Back to work!

Many entertainment websites are reporting that the strike is just about over.  The boards for both the WGA West and East approved the tentative agreement over the weekend.  Please consult Ausiello’s updated strike chart or E!’s Watch With Kristin blog for information about your favorite shows. 

WGA strike to possibly end by this weekend

Various entertainment news websites are reporting that the strike could be over by this weekend.  In preparation for the end, Ausiello has posted an update on if and when any shows will be returning this season with new episodes.  I am happy to report that MANY of my favorite (and hopefully yours too) shows will be returning with a handful of episodes.   Half hour shows like The Office and How I Met Your Mother are returning with possibly 5-10 episodes and 5-7 episodes, respectively.  Even hour long dramas are returning with a decent number of episodes (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters).  What does this mean for your makeshift television schedule?  Are you going to abandon your placeholders (Big Brother, Paradise Hotel 2, various MTV shows) or are you too far gone? 

That’s why I like comments, people!

Comments let me know what I’ve missed, what I’ve gotten wrong, and what I’ve gotten right.  I apologize for yesterday’s post about what to do when your favorite shows run out of episodes.  Naturally, Halo 3 multiplayer should be at the top of that list.  Rather than edit the original post, I thought that a new post would better express my embarrassment and regret. 

What will you do when the shows you watch run out of episodes?

TVGuide has a very handy chart on the number of episodes that each show has remaining.  Most shows have somewhere in the vicinity of 4-5 new episodes remaining, giving the WGA and the AMPTP some time to resolve their issues, and get writing.  If the strike were to end today, tomorrow, or next week, we probably won’t have to miss much.  However, the strike appears to be going strong, and neither side looks like they are willing to budge.  This spells trouble for a handful of shows that don’t have that many more episodes to go.  The Office, for example, has one new episode left.  So after tonight, we won’t know when we will see a new episode.  It could be later this season or it could be next year.  Grey’s Anatomy, another Thursday night favorite of mine, has only four episodes left to air.  My Name Is Earl, which I have never watched (nor do I have the desire to) also has only 4 episodes left.  It also happens to be another Thursday show.  Thursday’s future is looking rather bleak at the moment. 

Here’s a few suggestions on what to do with the sudden increase in free time:

1.  Catch up on shows you’ve always wanted to watch, but never got around to.  I will be watching How I Met Your Mother Season 2.  When that runs out, I might give Heroes Season 1 another try.  I can name so many shows that have sparked my interest only to be squashed by a lack of free time. 

2.  Play those old favorites.  If you’re like me then you have an abundance of television shows on DVD.  Rewatching my favorite shows of all-time is something that I do every once in awhile.  I’ll start completely from scratch and get through every season I have.  First on my list?  Veronica Mars, of course!

3.  Watch a show you feel luke-warm about.  There were a few other shows this season that I thought about watching, but ultimately decided against.  Most shows these days have their episodes online (streaming) so you don’t have to pay to watch them.  Who knows?  One of those shows you were on the fence about could turn out to be a new favorite.  Suggested viewing list: Journeyman (for those of you who aren’t already watching), Bionic Woman, Life, Dirty Sexy Money (despite the cheesy name, I have heard positive things), Women’s Murder Club, Samantha Who

4.  Watch an online show.  The creator of My So-Called Life has a new show “Quarterlife” about a group of friends in their 20’s.  I think the webisodes are rather short, but it is something to do. 

5.  When all else fails, read a book.  Reading is fun!  It’s not just for future librarians (!) and bookworms.  As much as I love television, sometimes reading is so much more rewarding (and entertaining).  Also, unless the book you’re reading is part of a series, you won’t have to wait a week to find out what happens. 

Do you have any suggestions on what to do with all this time we’ve got on our hands?

Thoughts on the WGA strike

All of you are probably aware of the current situation with the Writers Guild of America (henceforth WGA) strike.  As a blogger of not just television shows, but also news, I feel that I owe it to my four or five regular visitors to discuss this strike.  I’ve waited until now because I just found the time to dig around for news and facts.  I wanted to make sure I had the facts at least somewhat straight.  Admittedly I don’t know much about the WGA and what kind of bonuses they get.  I do know that they are not wealthy people.  I am sure that some writers are wealthy, but it would appear that the vast majority of writers are just like you and me.  They work hard (ok, not like me), and they provide a quality product (wait, I don’t really do that either).  The biggest similarity is the amount of money they earn.  The salary of your average half-hour sitcom staff writer starts at $60,000/year.  I didn’t realize that writers were salaried.  I always thought they were freelance type workers who wrote scripts and submitted them to the network executives and producers.  If the executives and producers should happen to like what they see, they would compensate the writer accordingly.  However, after doing some research I found out that this is rarely the case.  Usually, submitted scripts serve as a way to get your foot in the door.  If it is well-received, you would be more likely hired on a salaried basis rather than paid one lump sum for the script.  As the website SoYouWanna.com (a recommended website from an LA Times article about getting into the writing business and linked above) suggests, the job of a writer can be extremely unstable.  Cancelled shows (abruptly or otherwise) and poor ratings which lead to firings are the main reasons that writing for a sitcom is so challenging and difficult.  Writing for television shows isn’t such a glamorous job after all. 

Now that I have realized that being a writer isn’t as lucrative as I had once thought, it’s time to make sense of what the WGA wants and what the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (henceforth AMPTP) wants.  I think it’s pretty clear that the AMPTP wants to keep the status quo.  Any revenue generated is for the most part kept to themselves.  I also think it’s pretty clear what the writers want.  They want a part of the large chunk of revenue brought in from DVD sales, Internet reuse, and new media (like mobile viewing).  NPR has a brief summary of the situation in case you need to refresh your memory.  Don’t be fooled by the AMPTP homepage though, because they state that WGA members are paid residuals on Internet downloads (permanent or pay-per-view) and that an offer to compensate for Internet streaming (through ad sales and the like) was being discussed before negotiations ended.  This is all true, but the AMPTP fails to address the rate at which the writers are being compensated.  Writers are currently only compensated $0.05 per unit sold.  That’s right!  FIVE CENTS per unit sold on something that doesn’t cost that much to produce in the first place.  Apparently it takes roughly $0.25-$0.35 to physically make a DVD set, yet they are sold for as much as $60 a piece.  $0.05 per unit works out to less than 0.10% of the selling price of one DVD (assuming the selling price is $60.00).  Even if you assume a lower selling price of $30 (by the way, it is difficult to find an entire season of a show on DVD for less than $30), $0.05 per unit is still only 0.16%.  The WGA would like to bump up this rate to $0.10 per unit and apply that to Internet downloads and streaming.  Apparently this is too much for the AMPTP to give up because they refused to do that.  Their argument is that new media and Internet downloading is unstable, and they can’t yet predict market trends.  So what??  The AMPTP would be smart to just let the WGA have their measly $0.10 and be glad that’s all they want. 

It’s impossible to know what kinds of trends will fade out or become a thing of the past, but banking on the Internet becoming even more of a presence in the years to come is a no-brainer.  Think about the number of shows you have purchased in the last year on iTunes.  Think about the number of shows you have watched in the last year through streaming video on the Internet.  Personally, I have downloaded roughly 10 episodes of various television shows, watched two entire seasons through streaming video of Grey’s Anatomy (44 episodes), the entire first season of Friday Night Lights (22 episodes), 1 episode of Survivor, 1 episode of Moonlight, 7 episodes of the Bachelor, 10 episodes of the Hills, 4 episodes of Newport Harbor, and probably 10 episodes of either Real World or a Real World/Road Rules challenge.  I have lost count of how many times I have watched a television show online.  The bottom line is that those are just my numbers.  I am only one person in the enormous population of people who watch television shows online.  I don’t consider myself a media technology freak, but I am certainly, for the most part, media technologically proficient.  What I am saying is that there are plenty of people who probably solely rely on the Internet for viewing their shows, people who were already on their computers anyway. 

I certainly hope the AMPTP knows what they’re getting themselves into because I am definitely concerned for the fate of the 2007-2008 television season.  What’s going to happen when we run out of new episodes?  Plan on an abundance of reality programming this winter.  As we all know, CBS is planning a winter version of Big Brother.  I have to say that while Big Brother is a guilty pleasure of mine, I have no desire in seeing it any time other than the summer.  If we become overexposed to it (which might already be happening), it will cease to be a guilty pleasure.  It will be nothing more than those other reality nightmares on Fox (does “The Swan” ring any bells?).  I don’t see how the networks can think of reality programming as their safety net.  I suppose it’s a backup plan, but it certainly won’t be saving anything.  The only thing that can save this season (and seasons to come, for that matter) is if the AMPTP stops being greedy and shares the billions of dollars in revenue brought in from DVD sales, downloads, Internet streaming, licensed merchandise, etc., etc. with the writers who deserve so much more than they’re getting now.