Still on Strike...

Down in Los Angeles, the WGA is still on strike - although talks were to resume today. We've seen stories on writer's cafes hurt by the strike. We read about writers bringing their kids to the picket lines. Every TV critic in America seems to have stood up for the poor LA writers. If this round of negotiations fails, I see no likely outcome other than a protracted strike. It ceases to be a Hollywood "mini series" drama - and morphs into a PBS documentary on labor history with lasting effects on the families of strikers and on the television industry in LA. Maybe this means more support and viewership of public television (the last bastion of television worth watching other than the MLS Direct Kick package?)?

Worse still, the byproduct is hours and hours of reality TV, whose writers are lost supporting actors in this made-for-TV script. As ably and nobly written in the LA Times this weekend, writers on America's Next Top SuperModel STRUCK LAST YEAR - with the intention of galvanizing the reality TV writers and sending a lasting message to the networks not to mess with the writers.

The WGA abandoned them. Soon, the networks eliminated their jobs. The "striking" writers were trounced "in the ratings." Then, the WGA plowed forward without the backing of this segment of writers, who created 25% (soon to be much more) of prime time programming. This gives the networks a critical piece of leverage which means this strike will ultimately fail, or be settled on terms far more advantageous to the networks.

That being said, read the editorial ... we now return to our regularly scheduled "nattering nabobs."

And in other Hollywood news today... the Wizard of Oz munchkins got their stars on the walk of fame. Glad the strike didn't affect that.