February 12, 2008

• As I'm writing this, the writers strike that started late 2007 is pretty much over. It even looks like the writers were able to get their much wanted payment for internet videos; or "new media" as it's being called. It's not a complete win however, since they weren't able to bring in the writers of animation and reality TV into the Union like they wanted. There's a sigh of relief everywhere in the entertainment industry though, because things are going to go back to normal. Or is it?

  Pilot season was greatly affected by the strike, which means that the fall TV season is already a wash. Talks about moving pilot season to the summer changes the whole yearly routine that TV goes through. If you ask me, it's about time. I've never been a big fan of American TV relying on the whole Fall, Winter, Spring, then Summer programming format. It's primarily the fault of the nielsen ratings as well. With "time-shifting" now a very real reality, the studios needs to consider relaxing their format into a more "yearly" approach, as opposed to relying on the seasons to dictate when the shows need to be aired.

  TV shows also have to be a little creative in finishing their season, by either shortening the current run. Some shows altogether are delayed until the fall, or as late as early next year. While other shows were cancelled, by losing momentum because of the writer's strike.

  During the writer's strike, I actually added new alternative programming into my DVR. Now with some shows coming back as early as late April or May, I'm going to have even more TV to watch now. In fact I still have several hours in my DVR of shows I haven't seen yet, as well as some that I've been hoarding away to watch since the strike happened. I better get a move on and finish up some of the stuff still in my DVR, or I'm going to get overwhelmed again with things to watch.

  - Who won the writer's strike? (link)
  - As Hollywood writers strike end nears, a status report on TV shows (link)

  • 10:28 am
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