Writers Strike Day One: No More New Late-Night Talk-Show Episodes for You
If you read Comedy Centric fairly regularly or subscribe to the feed, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve discontinued the weekday post Comedy Talk. This change deserves an explanation.
On Monday at 12:01am, the Writers Guild of America (an umbrella term for the two affiliated organizations the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West) went on strike. This event was in the works for months during continuous and continually unproductive negotiations between the WGA, which represents entertainment screenwriters, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the hundreds of film and television production companies and studios who rely on writers to supply the scripts for their projects.
The main issue in dispute is the archaic payment system that cheats screenwriters out of their fair share of royalties for so-called “new media.” These digital products represent forms of entertainment that were not a major factor or even in existence when the decades-old contract that governs them was agreed upon.
Online video streaming, DVDs, and iTunes selections are all considered new media. WGA members logically and rightfully want a bigger cut of the profits that executives at entertainment production outfits now horde primarily for themselves. The production outfits, of course, want things to continue as usual.
An immediate consequence of Monday’s inevitable strike was the almost equally immediate cessation of production on the nighttime talk shows many viewers turn to for a quick comedy nightcap. This was just as unavoidable as the strike because most of this breed of talk show film live. As a result, they have virtually nothing “in the can” to keep them going during disasters such as the current one.
I toyed with the idea of publishing the weekday Comedy Talk just the same, making note of the relevant guests appearing on the repeats that now comprise the late-night talk-show broadcasts. I decided against this route, however, because I support WGA members 100 percent in their commendable efforts.
The less people watch the redundant shows, the less the advertisers will like the ratings, the less advertisers will pay the networks for airtime, the faster the networks and production outfits will get the message, the faster the networks and production outfits will become reasonable and negotiate equitably, the faster WGA members will receive the royalties they deserve, the faster WGA members will return to work, and the faster consumers will have access to fresh film and television entertainment.
When the production outfits finally give the screenwriters what common sense dictates they should, the strike will end, new episodes of the late-night talk shows—heck, all TV shows—will go into production, guests will return to take the hot seat, and Comedy Talk will begin to inform you again of what’s what and who’s who on the post-11:30pm chatters. Don’t expect this to happen anytime soon, though; money makes everything harder. Yet, the 12,000+ strikers are in for the long haul, and so are their supporters.
Since many daytime talk shows are still airing new installments—for only about a week, though—I’ll continue keeping track of their relevant guests. This will lead to random Comedy Talk posts, as the daytime shows don’t all invite comedy-related personalities everyday.
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POSTED IN: Programming, Talk Shows, Writers Strike
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