The curtains may be going up on Broadway, but the TV writer’s strike, which began Nov. 5, is still going strong. Baristaville is home to many TV writers now on strike — The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, and the Daily Show to name just a few.
We found this video fascinating — boiling down just what the strike is all about: 4 cents.
Slate magazine argues it’s not all bad for fans of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, saying the five year-old re-runs, on the show’s website, are “pure gold.”

While a Grey’s Anatomy rerun is a bummer only if you’ve already seen that episode, a Daily Show rerun is the television equivalent of a day-old newspaper. It’s birdcage liner.
A five-year-old episode of The Daily Show, on the other hand, is pure gold-a fact made plain by the launch of the show’s new Web site last month.
The writers’ strike provides the ideal excuse to waste large portions of your workday combing the Daily Show archive for fondly remembered bits, like the priceless Stewart/Corddry exchange that aired the day after Dick Cheney’s hunting accident.

Baristaville TV writers, feel free to add your comments about the strike. And TV fans of the above shows — if you aren’t watching re-runs, how are you handling the big chill?
(Photo by Warren Levinson)

15 replies on “Screenwriters Give Us Their 4 Cents”

  1. Only 1 more episode of “Heroes” and then I’ve got nothing to watch until the strike is done!!!

  5. Ya, the 4 cents thing is a great spin….
    I repeat “great spin”…
    But then again if I signed away all my video rights years ago(because the studio heads insisted that the home video market would never take off)…I’d probably fight for my 4 cents too….particularly since we are dealing with a new another new technology (downloads) for distribution.

  6. whatever,
    One of the most beautiful things about living in this country is our ability to atone for past mistakes.
    However many years ago, the writer’s guild signed away their royalty rights to video sales? Oops, their bad. But, here we are still on the cusp of a new century with new distribution means coming out practically every other year.
    When video first came out, did you think it would be possible to carry an entire season of a TV show and the means to watch it in your brief case/purse, let alone an entire store’s worth of movies on a computer that you could carry under your arm?
    The writers have every right to ask for their contracts to be reviewed and every right to try and atone for their past blunders. I’d say that how ever many years they went being short-changed (for lack of a better term) under the old system is enough of a penalty to pay for their previous short-sighted thinking.
    This isn’t Teamsters demanding 6 weeks vacation and raises based on how long they’ve been there instead of merit; it’s a legitimate grievance and one of the few instances where I support the union.

  7. I just read an article that said about 75 other non-WGA jobs – per show – were in jeopardy due to the strike. I hope the 4 cents is worth all the other families being in financial crisis over the holiday season because years ago the WGA members were short sighted and foolish enough to believe what the studio heads were advising them to do.

  9. Mike-
    ummmm…I “agree” with you my dear…
    Maybe you read my post wrong.
    lol
    The spin being put out is that the 4 cents issue is stupid…and it’s not.
    I support the strike
    And yes, btw.. those in the knowing (at the time) were quite aware that the home video market “would” be a success. Folks, in general though at the time, just didn’t have that much information about it and didn’t feel it was worth the fight.
    The possibilities with the download market are infinite. They’d be really shortsighted right now to give up that money. (4 cents)

  10. I wholly support the writers on this one.
    Such a bummer not to see a new Grey’s. Fortunately, I still have Project Runway. But, there’s only so much reality tv you can take.
    I suppose I could use the time to put some pictures in albums, write that manuscript I’ve been putting off, decorate for Christmas…re-connect with my husband, meditate. Post on baristanet copiously.
    I could also watch A Christmas Story every night–God, I love that movie.
    Stay tough, writers!

  11. sularu: “there’s only so much reality tv you can take.”
    I’m sure you can get Upstairs/Downstairs from netflix. Not me, I have no hang ups with admitting my cultural taste: I love any good tv show, reality or otherwise.
    So Dog Mom, don’t be mortified– be proud!! You like a show. No biggie. I don’t judge. (And those that do should end up driving next to Christen in that OC Energy Drink Hummer (watch the show, you’ll get the reference).
    I feel sorry for folks who limit their consumption of art simply because they reject an entire genre– as dumb as “I don’t like Classical.”

  13. prof –
    Um, Project Runway is reality tv (and if you read my post, I said that I like it). So, please oh please don’t feel sorry for me for being so blind as to reject a whole genre of art because I think it’s too low brow.
    All I was sayin’ was that when the writers strike, all that’s left to watch is reruns and reality. And I like a little more variety. Really, how many episodes of The Biggest Loser and Deal or No Deal can you watch.
    Also, you state that you don’t judge, but I’m going to have to challenge you on that one. You seem to do a lot of contemptuous judging on Baristanet.

  15. Wow! The prof (not the doc) has a M.F.A. AND a B.A. That’s a “whole lot o’ education”.
    Well shut my mouth!

Comments are closed.