Writers Guild Strike Poll

Well I suppose that it's high time that I took down the Writers Strike poll since the strike was settled a couple of weeks ago.

If nothing else the poll illustrated the degree to which viewers stood by the writers. Not that that was unexpected of course. There was, I suppose a sense that the writers as a group were being screwed, if only because we know what we pay for DVDs and for the Writers (and the Actors, and >ugh< the Directors) to only get four cents for each Guild contract per unit just doesn't seem right. And the fact that the DVD demand was pulled almost immediately didn't really make a difference because it made the new media issue the big one. And if, as some people suggest, we will get all of our home video through one online technology or other within the next ten years this is going to be huge. The Writers didn't get everything they wanted on this, but they got a foot in the door and will likely be able to push the door open a little further in future contracts. All that's needed is the will.

So to the results. There were 58 voters (but then this ran far longer than most of my polls). I'm going to do this a bit differently, giving the responses in the order that I put them on the poll which also is a gauge of support for the Guild. "With the writers 110%" earned a massive 35 votes for 60% of the total votes cast. "Mostly with the writers but AMPTP has some points on their side" picked up three votes or 5%. There were no votes for "Can't really decide, both sides have good points". "AMPTP is right, although the writers may deserve a little something" picked up three votes or 5%. "Unions suck, crush the union and make the writers negotiate individually or starve" earned six votes or 10% of the voters, from people who are entitled to their opinion but who would get serious arguments from me. Two voters or 3% said "I sincerely have no opinion." Finally nine voters or 16% opted for "I don't give a good God damn. With global warming, war, poverty, and corruption why are you wasting your time writing about TV and striking writers." Maybe they have a point. There are a lot of more serious issues and realistically this strike wasn't going to change the world, no matter what Michael Moore said about it being a great victory for American workers against the bosses. I don't buy it but Moore's got a right to his own opinion. (I included this option because of a very early comment who wrote about one of my Emmy posts, "I have a better question - one that is perhaps more relevant: Who will help poor children in Third World countries eat tomorrow? I suppose the Emmys are more important..." It was just a way of letting people know that I do realise there are more important things than TV. Even though this is what I do and I enjoy writing about, I do realise that it is hardly the most important thing in the world.)

I'm including a little graph showing the voting pattern – mainly because I can ;-) New Poll will come eventually (the strike really screwed up my normal polling schedule).

The Triumphant Return of Short Takes – February 13, 2008

For all intents and purposes the WGA strike is over, so at last I'll have news to report that isn't strike related. But not this time.

Contract details: The actual terms of the contract are available online. Jonathon Handelman for The Huffington Post has a summation and evaluation of what it all means that's really quite interesting and points out wins and losses for the Guild. Here are some of the more interesting points:

• Jurisdiction on New Media: The Guild agreement will be in place for derivative New Media material – for example online material for shows seen on traditional media. For material produced exclusively for New Media Guild jurisdiction comes in once one of a number of budgetary ceilings are met ($15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program or $500,000 per series order). These seem high but are in line with what the Directors Guild of America agreed to. Compensation for derivative New Media is relatively low but more than they've been getting – in many cases that would be nothing. The high thresholds for New Media exclusive material combined with having the compensation for that be negotiable is a bigger problem.
  
• Residuals on New Media: If New Media productions are used on Traditional Media then residuals for television programs apply. New Media exclusive programs that run more than 13 weeks (for ad-supported streaming) or 26 weeks (user-paid downloading, for example iTunes), residuals will be paid.
  
• Residuals for New Media reuse of TV series and movies paid based on a percentage of Distributor's Gross rather than Producer's Gross – this is a very good thing since Distributors' Gross is higher than Producers' Gross and less subject to the sort of creative accounting that Hollywood is infamous for. This applies to Electronic Sell-Through (things like iTunes) and ad supported streaming. Here's where it becomes tricky. Compensation for ad supported streaming of TV is based on 26-week periods. In the first and second year of the contract the rate is fixed and would pay between $1300 and $1400 per year. In the third year of the contract the writers would be paid 2% of the Distributor's Gross, but the Distributor's Gross is capped at $40,000 for hour-long shows and $20,000 for half-hour shows per 26 week period, meaning that the maximum that writers can earn per episode is $1600 per year. Equally problematic is an initial window of 24 days for first season show, reduced to 17 days for other shows, in which residuals won't be paid. This is of course the period of greatest viewership of ad supported streaming material.
  
• Limited "Most Favoured Nation Status": If the Screen Actors Guild gets a better deal than what was negotiated with the Writers Guild in specific areas, the Writers will get that deal. Two things make this problematic. First the specific areas are the New Media provisions of the contract – if SAG improves its provisions on DVD residuals, which they will be focussing on, the writers don't benefit from that. Second, this was a handshake agreement and not written down.
  

On the whole it doesn't seem to be a terrible deal, and it does seem to mark a step back by AMPTP in some areas, particularly Distributor's Gross. There is a school of thought that says that a good labour deal is one in which no one is particularly happy. In that case this is probably a good deal. I just wonder if some of the provisions – the high ceilings on new media to grant WGA jurisdiction, the long initial window on ad supported streaming, and the cap on the amount of Distributor's Gross, will make this a better deal for the Producers than the writers. I'm also left to wonder if the Writers will be willing to "go to the mattresses" (a wonderful phrase from writer Mario Puzo in The Godfather) again in three years to improve on this deal. Time alone will tell.

Backdoor cancellations and renewals:
Michael Ausiello has produced a mostly comprehensive list of shows and when we'll be seeing new episodes, if ever. Now I don't vouch for the complete accuracy of Ausiello's list simply because I don't know if the networks – which of course have final say on everything related to the renewal of shows – have come up with it, but there is some interesting stuff here. The list of shows can basically be split into four groups: shows where new episodes will be shot for this season; shows which won't have new episodes until next fall; shows whose status is "to be determined" which I assume means that they'll either make new episodes for this season or hold it over till next fall; and shows described as "No new episodes expected. Ever." That's cancellation to you and me. In addition to Ausiello's list I've added some more shows from other sources So here is the status of the shows as I write this (apparently this literally changes hour to hour for the TBD shows and presumably shows he doesn't have listed):

• New episodes for this season:
  30 Rock, Back To You, Big Bang Theory, Boston Legal, Brothers & Sisters, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI New York, Desperate Housewives, ER, The Game, Ghost Whisperer, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, House, How I Met Your Mother, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,
  Lost, Medium, Moonlight, My Name Is Earl, NCIS, Numb3rs, The Office, One Tree Hill, Reaper, Rules Of Engagement, Samantha Who?, Saturday Night Live, Shark, Smallville, Supernatural, Two And A Half Men, Ugly Betty, Without A Trace.
  
• No new episode until the Fall:
  24 (January 2009 actually), Aliens In America, Chuck, Dirty Sexy Money, Everybody Hates Chris (they shot the complete season before the strike), Heroes, Life, Men In Trees, New Adventures Of Old Christine, Pushing Daisies.
  
• To Be Determined:
  Bones (unclear whether additional episodes will be produced for this season), Cane (No new episodes this season, future beyond this season TBD), Friday Night Lights (no new episodes this season, future beyond this season TBD), Las Vegas (Ausiello says no new episodes for this season but the San Jose Mercury-News says "Has probably rolled the dice for the last time.", October Road (future beyond the existing pre-strike episodes uncertain), Prison Break (future beyond the existing pre-strike episodes uncertain), Private Practice (Slim chance that it could return with 4 or 5 new episodes this season but will be back in the Fall for sure), Scrubs ("Four pre-strike episodes remain. Four additional episodes will likely be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC or go straight to DVD"), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (future beyond the existing pre-strike episodes uncertain), The Unit (No new episodes this season, future beyond this season TBD), Women's Murder Club (no new episodes this season, future beyond this season TBD).
  
• No new episodes expected. Ever. (aka cancelled): Big Shots, Bionic Woman, Carpoolers, Cavemen, Girlfriends (No additional episodes expected, although a special one-hour series finale is being discussed – this was planned),
  Journeyman, K-Ville, Life Is Wild.
  

No huge surprises on the cancelled list, well perhaps with the exception of Journeyman. Life Is Wild was a good family show of the sort that people like the PTC say the public is clamouring for to counteract all the sex and violence on TV but the ratings weren't just in the toilet, they were swirling after being flushed. It was rare when the show managed a million viewers. Me, I blame The CW's programmers for putting it up against everyone else's family friendly programs, like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Amazing Race, and Sunday Night Football.

According to MediaWeek, "Viewers can expect to see ABC bring back new episodes of its highest-rated, veteran scripted shows this spring, but not its three, already renewed freshman Wednesday night shows that won't be back until the fall, or its average-rated series for which a decision has yet been made for next season." The article adds, "Boding well for the return of the fence-sitting scripted shows on ABC [Men in Trees, Boston Legal, October Road, Women's Murder Club, Cashmere Mafia, Eli Stone] and the other broadcast networks, however, is that it is questionable about how many new scripted shows can be developed and ready for the fall, unless the official start of the season is delayed. This may result in front-end 13 episode orders for some series that normally might not have strong enough ratings to return."

NBC wants to change the TV world: The rest of this post is going to be about NBC, a network that has spent the strike period aggravating my colon, and with a colon like mine aggravation is the last thing I want. It would be nice to say that what has been aggravating me has all spewed from the mouth of Jeff Zucker, and to be fair a lot of it has. First off, back in late January Jeff Zucker announced that NBC wasn't going to do upfronts for the 2008-09 season. According to Zucker they wouldn't hold the big announcement event at Radio City, but would use the time "sell the inventory." According to an article in Variety Zucker told The Financial Times, "Things like that are all vestiges of an era that's gone by and won't return." He also stated in another interview with Reuters that, "When people say the upfront, there are two things: One is the dog-and-pony show at Radio City and the second is the way we sell the inventory. The way that we sell the inventory in an upfront selling period is not going to change. Whether we still need to do the dog-and-pony show is completely under review here and you can look for an announcement on that from us very soon." In his Financial Times interview he made this broad statement: "I think there were a tremendous number of inefficiencies in Hollywood and it often takes a seismic event to change them, and I think that's what's happened here," adding that "the development process will change forever."

The next day Zucker announced that NBC would no longer make pilots for new shows. Well to be exact he said there'd be one or two new shows a year that might have a pilot made for them but for the most part shows would be selected in some other manner. Of course he didn't make it clear how the new shows would be picked. Speaking to the New York Times Zucker stated offered a couple of reasons; NBC's own financial status (Zucker: "Sometimes you see the world from a different perspective when you're flat on your back. At NBC Entertainment we've been flat on our backs for the last few years.") and the developing U.S. recession. One point that Zucker made that is very valid is that pilots often have nothing to do with the program that will actually be seen. The money is going into the pilots rather than the shows themselves. In the past couple of years we've seen this with shows like Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and this year with Bionic Woman which had a stunning pilot which the show didn't live up to. But what replaces the pilot process as a means of selecting what new shows will air? Do you submit story summaries and sample scripts? Do you shoot some sample scenes? And how do you sell shows to advertisers when you don't actually have something real (or on a reel) to show them?

Finally, at the NATPE meeting at the end of January, Zucker stated in a speech that "Broadcasters can no longer spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on pilots that don't see the light of day or on upfront presentations or on deals that don't pay off. And we can't ignore international opportunities, VOD (video-on-demand) or the Web." He added, "It's not about making less programs; it's about making less waste." The model he looks towards, in a way, is reality shows. According to the Reuters article, "NBC will order fewer pilots and start ordering more projects straight to series – 'those that our executives really believe in' – similar to the model for reality shows," although this apparently does not mean that NBC will be out of the scripted program business. It may mean an end – at NBC at least to the traditional September to May programming season, as NBC moves to a year round schedule. The Reuters article stated that Zucker, "admitted that the Peacock will be 'on its own' doing this at first but said its success would be followed by other networks."

Frankly I cringe more than a little when I read things like this coming from Jeff Zucker. Many of NBC's woes are in fact a result of decisions made by Jeff Zucker. If NBC has in fact "been flat on our backs for the last few years," then Zucker can see the person responsible when he looks in his mirror every day. Zucker's decision making process has seen the network throwing money at successful high profile programs (Friends, Frasier) while not developing solid new shows that would eventually take the place of the high profile shows, so that when Friends eventually ended there wasn't an established show to take its place, there was Joey, a show based on the rather dubious premises that people wanted to see one of the characters from a successful ensemble show without the rest of the ensemble.

According to Reuters, Zucker pointed out that "NBC Universal's cable network USA ordered five pilots during the past two years, four of which made it to series and two of which became the top-rated new cable shows of 2006 (Psych) and 2007 (Burn Notice). Yet none of the new scripted series that have debuted on the broadcast networks so far this season can be considered successful, and only two in the previous season – NBC's Heroes and ABC's Brother & Sisters – were hits." The problem is that he doesn't offer any explanation as to why those cable shows were hits or why the company chose the shows it did to have pilots made. The answer would seem to be based on who is selecting the shows to be made into series at USA, but it could just as easily be the nature of cable programming which tends to have shorter runs but a fixed number of episode because cable programming doesn't seem to be as ratings dependent, or be overseen by executives ready to pull the plug at the first sign of a weak rating.

So when Zucker says something like, "things like that are all vestiges of an era that's gone by and won't return," (referring to the upfronts) he would seem to lack a degree of credibility since he in part is one of the people responsible for making the process the way it is. And when Zucker says this: "This system has been around for 20, 30, 40 years and needs to evolve. We're willing to make chances and learn from our mistakes as we go," you have to wonder whether – based on his track record – he's being a genius or a bum. He may be right in that the whole system could probably use an overhaul to make it less costly and more efficient and effective. The real question is whether what Zucker is proposing is the right direction to take whether it is too much of a revolution and not enough of an evolution.

Silverman not hopeful about Friday Night Lights: Or it may be that he just doesn't like Friday Night Lights no matter what he says. Asked about the show by Radaronline he first told the interviewer to watch 30 Rock because it, and not Friday Night Lights was the best show on television. When the interviewer pressed him on it, Silverman said this: "I love it. You love it. Unfortunately, no one watches it. That's the thing with shows. People have to watch them. We're NBC, we have a reputation to uphold. And, man, with this writers' strike ... well, we'll see what we can do. But start watching 30 Rock." Silverman is right at least in part (and no, it's not the part about 30 Rock being the best show on TV). Ratings for Friday Night Lights have been less than spectacular. Part of that can be blamed on putting the show on Friday nights when high school football fans are off watching high school football or other high school sports. And, as I've said enough times about Arrested Development the networks are businesses and can't keep shows on the air that don't draw an audience. Still there is something about his attitude, embodied both by his demand that we "start watching 30 Rock," and by his statement that "we're NBC, we have a reputation to uphold," that makes me really uncomfortable about this guy and his motives. Currently, when you speak of NBC's "reputation" what you're really speaking about is a string of low ratings finishes as a network and an inability to find audiences for many of its shows. Before that – and I suppose I really mean before Jeff Zucker started his reign as head of entertainment programming which led to bigger and better things (for him anyway) – well that part really doesn't matter. I suspect that part of the problem is that Friday Night Lights is a legacy of the previous Kevin Reilly regime at the network, a show which Silverman wouldn't have put on the air in the first place and if he had had his choice would never have renewed for a second season. 30 Rock is another legacy of the Reilly era, but the difference is that

I am not entirely convinced by the way that renewing the series for the second season was a good idea, but that attitude is prejudiced by what I know about the second season and most importantly about the impact the strike has had on the show. If the series had ended at the end of the first season we, the viewers, would have at least had a sense of completion – the Panthers had won the State Championship, Matt and Julie were dating, Riggins's relationships were a mess, Tami was pregnant, Eric had his dream job, and so on. If the series is cancelled at the end of this season, given NBC's statement that they will not be making more episodes this season despite the end of the Writers strike, we are robbed of this sense of closure.

Dumb lawsuit Hollywood style: This one comes from Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. It was initially reported that NBC would be suing the Writers Guild of America over the cancellation of the Golden Globe Awards Show which was to air on NBC but this has subsequently been amended when it was discovered that Jeff Zucker told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions that the network would not be joining in their legal action. NBC cancelled the show when it became clear that the WGA would picket any event and that the Screen Actors Guild would honour the WGA picket lines. Initially the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions considered suing NBC over the cancellation but then opted to sue the WGA and asked NBC if they would be interested in joining the suit. There does seem to be a question of exactly when he said no – NBC says it was when they were initially approached but other sources say that it actually occurred after Frinke's initial report which included a bit of rather scathing editorializing about Zucker ("I say that if this happens then the WGA should countersue the NBC Universal midget for impersonating a mogul (and the HFPA for impersonating a legitimate news organization)."). No matter who is initiating the suit, it has to be one of the dumbest things ever. Dick Clark Productions was an organization that was legally being struck by the Writers Guild and even an event as traditionally loosely structured as the Golden Globes requires writers. The cancellation of this event and the threatened cancellation of the Academy Awards are the two vital pieces of leverage that brought AMPTP to the bargaining table. I'm not a lawyer but this suit sounds like it doesn't have a leg to stand on. Then again, given the state of the legal system in the United States, who knows.

On the Ninth Day Of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas my true loved (Television) gave to me – nine shows to look forward to?! (Man you can tell that I'm reaching now!)

Okay, so we're in the middle of a strike which seems like a war to the death, and it's not helped by guys like Jimmy Kimmel who on his first show back came across like that androgynous "Britney" lover (was that a guy? A girl? Did it know? Do I care? – Yeah, so maybe the answer to that last one was NO! but I'm just saying.). In case you didn't see his show Kimmel was upset that the WGA was picketing Conan and Jay's studios (no mention of his show, which may say a whole lot) and the president of the Screen Actors Guild (Alan Rosenberg though Kimmel didn't bother to mention him by name) had called on his members not to appear on their shows. It was so unfair! They don't understand; Jay had been out on the lines, Jay paid his staff when they were out and Conan did too! And those actors are working on movies! Those movies have writers! Actors have to cross picket lines to work on those movies. They should go on Dave and Conan's shows! It's so unfair! Okay, so Kimmel wasn't as crazed as that made it sound (though it would have made a great comedy bit; course that would have required writers because I don't think Jimmy's good enough to figure that one out on his own) but he clearly doesn't get it. Movie projects currently shooting were completed before the strike began. And painful though it may be to the actors their contract doesn't have a clause that says that they aren't allowed to cross picket lines so if their movie is shooting they are contractually obligated – unlike talk show hosts let alone talks show guests – to go to work.

Anyway, we are in this strike to the death but that doesn't mean that there aren't new shows – it just means that a lot of them are going to be a steaming pile of crap. Here are just nine of the shows that we have to look forward to in next four months.

First up there's Celebrity Apprentice (debuts January 3, 2008). The Apprentice, but with famous people! Because you know you've always wanted to see famous people do product placement while raising money for charity. Of course the definition of famous and celebrity is in flux on this one. I mean look at this star studded cast list:

• Gene Simmons of Kiss (but more recently playing straight man to Shannon Tweed and their kids in Gene Simmons' Family Jewels).
  
• Stephen Baldwin (saner than his brother Daniel but not as stable as Alec or Billy – and no relation to Adam).
  
• Lennox Lewis, the last undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world (and a darn smart fellow if for no other reason than because he quit while he was ahead and hasn't made any noises about coming back).
  
• Trace Adkins, country singer.
  
• Piers Morgan, newspaper man, talent judge (?) on America's Got Talent (which would have been much better in this time slot than bringing Trump back).
  
• Tito Ortiz, Ultimate Fighting champ (apparently there's real money in that).
• Vincent Pastore, Big Pussy on The Sopranos (the who man found training for Dancing With The Stars to be too strenuous).
  
• Carol Alt, model (and "Hockey Annie" – she was married to Ron Greschner and is now in a "commited relationship" with Alexi Yashin).
  
• Nadia Commenici, Olympic gymnast (Bart Conner's most recent "perfect 10," sorry but I can't say anything snarky about the lady).
  
• Tiffany Fallon, former Playboy Playmate of the Year (married to Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flats and expecting a baby in May – she also gets a pass on the snarky).
  
• Marilu Henner, actress (and a redheaded dancer – I've been in love with her for decades).
  
• Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, former Apprentice contestant (Trump is obviously into recycling).

Well, I suppose it's something new to watch while waiting the return of Lost and you can bet there'll be much fun to be had watching egos clashing, but can I really recommend it? Nah.

Passing over the revival of American Gladiators (though admit it, you'll be watching if only because you watched as a kid) we come to Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Anne. In which Dancing With The Stars judges Carrie Anne Inaba (with whom I am also in love – I do like dancers) and Bruno Tonioli form dance teams (there are dance teams?) made up of people who can sing and dance. Then the teams compete head to head in various forms of dance each week, with the losing team captain (Bruno or Carrie Anne) forced to cut a member of their team. Naturally the loser is determined by viewer voting. Needless to say this reality-competition show is not an original idea. Production company BBC Worldwide is adapting a BBC show called DanceX which featured dance teams put together by Tonioli and fellow Strictly Come Dancing (the British inspiration for Dancing with the Stars) judge Arlene Phillips. I am so glad this airs on my bowling night so I can probably avoid it.

Something I don't want to avoid is Commanche Moon, what is being described as the final chapter in Larry McMurtry's Lonsome Dove saga (chronologically it's the second story in the series but it was the most recently written). Starring Karl Urban as Woodrow Call and Steve Zahn as Gus McCrae, the cast also includes Val Kilmer, Wes Studi and Adam Beach. The mini-series airs over three nights, January 13, 15 and 16 on CBS. A definite must see as far as I'm concerned.

Cashmere Mafia on ABC debuts on January 6^th before moving to its regular Wednesday time slot. This is yet another one of ABC's "relationship" series, focussing on the lives and loves (I actually typed "lives and lovers" there, which when I think of it is probably equally valid) of four "ambitious and sexy" women who have been friends since business school. The show has an attractive cast with Lucy Liu, Bonnie Sommerville, Miranda Otto, and Francis O'Connor, and it was created by Darren Starr, who produced – among other things – Sex And The City, a show which this bears more than a slight resemblance to. You know minus the nudity and the extremely salty language, because after all this is broadcast TV. For me the problem is that ABC in particular has put out a lot of shows in this vein over the past couple of years – they apparently have a stated policy against new "procedurals" which has mostly held (if you don't count Women's Murder Club as a procedural which I'm kind of undecided about) which is fine if the show works like Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, and even Men In Trees. Trouble is you keep getting shows like October Road and Big Shots which don't work. I suspect that Cashmere Mafia will be closer to Big Shots than Sex And The City in terms of how well the audience takes to it.

And speaking of Sex And The City the author of the novel on which that show was based is back with another novel that has been turned into a TV series. Lipstick Jungle debuts on February 7^th on NBC and is the adventures of Wendy, Nico and Victory (played by Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price respectively) who are three New York's "50 most powerful women" (as defined by the New York Post). Why do I get the sense that Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle will be about as interchangeable as the words in their names, and probably about as successful.

ABC has an lawyer series called Eli Stone which will air on Thursdays' third hour following Lost! starting on January 31^st. The show has an excellent cast which includes British actor Jonny Lee Miller, Victor Garber, and Natasha Henstridge. Even with this cast I don't have much confidence in this one based entirely on the description given in the show's Wikipedia entry: "Co-written by Marc Guggenheim and Greg Berlanti, the series was described by Berlanti in Variety magazine as 'a Field of Dreams-type drama set in a law firm where a thirty-something attorney begins having larger-than-life visions that compel him to do out-of-the-ordinary things.' Pop Star George Michael will also appear on the show and each episode will be named after a song of his." Yeah, I'm sure the American public would stream to that if there weren't for the writers' strike ...or even with the WGA strike.

FOX may be the network best set up for this strike if only because they've been edging away from the traditional season format for a while with shows being deliberately saved for the second half of the traditional season. And this year scripted shows probably won't get that "two episodes and replaced with a reality series" treatment that has been the standard from FOX in previous years (remember Drive). They'll be stringing new series debuts out over the next four months, presumably based on the number of episodes they were able to get written before the strike. The first of the new dramatic series to debut is also one of the most anticipated, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which brings the already incredibly tangled Terminator movie franchise to TV. It debuts on January 13^th before moving to its permanent time Monday time on January 14^th. In all honesty I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the Terminator franchise, although I really liked the first film as one of the great "chase" movies of all times. The trouble is that each sequel makes the timeline more convoluted. Still this one stars Summer Glau from Firefly as "Cameron," John Connor's latest Terminator bodyguard. Playing River Tam on Firefly is definite proof of her ass-kicking credentials. Still I'm more than a little dubious of how this show is going to come together.

Another FOX series that I'm interested in is New Amsterdam which debuts on February 22^nd. The series was originally on the FOX Fall Schedule but was pull just before it was to premiere. This was seen by some as a sign that the show might not be very good. This sense was heightened when the network shut down production on the series after seven episodes were completed although they indicated that the decision could be reversed, though that seemed highly unlikely to observers. The premise sounds vaguely promising; a 17^th Century Dutch soldier granted immortal life (or at least until he found his "true love") in return for saving the life of a female Native American shaman. He lives his life today as a police detective but when he suffers a heart attack he realises that his "true love" is living right now. The premise seems to have elements of Highlander mixed with vampire shows like Forever Knight, Angel, and Moonlight. It sound like it could be interesting. If anything the fact that FOX executives pulled the plug on it after seven episodes makes it seem even more attractive; these are after all the people who cancelled Firefly, John Doe, Wonderfalls, Tru Calling and Drive but kept The War At Home on for two seasons.

The fact that FOX has a number of scripted series waiting to debut doesn't mean they don't also have a well stocked supply of "unscripted" series. They wouldn't be FOX if they didn't. Besides the juggernaut that is American Idol (debuting January 15^th and 16^th) the big new show is The Moment Of Truth. Hosted by Mark L. Wahlberg it is based on a British show (of course) hosted by Jerry Springer! Before the show contestants are hooked up to a polygraph machine and asked between 50 and 70 questions. Then on the show itself the contestants are again asked 21 of the questions they had previously answered which the player must answer honestly, as determined by the polygraph results. The questions become increasingly personal the more that are asked. One "lie" and the player walks away with nothing, but if they answer all 21 questions correctly they can win $500,000. In other words if the polygraph detected a lie (not necessarily the same thing as actually lying, given the reliability of polygraph machines) and you gave the same answer to a question on the show, you would lose. I'm not sure about this one. I suppose it could work, depending on the questions, given society's fascination with the sleazier side of life, but part of me can't imagine them asking that sort of question. And part of me is glad of that.

So there you are, nine of many shows that you can watch – or not watch – this spring while waiting for this accursed strike to either end or expand.

On The First Day Of Christmas...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love (Television) gave to me....An end to this cycle of strikes.

Yeah I said cycle. It obviously started with the Writers Guild strike and both the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild are going to be in a position to strike at the end of June.

Really I am currently full of fear and dread about the Writers Guild strike. It came on me suddenly when I read something on Christmas Eve from Nikki Finke. Nikki has long been adamant on the side of the writers to the point where a Disney/ABC seminar on the strike referred to her as "Tokyo Rose". (She felt insulted by the comparison, but I for one think she should wear it as a symbol of pride; she is feared so much by the "moguls" that they feel obliged to denigrate her.) So it was with a certain amount of shock that I read the following in Deadline Hollywood Dateline in an article about an attempt by Jeffrey Katzenberger:

But the fact that it was unsuccessful dramatically points up disturbing realities, I have learned: that the CEOs are deeply entrenched in their desire to punish the WGA for daring to defy them by striking and to bully the writers into submission on every issue, and that the writers are sadly misguided to believe they have any leverage left. I'm told the moguls are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well. Indeed, network orders for reality TV shows are pouring into the agencies right now. The studios and networks also are intent on changing the way they do TV development so they can stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to see just a few new shows succeed. As for advertising, the CEOs seem determined to do away with the upfront business and instead make their money from the scatter market. I'm sorry to break this disappointing development right before Christmas, but I pledged to stay objective in my reporting and I can't ignore this major news development. The truth often hurts. But don't blame the messenger.

She adds:

I am now convinced that the 8 Big Media moguls pretty much have a vice-like grip on how this strike will get settled. And virtually no amount of external pressure will force their hand. I know from my many years of reporting on labor negotiations in the U.S. and abroad that, in any new contract negotiation, there is one watershed moment when the union and the companies can move the flag down the field in a meaningful way before ego, rhetoric, and the passage of time get the better of everyone involved. Has that moment come and gone? I honestly don't know, but if it hasn't, then it's soon -- very soon.

And that's coming from someone who is generally regarded as a friend to the Guild, or at least a more honest reporter than the "trades" which after all make their money from advertising from the studios. I don't know about you guys but for me, as a supporter of the Writers Guild, that's really scary stuff. Over my years of observing labour negotiations it has always seemed that the one thing that has let to strike settlements has been the realization on the part of industry that they can't go on without a skilled and trained labour force, and that the corporate bottom line will not sustain a long labour dispute. The Big 8, as Nikki Finke, calls them and particularly the TV network executives seem unconstrained by this. Not having to pay those pesky writers and going with "unscripted" reality shows might actually help make the fourth quarter financial statement look rosier than it would without the writers. And we as fans of good (or even just adequate) scripted television are relegated to the sidelines and no amount of sending pencils to the networks or the studios is going to change that. What will have an influence – and probably a very major influence – is if first quarter (and probably second quarter) revenues for the networks take a nosedive. And that means that American TV viewers (because we simple Canadians have no influence at all on American ratings) will have to reject the pap that the networks are going to be offering. Worst of all, if the Directors Guild settles a contract before the Writers Guild then that becomes the model for the rest of the industry. And the Directors Guild has a long history of being "friendly" to the producers; being a good little union that hardly ever strikes.

I really hate that the first of these pieces is such a downer.

Short Takes – December 16, 2007

Some interesting stuff came up this week, some strike related and some not so much. Okay most everything these days is strike related, but you know what I mean.

Oh, and by the way, this is for Phish, who made a comment on an earlier post. Before I reveal the comment let me just tell you that Phish is the guy I mentioned last week who commented in TVSquad that the best writers in Hollywood should just go back to work, and that unions in general were un-capitalistic and defied the concept of supply and demand. Not content to troll about the strike on a totally unrelated topic, he decided to pop up here to write the following: "Brent, you are a 2 bit writer and a failure. pls go get a real job and provide for your family for f***s sake! You're such a loser, i feel sorry for you!" (I edited his language). To which all I have to say is that he's about as wrong about this as he is about unions which in my view is pretty wrong. I am not a "2 bit writer"; no one will pay me that much. I have had a couple of articles on wargaming published – and paid for – many moons ago, and that's probably more than Phish can say. I also had my own zine, which had a small but dedicated following. More to the point I don't write as a job, never have. I write as a hobby – some people build model railroads, I write for relaxation. If a little money comes my way, well, I'm grateful but I hardly depend on it. Okay, enough of that.

Journeyman and Bionic Woman cancelled?: The networks haven't exactly been forthcoming with announcements about cancellations. A lot of the "news" that we get have actually been rumours reported by "our sources." Which is all well and good I suppose but it's not like someone from the network sending out a press release saying something like, "This show isn't working so we're kicking it to the curb." We're not getting that this year. For example here's what The Sun says about the cancellation of Bionic Woman (which starred former East Enders favourite Michelle Ryan and therefore of great interest to the Brits): "The ex-EastEnders star stunned Hollywood by landing the lead role in the much anticipated remake of 70s hit The Bionic Woman, but the show is reportedly about to be axed.... A final decision is expected to be announced in the coming weeks." The title of the article though is Bionic Woman Scrapped. And the same thing is true about Journeyman; E!'s Watch With Kristin has an article titled Exclusive: Journeyman's Journey Is Over but what she reports is basically rumour: "Sources tell me tonight that Journeyman has been closed down. No word yet on whether the series' final two episodes will air as scheduled next Monday and Wednesday on NBC, but we can all keep our fingers crossed."

Now I have no doubt that both of these shows are toast, and a big sign came when Chuck and Life got their "back nines" but Journeyman and Bionic Woman didn't. Neither show was getting spectacular ratings, with Bionic Woman debuting with 14 million viewers but after eight episodes dropping to 6 million. At least in the case of Journeyman – which draws about the same number of viewers or a few hundred thousand less – the blame can quite certainly be placed on CSI: Miami. There hasn't been a series yet that has been able to stand up to that juggernaut on either NBC or ABC.

I don't know about Journeyman, a show which seems to have developed the sort of fan base that sends nuts to TV executives – or in the case of Journeyman boxes of Rice-a-roni (the San Francisco treat – the show is set in San Francisco). It's on Monday night and I'm one of those people who tapes CSI: Miami on my bowling night. Bionic Woman, on the other hand is a case of expectations not being met. And while it's easy to blame the lead actress (Ryan normally speaks with a British accent and I've heard the rather absurd assertion that Ryan can't do an American accent and act at the same time), the problems with the show lie a lot deeper. Part of it is the writing but in my opinion at least the entire concept was wrong. Revived by David Eick who was one of the producers of Battlestar Galactica, like Galactica the original Bionic Woman was also a show created by Glenn Larson, so naturally but probably unrealistically viewers expected this revival to be as spectacular as the revival of Galactica. The problem is that I'm fairly convinced (and was convinced when the show debuted) that there wasn't as much you could do with the concept of Bionic Woman. What are you really able to do with a woman with replacement parts today that you couldn't do in the 1970s. I suppose you could make the character darker – I suspect that was the real attraction of Katie Sackoff's character Sara Corvus who was an almost immediate fan favourite – but how do you make a darker protagonist attractive to audiences from week to week. Instead Jamie Summers on the 2007 revival of Bionic Woman was essentially an innocent thrust into the world of spying for which she was truly unprepared, just as the original Jamie was. I think the public wanted something more.

Late shows going back soon?: This is another area where rumours abound, although there is one aspect that is out of the realm of rumours. I'll get into that one in the next item because it's an interesting one. The reports are that at least some of the major late night talk shows will be returning towards the beginning of January 2008. Variety is reporting that, "the betting in network circles is that several hosts will be back on the air by Jan. 7, if not sooner," possibly with Letterman, Leno, Ferguson and O'Brien coming back at the same time. It seems more likely however that Leno and O'Brien will be coming back for sure: "Latenight insiders, however, believe Leno and O'Brien are most likely to return in early January, no matter what Letterman decides. NBC has to be concerned about the plunging ratings for both shows, which in recent weeks have lost nearly half their audience." While Kilborn's show has been doing well with audiences, he is financially the least secure of the late night hosts, and according to Nikki Finke, the financial strain of paying at least some of the salaries for "below the line employees" of his show may have pushed him to the edge of bankruptcy so that if the others go back without writers, he may well be forced to as well.

Here's an interesting thought. While the networks may well feel that they're winning a victory over the WGA by forcing the late night talk shows back into production, this can be a double edged sword if Leno, O'Brien and Kimmel make sure that everyone knows that they're doing this under protest, that they need their writers, that the shows aren't going to be as funny without the writers, and particularly if the shows suck without the writers, this could help strengthen the support, or at least the understanding, of the writers' cause amongst the general public.

Letterman and Ferguson back with writers?: This item has a lot sounder basis in fact, and it may spell considerable trouble for the other talk shows. On Saturday the WGA announced that they would be open to offering "interim agreements" to independent producers and any of the media companies that sought to break ranks. Previously they had offered such agreements to the Kennedy Center Honours and to the Screen Actors Guild Awards. An interim agreement, as explained by Mark Evanier is when, "an independent producer says, in effect, "If you'll take me off the Strike List and let my writers return to work, I'll agree to your terms." There are variations on how these pacts are structured but in most cases, the Indie has a Favored Nations option. That is, he signs a new contract that the WGA draws up and then when we make our deal with the AMPTP — a deal which presumably will have more favorable terms for a Producer — the Indie can elect to switch to that. In any case, the principle is that they agree to sign with us, we go back to work at that studio and then, whenever the new contract is finalized, it displaces the interim agreement." The first producer to announce that he will be seeking an interim agreement is David Letterman's company Worldwide Pants, producer of The Late Show and The Late Late Show, and while there may be hitches it looks as though the WGA seems inclined to make the deal.

Why can Letterman make this deal and Leno and the others can't and, more to the point, why would the WGA be willing to accept Letterman's offer? The first point is fairly simple to answer; Letterman has followed Johnny Carson's practice and owns his show outright through his production company. CBS only serves as the show's distributor. According to the Tonight Show website Leno's production company Big Dog Productions does the show "in association with NBC Studios." Similarly Conan O'Brien produces Late Night with Conan O'Brien through his company Conaco with Broadway Video (Lorne Michaels's company), "in association with NBC Universal Television Studios" and Jimmy Kimmel Live is produced by Jackhole Productions (which Kimmel owns in partnership with Adam Carolla and producer Daniel Kellison) "in association with ABC Studios." This means that Letterman can make a deal for his show and Craig Ferguson's without the intervention from CBS. And as Mark Evanier points out Letterman is pretty much immune from the issues that AMPTP considers deal killers (the issues that they used as an excuse to pull out of the negotiations): "Letterman, of course, doesn't have to worry about some of the "deal killer" issues that are presently said to be an obstacle to a WGA/AMPTP settlement. He doesn't produce any "reality" shows. He doesn't produce any cartoons. Excerpts from his shows do stream on the Internet via the CBS site but that could be curtailed or kept within a window that the WGA would agree was promotional. There are, as yet, no DVDs of old episodes of Dave's show." As to why the Guild is willing to make a deal with Letterman, beyond the fact that it's a crack in the wall (albeit a tiny one) but Letterman – a veteran of the '88 strike who came back without writers when Carson did – has also been extremely loyal to his workers. As Rob Burnett, the producer of The Late Show with David Letterman describes it, "Worldwide Pants has always been a writer-friendly company. Dave has been a member of the WGA for more than 30 years, and I have been a member for more than 20." According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, not has Letterman been paying his non-writing staff (about $300,000) but he also pays the rent on the Ed Sullivan Theater and insurance costs of 200+ employees. According to a source, "triple that figure [the $300,000] and you'll be close to what he's been shelling out a week for six weeks. I'm tired of everyone being lumped together for taking roughly the same out-of-pocket hit. It's not close." If nothing else that builds up a huge amount of good will. For their part CBS seems a bit conflicted over this. In a press release, CBS stated, "We respect the intent of Worldwide Pants to serve the interests of its independent production company and its employees by seeking this interim agreement with the WGA. However, this development should not confuse the fact that CBS remains unified with the AMPTP, and committed to working with the member companies to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with the WGA that positions everyone in our industry for success in a rapidly changing marketplace." In other words, they're happy that Letterman wants to come back with writers (for reasons that will become clear) but want to cover their butts by making it clear that CBS isn't going to be standing in line to make their own interim agreement.

This is a big thing though – assuming of course that the interim agreement is granted – because it puts the late night shows that are going to be at a significant disadvantage when and if they come back without writers. It's not just the obvious either, the lack of monologues and the other services the writers provide for the shows. If you're an actor are you more likely to want to appear on Leno, passing through the WGA picket line and probably being called every name in the book, or would you be more likely to go on Letterman's show, which would not only be a pleasanter experience thanks to the lack of pickets. In fact it could almost be seen as a show of support for the writers to go on Letterman and refuse to be booked with Leno. It's almost a dead certainty that Letterman would be able to get any presidential candidate that he wanted from either party too. And if Leno's show (and Kimmel's, and O'Brien's) are really bad, the public is likely to turn to the shows that have writers, which would mean a significant boost to the ratings of the two Worldwide Pants series.

On animations writers:
Mark Evanier (again), has a nice piece on the reasons why many animation writers probably want to be in the Writers Guild rather than the Cartoonists Guild. The latter is actually Local 839 of IATSE, the one union which seems to be very conciliatory with AMPTP (which is another way of saying kissing their asses) and very opposed to the Writers Guild. The basic point is that Local 839 has rarely served the best interests of animation writers, who seem doomed to be part of the union because of the way that theatrical cartoons were made in the 1940s, without writers per se but with "story men" who developed gags but also worked as artists. For one thing, Local 839 seems far more aligned with people to punch a clock every day (like animators and assistant animators) than it is for writers who don't necessarly work "at the office." Mark points out a couple of horror stories – like a union business agent who responded to a request for assistance on some issues by saying "I'm too busy to bother with you overpaid whiners." In fact, as Mark points out they weren't overpaid, just paid more than the business rep thought they should be. In fact, thanks to Local 839's "bargaining" abilities the writers had a base pay level that even the cheapest companies in the business in the 1980s (starting with Hanna-Barbera) were ashamed to pay. Mark also offers some true horror stories about trying to move writers from the Cartoonist Guild to the Writers Guild, efforts which ultimately failed, but which saw the business rep spending more time chatting with the studio representatives than he did with the people he was supposed to be representing and was in danger of losing. And while the current business agent for Local 839 is far better than his predecessor, there is still a major fight to get animation writers into their "proper" union.

Videos on iTunes Canada: This isn't a strike story except it kind of is in a peripheral sort of way. Earlier this week the Canadian version of the iTunes Music Store began making TV shows available for purchase. It isn't a big selection right now. For one thing there are only thirteen series available at the moment. For another thing, of those, it seems that only about five are American and they aren't the major network series like Cane or Boston Legal. This has a lot to do with precisely which rights Canadian networks buy when they purchase an American series. Currently Canadians can watch the following (shows marked * are American series airing in Canada:

• From CBC: Dragons Den (a show about people trying to get money from entrepreneurs for their inventions/business ideas), Little Mosque On The Prairie, The Rick Mercer Report.
  
• From CTV: Corner Gas, Instant Star, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Robson Arms.
  
• From the Comedy Central (which is owned by CTV): The Sarah Silverman Program*, South Park*, Drawn Together*.
  
• From the NHL: Stanley Cup Classics, NHL Games of the Year.
  
• From MTV Canada (also owned by CTV): The Hills*.
  
• From YTV (or Nickelodeon): Avatar: The Last Air Bender*.
  

Here's where the peripheral aspect of the strike comes into play. For the most part the contract that the Writers Guild of Canada has managed to get with TV producers in Canada has been inferior even to the deal that WGA writers had before the current strike began. However, as Denis McGrath points out in a piece in his blog Dead Things On A Stick this is one area in which Canadian writers have it better. A statement from the WGC explains where the writers stand on revenues from iTunes: "The flow of revenue for use of these programs is governed by the terms of those licence agreements as well as the WGC collective agreement – the Writers IPA. In addition to other payments under the collective agreement, writers have a royalty formula calculated on Distributors' Gross Revenues when a conventional TV show is delivered over any platform, including online. Digital downloads may be included in an original licence between the independent producer who owns the program and the Canadian broadcaster, for which the broadcaster has paid a licence fee. This licence fee forms part of the writer's royalty formula.... In any case, the digital distribution of made for t.v. programs always results in revenue flowing into the writer's royalty formula." In other words the Canadian writers of the shows available on iTunes get a royalty payment (because they retain authorship) when their shows are downloaded. Also, though it doesn't seem to apply for iTunes yet, animation writers are covered under the WCG contract. This of course is one of the six points that AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table when they withdrew from negotiations. Another issue that APMTP was adamant about having removed from negotiations (claiming that it could end up with producers paying out more money than they made from online sales) was the question of using Distributors' Gross Revenues as a basis for payment for online distribution. As you can see, this is something else that the Canadian writers already had. In the terms of handling this area at least, the Canadian contract is ahead of what the union in the US currently has and well ahead of what the Studios and Networks seem willing at present to give them.

Short Takes – December 5, 2007

If all things had been equal, this would have been out on Saturday – Sunday at the latest. Instead I caught a cold and spent Saturday and Sunday going between napping sneezing and blowing my nose. Not a good weekend for me and from the looks of it, between snow and cold temperatures, not that great a week.

Strike 1: This is the main story of course. Last week started optimistically when the two sides actually sat down and started talking. In fact Nikki Frinke, whose Deadline Hollywood Daily has become the source for relatively unbiased news about the strike (I'd say she leans towards the writers but not as much as the established trade papers – Variety and The Hollywood Reporter – lean towards AMPTP) came very close to saying that the strike was over, something which I'm sure she regretted soon after she posted it. On Thursday of last week AMPTP presented their latest offer and the Writers Guild rejected it. And they both did it fairly publicly too with AMPTP sending out a press release saying that they had, "unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels." Among other things they claimed that this "New Economic Partnership" would deliver "more than $130 million in additional compensation."
The Writers Guild response was to reject the proposal claiming that "it dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback."
They specifically pull the program apart piece by piece. And based on the details that the Guild released I can't fault them in the least. Just consider these little nuggets:

• The companies proposed a residual structure of a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun). For theatrical product they are offering no residuals whatsoever for streaming.
  
• For made-for-Internet material, they offered minimums that would allow a studio to produce up to a 15 minute episode of network-derived web content for a script fee of $1,300. They continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction over original content for the Internet.
  
• They made absolutely no move on the download formula (which they propose to pay at the DVD rate), and continue to assert that they can deem any reuse "promotional," and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money).
  

Let's just look at these for a bit. The $250 fee for a year's reuse of an hour-long program online hardly seems fair as compared to the $20,000 fee for a rerun but when you add in the fact that many hour-long series aren't rerun at all (24, and Lost come to mind immediately) while episodes are frequently watched online or purchased on iTunes and it suddenly becomes far more significant. The question of made for the Internet material is also a major point; writers are being asked to accept a one-time only payment for material of 15 minutes or less regardless of how often the material is viewed or how much revenue is generated (through the sale of commercials). The big thing about the download formula – iTunes – isn't so much the question of the DVD rate (after all that is still to be negotiated) but that last part, where the studios and networks "continue to assert that they can deem any reuse "promotional," and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money)." I can't really see any union accepting such a proposal. And in fact they haven't. On Tuesday the Guild made their counterproposal on streaming material. According to their press release the Guild proposes a tiered system of compensation with a base payment increasing as the number of views of the material reaches a specified level: "It's a simple and fair idea – as with a traditional residual structure, there is a basic payment for the right to use content on the internet. And, as the work is used more and more, different tiers of compensation kick in - as the companies make more, the content creator makes more. All we ask is that if the content is a huge hit, our compensation scales upward accordingly. The company and the content creators share in the success."

Of course the economics of the strike aren't restricted to just what the writers want. Jonathon Handel has an interesting piece in The Huffington Post. Handel's major point is that the 4^₵ increase in DVD residuals that the WGA was demanding (I'm not sure if any increase in DVD residuals is still on the table) will actually amount to an increase of 38^₵ to the studios once contracts with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are completed. Why? Because the WGA contract (assuming of course they settle before any of the others) will be the model or pattern upon which the other unions will base their settlements. But, "SAG's formula is three times as large as the WGA's, and the IA's is four and one-half times as large. (The DGA's is the same as the WGA's.) New media formulas can be expected to mirror each other across unions in the same fashion." Meaning that once all the negotiations are completed the studios will actually be paying out 9.5 times what the Writers get (1x to the WGA + 1x for the DGA + 3x for SAG + 4.5x). Handel goes through a lot of figures to prove that for some movies the 38^₵ residual
might in fact be too much. On the other hand his figures "prove" that the increases the Guilds and IATSE want in "new media" eminently affordable (but I have to say I can't really fathom the numbers he uses.

NBC orders back nine: In this season of the strike, orders for a back nine really doesn't matter that much, particularly when it comes after the strike started, but I suppose it's a show of confidence for them that gets them and a distinct lack of confidence for them that don't. The two new shows that NBC gave back nine orders to were Chuck and Life while the shows that haven't had an announced back nine are Journeyman and Bionic Woman. And the fact that, as reported by Cinema Blend the order for the back nine came almost a month after the start of the strike has to mean a great deal to anyone involved with Chuck and Life. Now admittedly there is absolutely no guarantee that another episode of either of these shows will be made (although in the case of Chuck, it seems to have been doing well enough to justify a renewal before the strike) it has to signal something.

Strike 2: The networks aren't exactly sitting on their collective duffs renewing shows that might never be made however. Both CBS and NBC have announced their new Winter Schedules – which can also be called their Strike Schedules. As you might expect they are long on "Reality" Series, Game Shows and programs that the networks were saving in the event that something didn't work with the public (but remember how well – as in not very – those replacement shows worked last year) as well as reruns of existing series where they thought they could get away with it.

NBC will be bringing back 1 vs. 100 (which I confess that I really like) to go along with Deal Or No Deal and The Singing Bee. Clash Of Choirs in which five well known musicians assemble local choirs for competition will air for four nights in December before being replaced by the revival of American Gladiators on January 7^th (though the series debuts the night before). Hosting American Gladiators will be Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. Apparently this resurrection of American Gladiator will be a two hour show. Celebrity Apprentice will be on Thursday night starting January 3^rd in the second hour of primetime, serving as a lead in for the drama series Lipstick Jungle which will replace ER starting in February. Returning from exile on the USA Network will be Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which will precede the original Law & Order on Wednesday night.

CBS will have another season of Survivor as well as the first Winter version of Big Brother. Both debut in February with Big Brother appearing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday nights. The Drew Carey hosted game show Power Of 10 will be seen on Wednesday nights in January before giving over the time slot to Big Brother and the mini-series Comanche Moon which was supposed to air in December will instead be seen on January 13^th, 15^th and 16^th. The seven episode run of Jericho will debut on February 12^th in the third hour of Tuesday night (always a tough time slot for CBS). The New Adventures Of Old Christine will return on January 28^th, replacing Rules of Engagement while a new comedy starring Jeffrey Tambor, The Captain, will replace Big Bang Theory on the same night. CBS programming head Les Moonves has also speculated on the possibility of bringing at least one series, Dexter, over from CBS`s Showtime cable network. CBS has also indicated that they will rerun a large number of their existing series.

What do the presidential candidates watch:
Cinema Blend had this from TV Guide and quite frankly its the sort of thing TV Guide would ask a presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton likes American Idol, Dancing With the Stars and home makeover shows (Extreme Makeover: White House Edition anyone?) while Barack Obama likes M*A*S*H, The Wire and Spongebob Squarepants (he says he watches with his daughter – a likely story). John Edwards likes Boston Legal (hmm, I wonder why) and admits to liking the episodes of Law & Order with Fred Thompson. Thompson on the other hand doesn't list his old series as one of his favourites – he watches ESPN's Sportcenter (obviously one of those actors who can't bear to see himself on screen). Dennis Kucinich – he of the crazy ideas and hot wife – likes The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live and the late night talk shows, although he's probably not watching Carson Daly now that he's back since he says he loves the shows for their brilliant writing. Mitt Romney likes Lost, saying (somewhat incongruously in my opinion) that "if you live a busy life, escape is always welcome." Huh? Finally John McCain identifies with Prison Break because "as a fellow prisoner, I always dreamed and plotted how I would break out of the Hanoi Hilton." You are aware that it's a TV show, and the only ones doing any plotting are the writers, right John?

Strike 3: Who has what left? It seems as though the cupboards are bare for more shows after this week. Unfortunately this list is woefully incomplete but no one seems to have a better one than Michael Ausiello's list which is regularly updated.

0 episodes left (done like dinner)

• Big Bang Theory
  
• Bionic Woman
  
• Heroes
  
• The Office
  

1 episode left (save it for later or eat it now?)

• Criminal Minds (last new episode will air next week)
  
• Shark (last new episode airs this coming Sunday)
  
• Pushing Daisies (last new episode will air next week)
  
• Desperate Housewives (no airing date announced)
  
• How I Met Your Mother (last new episode will air next week)
  

2 episodes left (on the edge)

• Back To You
  
• Grey's Anatomy
  
• My Name Is Earl
  
• Reaper
  
• Private Practice
  
• Chuck
  

3 episodes left (no need to panic)

• 30 Rock
  
• Supernatural (may have as many as 5 left)
  
• CSI
  
• Numb3rs
  
• Bones
  
• House
  
• Brothers & Sisters
  

A TV Show Is Not A Roller Coaster

Admittedly, when you watch them they seem like roller coasters sometimes, based on their rapid ups and downs in terms of creativity and characterization and just general quality, but that's not what this is about. This is about the Writers Strike, and while there seems to be good news in terms of progress on that front The strike is here and now and I am amazed that there are still a handful of people who don't get it.

One statement in particular festers at me. It was from a posting at Blogcritics.org from Dan Uno. In an article titled The WGA Strike: Striking Back at Writers and Producers. The post claims not to be a union busting article, and to be fair he does make a couple of points about how the producers forced the strike and the need to pay the writers more. However, it is his fundamental lack of understanding of the residuals system that drives me to distraction. Here's what he wrote:

I agree that the writers should get paid a fair share, and perhaps even be given a bonus if the show is a hit, but demanding that this money come from DVD sales and Internet broadcasts doesn't jive with me. As an analog consider the following. An amusement park hires an engineering firm to build them a new roller coaster. They agree on a contract, sign off, and the coaster is built. Now, the ride becomes a success and millions of people are going to the amusement park for this particular coaster and buying pictures of the terrifying final dive as souvenirs. Does the amusement park owe the engineering firm a slice of admissions or picture sales generated because of their roller coaster? No, but maybe they do.

As analogies go this one couldn't be more wrong-headed. A roller coaster isn't a TV show and a DVD isn't a photograph of people on the ride.

Let's take a look at how a roller coaster is built and compare it to what happens with a movie or TV show. An amusement park – let's say Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio because they have one of the greatest collections of roller coasters in North America if not the world – orders a new roller coaster. Call them the Studio or the Network (although that's a bit tortured – they could just as easily be the Theatre, but no theatre owner has ever been asked what movie he wants the movie makers to make). The order goes to one of the big companies like S&S Arrow or Intamin AG – Call them the Producers but again the analogy is tortured as we will see shortly. But Cedar Point has a lot of input into exactly what they want from the coaster before pen even touches paper at the roller coaster company. Is it going to be an adult coaster or a kids' coaster, steel or wood, looping, sit-down stand-up, abover the rails or suspended. That's all coming from the people commissioning the project.

With all that information in place the company can now get to work. The Designers come up with the design of the coaster, based on the parameters given by the company. They are, of course, the Writers. The Manufacturing Pant comes up with the individual structural elements and when the time comes, put the thing together. This is a bit less clear cut, but I suppose the Manufacturing process would fill the part of the Actors. The Engineers check the designs to make sure that there are no obvious ways to get people killed, either from structural defects shown in the plan or from stretching the laws of physics in such a way that everyone in the first car out dies from having their neck broken by excessive G-force. The Engineers then supervise production of the roller coaster. Clearly the Engineers are the Directors. Once everyone has done their jobs the company turns the roller coaster over to Cedar Point, which opens it with great hype and fanfare.

The process is a lot more amorphous in Television. The networks have a demand for a certain number of shows every year. The creators (who if they're lucky become Executive Producers) put ideas forward to the studios in the form of spec scripts and some of those are made into pilots and a fraction of those are actually bought by the networks and made into series. The Writers write the episodes; the Actors act in them and the directors direct them. I'm sure anyone reading this who is actually in the Industry of making movies or TV shows (and probably in the Roller Coaster business as well) will explain to me exactly how simplistic this explanation is, but while the process of creation is vital it isn't the key point in the analogy.

When Cedar Point buys a new roller coaster they know exactly what they're getting. It is going to be a specific size, use this much steel and wood and concrete; the cars will hit this speed on the first hill and the ride will take exactly this length of time from when the car leaves the entry station to the time when the last passenger gets out; the ride will be able to be capable of handling a specific maximum number of people per hour. The roller coaster company is paid a fixed amount based on this, and the company is able to pay the Designers and Engineers and manufacturing and construction works a fixed salary based on this knowledge. A Studio and a Network has no such guarantee. There are no guarantees that the movie they will make will be Night At The Museum (gross $250 million on a budget of $110 million) because it could turn out to be Evan Almighty (gross $100 million, budget $175 million) or Miss Potter (gross $2.9 million). A TV series could be CSI (in its 8^th season with no end in sight) or it could be Emily's Reason Why Not (one episode). On the other hand Studios and Networks have something on their side that Cedar Point doesn't because a TV show or a Movie isn't a Roller Coaster.

Let's say that Cedar Fair Entertainment, which owns Cedar Point, decides that they love their new roller coaster so much that they decide that they want one in Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan Ontario and Carowinds Park in Charlotte North Carolina and Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park California. They can't simply wave their arms or something and have copies of the coaster appear at each of their parks. No, they have to go back to the roller coaster manufacturer and pay to build new coasters that are going have some variance because each location is different. And the company gets paid each time that coaster is replicated. Cedar Valley's profits go up with each new coaster but the Designers and the Engineers and the guys working to manufacture and build it are all compensated as well. Each replication of that roller coaster is a separate production.

Now consider the Movie and Television Producers – the ones represented by AMPTP. A movie can be sold over and over again. First they sell it via Pay-Per-View, then to premium cable, then to either basic cable or to a broadcast network. Somewhere along the line DVD comes out, and maybe the mini-disc for the PSP, and even the legal iTunes download. A TV show can be sold in syndication to a broadcast network or a basic cable network, it can be put out on DVD and it can be sold online. And all of these things can be done at minimal cost, because unlike a roller coaster each replication of the movie or the TV show is not a separate production. So profits go up significantly while the cost of the TV show or movie either remains stable or increases only slightly.

Okay, so why not pay the Writers and the Directors and the Actors a fixed amount of money that covers everything? The answer is that you don't know how successful the movie or the TV show will be. Let's say that you pay two writers $50,000 to write 13 episodes of two different shows. Writer A writes for CSI while Writer B works on Emily's Reasons Why Not. Writer A's 13 episodes are seen on CBS the time they debut, and then are rerun several times on the network (because CSI has been one of CBS's "go to" shows when something gets cancelled). They are then included as part of the shows syndication package in the United States and worldwide. They then goes onto DVD in the United States and worldwide. The shows are also put onto iTunes in the US. All of which is revenue for the Production Company. On the other hand, Writer B`s 13 episodes of Emily`s Reasons Why Not turns out to be one episode, even though he`s probably paid for all 13 because he has a contract. Emily`s Reasons Why Not does not rerun even once; it is not syndicated everywhere; it does not go onto DVD and the people at Apple bust a gut laughing when the producer suggests putting episodes on iTunes. So do you pay – or worse accept – a flat salary based on the premise that the show is going to be CSI or based on the premise that it`s going to be Emily`s Reasons Why Not?

The system of royalties and residuals is based on the premise of rewarding success and it has worked for at least a century. When a writer sells a book he/she doesn't (in most cases) sell the book outright to the publishers for a one-time lump sum. Instead the writer is paid an advance and then gets paid a royalty once the writer's percentage of the sales exceeds the amount of the advance (did I get the basics of that right Bill Crider?), plus getting paid if his book is turned into a movie or a TV show. According to Wikipedia residuals are "a payment made to the creator of performance art (or the performer in the work) for subsequent showings or screenings of the (usually filmed) work." And that's what the strike is mostly about, increasing the payments to the creators for subsequent showings of the work based on the success of the format in which the work is being presented (which both costs less to manufacture than VHS tapes and costs more per unit).

Comment Round-up

I'm writing this on Friday. Saturday I'll be heading out to the Dakota Dunes Casino to watch my first live Poker Tournament – watch, not play in because my personal circumstances (I don't drive) makes it impossible for me to get out there and more importantly get back in keeping with the times they'll be starting and ending. I blame the people of Saskatoon for voting against a casino in the city not once but twice – idiots (I voted for it, not once but twice). And Sunday is the Grey Cup and my beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders are favoured to win. It's an infection and I'll tell you about it before the game.

Right now, let's look at the poll on the Writers' Strike and the comments elicited on that subject and others. So far there have been ten voters. Eight said they were with the writers 110%, one said "Mostly with the writers but AMPTP has some points on their side," and one voted for "I don't give a good God damn. With global warming, war, poverty, and corruption why are you wasting your time writing about TV and striking writers," I think I know who that may have come from. The poll is still up of course and if you haven't voted and expressed an opinion yet please do so, and if you want to comment, put something down here. I may renew the on a monthly basis if necessary in part to try to track changes in attitude as events progress (and yes I fear I may have to renew it at least once if not more often). But now for comments, not just on the strike but on other matters.

First up (but second to comment on the strike poll) is our good buddy Toby who wrote:

The longer the Big Six stay away from the bargaining table, the worse off it will be for them in the long run. Public opinion was already against them anyway, but taking this hard line will give pro-WGA bloggers more time in which to steer readers to that online video showing Murdoch, Redstone and the others chortling over how much money they'll make from the Internet.

I'm just sickened by these people who are taking that hatefuly attitude towards the writers. Obviously they don't understand the full issue and they never will take the time to learn; they're just pissed off the time is coming when they'll be forced off from the tele-teat.

Hey, if I'm willing to go without the scripted shows, they should be able to survive as well!

This is what I mean about the WGA winning the propaganda war. AMPTP's worst enemies are themselves in terms of their public statements both before and after the strike was called. Some of Counter's statements have been laughable, like the one about how it is true that the writers don't get paid residuals for "promotions" that carry advertising because the producers don't get paid for them – that money goes to the Networks not the Producers (okay, so why is Les Moonves at the table again?). It also came across as the height of arrogance for AMPTP to end what they laughingly referred to as negotiations – which amounted to we'll give you a little somethin' somethin' in return for you giving us something worth more than what we're giving you.

I'm with you about those people who are against the Writers Guild. I know where they're coming from – the whole "unions are unnecessary and worse" neo-con crap – and it's repugnant to me. Unions give workers a "big stick" (in the sense that Teddy Roosevelt referred to when he said "Walk softly and carry a big stick") which an individual worker, no matter what field they're working in, doesn't have. People collectively have more power than they do as individuals, in much the same way that 13 colonies united were stronger than 13 individual colonies. And don't kid yourself into believing that employers – any employers including AMPTP – won't take advantage when they can. I've seen too many examples of employers doing just that.

Next up we have this comment from my old pal Richard Goranson. Richard and I go back to the days when blogging wasn't even a glimmer in anyone's eyes. We both ran Diplomacy zines back in the days before the game moved almost exclusively online. And we were good (or at least I was, I think – circumstances kept Richard from making as big an impact as he might have). Anyway, here's what he wrote:

The best things that can possibly come of the strike and its inevitable aftermath:

1) The overwhelming majority of people will finally realize that Leno, Letterman and virtually all talk-show hosts really aren't funny unless they're spoon-fed their material (Unfortunately, hardly anyone will notice).

2) The shows that absolutely depend on superlative writing and already acknowledge their writers as being the driving force on the show (like BSG) will see their demand go through the roof once the strike ends.

3) People will finally see just how scripted so-called "reality TV" really is and if the strike goes on for a very long time it will likely kill the format.

4) Sports viewership will go up and networks will work harder to accommodate athletic formats that do not rely on pre-determined outcomes (so the WWE and the New England Patriots are shot to hell).

Okay Rich, let's go through these one by one. First, most people already realise that Leno and the rest are dependent on their writers. The strike hasn't changed that, largely because all of the talk-show hosts – with only a few exceptions (Regis & Kelly and The View, neither of which claim to have writers, and Ellen which does) – stopped being broadcast when the strike began. Letterman in particular knows very well that he needs the writers; he tried to go on without them in 1988 and even at the time he knew that without the monologue and other things created by the writers the show wasn't very good. There are people who would not only be able to work without writers but thrive; sadly they aren't on TV anymore. Tom Snyder or Dick Cavett come to mind as people whose abilities as interviewers and conversationalists would be ideally suited for this situation but instead the networks have comedians, and while Letterman has developed into a solid interviewer he still needs to do the monologue and the Top 10 list and the rest, and knows that he can't do it without his writers.

I'm not sure that shows that depend on superlative writing are going to see any change in demand sadly. In fact there are rumours that the strike could kill Battlestar Galactica because of demands that the producers are putting on the actors in the form of exercising the "force majeur clause" in their contracts.

The problem with your scenario about reality TV is that the reality shows will go ticking right along because they don't have "writers." More accurately they don't have writers that are members of the WGA or are actually called "writers." The only writing credits listed for Survivor – just as an example – are for Charlie Parsons who created the show, and Jeff Probst. What Survivor does have are segment producers, associate editors, "loggers" and "transcribers." IMDB credits Jennifer Bassa, Elise Doganieri, Bill Pruitt, and Bert Van Munster as writers for my beloved Amazing Race but otherwise it's producers, associate producers, field producers, assistant editors, productions assistants, loggers and transcribers, but no writers. Big Brother credits six writers (who probably write for Mrs. Moonves, aka Julie Chen) but a veritable host of production assistants, story editors, story assistants and loggers. This is one of the lesser issues that the WGA is fighting over.

You might be right about at least part of the sports thing (I saw what the Patriots did to your Bills – grade A ugly). The problem is that whether people are willing to accept an increase in sports or if the networks are willing to make the long term commitment that most sports operations require if it's only to outlast this strike.

In summation, I think that the networks think they have a plan for surviving the strike. Sadly, it involves more reality shows with most of the untried ones being pretty bad, and finding product from other sources, whether it's their cable production or overseas programming (there are reports that the four major networks are looking at Canada's own Corner Gas).

Finally we've got this from Andrew about my PTC piece:

PTC's ignorance is really fattenin' up those Short Takes, huh? This new content forking was a good thing...

Now my views regarding this week's stupidities at the PTC. You said that the PTC doesn't know about the Gossip Girl books. That's sort of correct, except PTC did mention that the series was "based on a series of popular novels by Cecily Von Ziegesar", without noting the controversy and ALA awards. And in their Oct. 26 "Weekly Wrap", they were extremely paranoid...

This month, PTC has pretty much finished all the ratings for the new '07-'08 shows. Gossip girl got red, as did "K-Ville", "Back to You", "Dirty Sexy Money", "Big Shots", "Women's Murder Club", "Bionic Woman", and "Aliens in America". "Chuck" and "Samantha Who" got yellow, and "Life is Wild" was the only new show to have gotten green. Yikes, there seems a lot of radioactivity out of these airwaves, huh?

I'm probably going to make having the PTC stuff separate from the Short Takes posts a permanent thing; 4,000+ word posts aren't really my thing, and they do tend to delay things beyond the weekend.

The Gossip Girl books aren't mentioned in the Worst of the Week post that I was writing about though it is mentioned in the show's red light earning review page which contains more than a few hoots itself: "Both the drugs and drinking are presented as glamorous, easy to obtain, and part of their everyday life. There is no identification of how young teens are able to obtain all the alcohol or the illegal drugs." It's been nearly 35 years since I was in high school (and public high school at that) and I didn't drink, smoked or use recreational pharmaceuticals, but trust me when I say that had I wanted to I wouldn't have any trouble getting any of it. I knew my fair share of kids who came to class either drunk or wasted or both. I couldn't get the PTC's email alerts to load for me so I can't comment on the paranoia. It may be time for me to use one of my spam trap email addresses to sign up.

What surprises me about the PTC's ratings of new shows? Not much really. Maybe Aliens in America getting a red light while Samantha Who? "earned" a yellow. I suppose it's the same reason that they used to like My Name Is Earl, because Samantha is supposedly trying to reform and the fact that the show "regularly features adult themes and situations such as alcoholism and infidelity," while the teenage boys on Aliens In America have "the generally positive message of cultural understanding and responsibly charting one's teenaged years is consistently drowned out by the sexual content featured in each episode." The Gander ain't getting the same sauce as the Goose here. None of it is surprising of course, although the review for Bionic Woman contains an element similar to their review of Studio 60 last year: "Sex and language were not a major issue in the first few episodes but should not be ruled out for future episodes for a show of this nature," although this time they at least gave the show a yellow light. (Studio 60 got a red light for sex because, "Sex has not been an issue at this point in the series, but as relationships progress, sex scenes can be expected;" the closest the show ever came to a sex scene were a couple of implied instances of guys seeing a topless Harriet by accident.) It's about the same amount of consistency one can expect from a group the calls Brothers And Sisters "comparatively clean" while the show's rating site says that "The sexual content is not necessarily graphic, but it is recurring and frequent all in the same. Regular references to sex and sexual innuendo are present in each episode, both in a hetero- and homosexual context. There is some harsh language, with frequent use of words such as "ass," "hell," and "damn," and gives the show a Red Light. For the most part the only thing I agree with them about is Life is Wild, which is a worthy show, exactly the sort of thing that the PTC and parents who claim to want family friendly content have been pushing for for years – and which is getting some of the worst ratings of anything on TV (maybe because it's on opposite Sunday Night Football, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and The Amazing Race). However, when I checked just a minute ago there is no PTC rating for the show. Are they changing it? Has even this show become too raunchy for the PTC? We shall see.