strike on

So they struck, now what? Well rumor has it negotiations are scheduled to begin again after Thanksgiving. It sounds as if there was an initial mandate that folks go back to work in good faith for negotiations to resume but since the writers don’t seem to be budging on that, the mandate may not be completely mandatory. It also looks as if negotiations with the late night crew to come back sans writers, and sans prewritten segments, are also underway, shooting for after the giving of thanks as well. I read that in the last strike in ’88 they also pulled a stoppage for a while then when Carson went back the rest followed.   

All in all the writers and those in support feel that the short term sacrifices of money and security are worth their stand but what about those folks who aren’t writers? The Desperate Housewives were booed for bringing pizzas to the strikers while finishing out the scripts in the can and Ellen was suffering a backlash (not quite as bad as the doggy adoption fiasco) for going on with the show, sans opening monologue with a shout out to the strikers. So for shows where the actors are under contract and/or preserving folk’s jobs and/or keeping a syndicated timeslot (daytime works a little different than nighttime talkers)… are they in the wrong?

And why is it that some folks seem to get grief while others don’t? I think it was Letterman who paid his entire staff’s salaries for a couple of weeks while off the air, but clearly that can’t happen across the board. And though The Office shut down immediately (for the most part the writers are the actors, and I believe Steve Carell, who is not actually a writer, called in with swollen balls) most of the rest of the management in dual roles like Lost is returning to finish production without doing any rewrites with the sentiment that they’d finish this stuff anyway they should at least be involved.  

As for the completed shows, my tivo is still filling up, and they are still introducing come midseason items that have a critical mass complete, but things will be winding down. TVGuide has a nice little strike watch going that let’s you know when you’re going to start your mandatory detox. Though apparently we could be seeing things like reshooting Green Acres as written which may soon be under way. Let’s just hope negotiations go well and give thanks that we’re entering the good season for movies since we won’t see the effects of the strike on that for quite some time.

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