous I know).
"New TV Shows Drying up as Strike Sets in" and "More Celebs join Writers' Picket Lines".
First of all, let’s take a look at recent events. UAW Strike at GM as well as at Chrysler, the Writer’s Guild, the Stagehand Union, even IBM called a strike, well not a real one unless you consider that new website “Second Life” real (YES they cast a strike in the virtual world of Second Life, what kind of dorks are these guys really). Okay, this isn’t really my point it just furthers my disdain for unions. In a time when the future of the economy is shaky enough let’s throw some whiney unions in there to make things better. You don’t like your job Billy or you think you are getting taken advantage of…then quit and go find a new one that pays better somewhere that appreciates you.
Before I get way off point let me get back to this Writers Guild strike. My first thought once I heard they were striking was, is it really that bad of a thing that the writers are on strike and shows are halting production? I mean if it clears out some of the garbage that’s on TV is it really that bad? Especially some of these new shows…i.e. Cavemen…unless Geico was paid for it they have to be pretty ticked that the concept for their popular commercials has now been severely tainted. The strike has also halted the production of 24, which is good for us because we are trying to get caught up on. We are currently at the 9th show or the 2 pm to 3 pm hour of season 4. This will give us a good chance to get caught up and watch them as they come out. By the way we are anxiously awaiting next week when season 3 of Lost finally comes out on DVD, we finished season 2 back in like March or April.
The fallout from the strike also shows how disappointing our late night shows (or at least the hosts) are. These guys are paid how much money and can not come up with enough material to fill their 5-10 minute monologue forcing them to cancel their shows. I mean the last hour plus of their shows are interviews which shouldn’t require a script, yes some research but no script. So if they can’t write their own stuff and don’t do their own research what do they really do? I must admit though there is one person who I can have respect for in this situation... Ellen of all people, here is her story up on Foxnews.
I do have one question for Jay Leno who has been showing his support out on the picket line and not doing a show. My Question is…which one of your 100+ vehicles did you drive to the picket line today? I admire Jay’s support for his writers but if I was a sponsor or the guy paying Jay’s salary I would be a little ticked.
I must admit though that further fall out could be very damaging to us all. Fox has already shown their hand as to how they are going to try and skirt the issue…MORE REALITY TV!!!! Instead of 2 hours of American Idol they are going to go with 3. But I have to ask is it really possible to have more Reality TV? Don’t we have enough? What concept could they come up with that hasn’t been done all ready? Any ideas?
Mine would be to follow someone like Jay Leno during his strenuous day on the picket line. They could follow him around for the day, catch him in the morning as his chef makes him a wonderful omelet with a side of bacon, chronicle his decision of which car to take today (have you ever seen how many cars he has, seriously 100 isn’t a stretch), after the picketing they can show him getting back in the Jag and going to get a pedicure cause his feet are messed up after a tough day standing up to the man and then he finishes the day off in his huge hot tub. They can of course show the contrasting side of some plebian trying to make a living writing one liners for Cavemen. Of course this would just be the best case of irony an unscripted show about writers on strike forcing networks to air more unscripted shows. That’s good stuff! I bet it would at least get more episodes released then Reunion ever did (I still want to know who killed the girl).
Thank you, British Academy
5 weeks ago
1 comment:
Completely agree with your little "rant". But wanted to fill you in on something I learned about Leno a few months ago. (And by the way, I still really don't like the man enough to watch the show, but earned a new respect for him.)
Leno was on "Inside the Actors Studio" (fantastic show if you haven't seen it) Of course most people know that he started out doing stand up comedy. But what I didn't know, is he still does an unbelievable number of shows a year. He works 18-20 hours a day, on his show, and working on his stand up routine.
Now onto the the part that earned my respect: When he was first offered the Tonight Show, HE demanded that he do the show for scale, which for SAG is about $330 a week, unheard of. Of course he has accepted a much higher salary since then. But he considers the Tonight Show to be something extra that he does, not his "job" so to speak. So ALL of the income he receives from the show, he has never actually spent a dime of it on himself. It goes to various charities. He lives off of the money he makes doing stand up, and yes, that pays for all those cars and motorcycles too.
Now that's all really nice and very good of him, but I think the most respectable part is that you never hear about that. At least I hadn't. So he's not giving away all that money (and it is a lot) for the attention, notoriety, so the public will perceive him as a good person, or just for the tax write offs. He's doing it because that's what he wants to do, feels he needs to do, and doesn't "brag" about it or advertise it the way most celebs do.
Still find the man far to annoying to watch his show......but I definitely have a great deal of respect for him as a man!
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