The Writers Guild is threatening a strike if contract talks do not turn soon. Their current contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is set to expire Oct. 31.
So what does that mean for the couch potatoes across the nation? It could mean all reality tv shows all the time. No more Grey’s Anatomy. No more favorite new sitcoms. No, no it would be reality tv at its finest with a three hour episode of Biggest Loser, or whatever the next hot show is on the horizon. Apparently, all the big networks are working like madmen to buy, view, see every new reality show out there in order to be well stocked when the shows dry up.
Realistically, what is happening? Well, the Writers Guild is upset over residual payments that the producers receive. After all, last year the writers never saw any income from the itunes arrangement that was made with the alliance.
So what does that mean for the viewers? Well, right now-it isn’t a terror event. See, most sitcoms record and are written four to six weeks in advance. So viewers most likely would not feel the effect of this strike until the new year, Jan. 2008.
Lost fans can sigh a breath of relief since ABC put off its premiere until February. They already have filmed a bunch of episodes and will show them while all the other networks are showing reality tv.
MSN reports reality shows — even though a great majority of them are written by professional writers — aren’t under the WGA contract, so networks would quickly add a ton of reality and even newsmagazines to the nighttime lineups. Fox would be in great shape, obviously, because it has the biggest reality show of the year in “American Idol" against a bunch of much lower-class competition.
The said issue with this is that it all could lead to a few years of some bad tv. It is at this time each year that the networks look to the future fall sitcoms. If writers can’t write their new shows, then networks can’t buy them and we may see a fall filled with very few new sitcoms, etc. and lots of reality.
It also is not good for the networks in that the time that they begin gearing up for February sweeps is about the time that the effect of the writers strike would be evident.
In the meantime, networks have asked writers to try and get as much writing done by Nov. 1 so that they can have as many episodes as possible completed. This could mean that the quality of the shows we have come to love could decline.
As an avid fan of several new shows i.e. Chuck, Big Bang Theory and several old shows i.e. Numbers, How I Met Your Mother-I hope that negotiations get going and a fair agreement is reached quickly.
In the meantime, I might need to invest in some Tivo or some new movies for the spring.
