Throw Out The Scripts

The Writers Guild of America's strike against movie studios and TV networks has been going on for a week now, with everyone expecting it to go as long as the one in 1988, which was five months. The main sticking point seems to be over compensation for new media (DVDs, the Internet, etc.), for which the writers get nada.

The strike has cast a shadow over the current TV season, with late-night talk shows being the first to go into reruns. NBC unwittingly saved a lot of energy during its "Green Week" by not airing new episodes of Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and "Saturday Night Live".

Fox has already announced that the next chapter of "24" has been pushed back to 2009, on the theory that half a season is not good enough for Jack Bauer freaks.

Other than that, folks might not notice there's a strike going on until January or February, and that's when things might really get interesting. Prime time shows will run out of fresh episodes. You might as well replace the soaps with infomercials. Awards shows will be affected because stars won't cross the picket lines. The race for the White House might change because Leno, Letterman, Stewart and Colbert won't be around to comment on it (and just where do you think some people are getting their news these days?). Reality shows and newsmagazines will rule the tube even though, contrary to popular belief, they do employ writers.

As for the movies, enough product has been written and filmed to last at least through next summer. If the strike drags on, there will be fewer flicks at the local multiplex a year from now.

We're not siding with either labor or management. But doesn't it seem as if, whenever there's a labor dispute in an important industry, both sides secretly want a strike, so they don't try very hard to avoid one?

The writers, studios and networks have more to lose now because entertainment options have changed since 1988. Besides the Internet and DVDs, you have video on cell phones, music to download (legitimately, of course) and videogames to play. So who needs "How I Met Your Mother"?

When the strike is eventually settled (and the directors and actors are taken care of in their new agreements), one thing is for certain: The studios and networks will simply pass on the cost to the consumer in the form of higher prices for DVDs and downloads. So going on strike does have its benefits--except for the ones who end up paying for it.