What does everyone think about this situation?

TV and Movie writers went on strike at 12:01 last night, asically forcing late night TV into reruns.

any thoughts?

Wow, did this really happen? I was trying to find who is going to be on what late night shows and all of them show the same generic message. Something to the effect of, “Celebrity interviews, comedy skits and weekly co-hosts.”

Do you happen to know why they went on strike, do they think they are underpaid or what happened? I haven’t even heard anything about it in the news.

I saw that yesterday on the news. Apparently, the writers are pissed because they don't make any money off of internet multimedia sales. It doesn't really affect me, because I don't watch all that much televison to begin with. But I do think the whole thing is silly.

They're striking because of the dispersement of royalties on sold media, both video-sales and new media. What that means is that they make almost nothing on DVD sales, and absolutely nothing on anything sold online. Don't blame the Writers Guild for this, they gave the AMPTPP every chance to negotiate a new, more fair contract. The AMPTPP just balked at them and pretty much came out and said; we like low-balling our most important assets.

Also Mike :, this isn't just about television. This will affect movies just as much in due time. It's really going to hurt the next James Bond film and any movie that's not out of pre-production, because studios will go into production with raw scripts.

Anyone who's curious about TV; most shows will go out of production in December when they run out of finished scripts. New TV will stop airing in January/February. Most shows will only have 11-15 episodes this season if the strike isn't resolved soon. Shows like Heroes and Smallville have re-written episodes so that the last script written will pass as the season finale.

Shows like 24, Lost, Battlestar Galactica and The Shield might not air until fall, or in Lost's case February 2009.

do the writers get $$$ from the reruns?

quote:

do the writers get $$$ from the reruns?

Not really.

Basically the writers get paid their salaries and then royalties. The royalties are the sticking point. I'm not really sure if the writers get anything when a show goes into syndication (re-runs airing on other stations), but the reason for the strike is the dispersement of royalties on DVD and internet sales.

Has anyone been watching the late night shows that have restarted (only Letterman and Ferguson have writers back)? I just caught some of Leno (blah) and Conan tonight. Personally I hope the writers never return to Conan. Without them it literally is just all Conan's spitting wit and insane shenanigans - no trite cliched celebrity jokes in the monologue. I don't know if there will be the re-occuring sketches (like "in the year 2000"), but most of those were too formulated to be funny after a while. Tonight there were a few of the typical random/pointless sketches that are bizarre and ingenious - like seeing how long his wedding ring would spin on a table and then playing the guitar/singing a blues song (an Elvis cover?). Truly a "variety" show for the clever and disaffected.

I've been watching Conan since maybe early high school (2000), and had recently only tuned in on occasion to watch the skits after the monologue and some of the guest interviews. Conan's self depreciating shtick is very old (he sarcastically talks about how 'bad' the show is for laughs EVERY FUCKING SHOW) and well beyond absurd now. However his sardonic and seemingly" improvisational responses and goofy demeanor were enough to keep most of the shows interesting. Thus the strike will hopefully put more focus on the charisma of Conan, which would be great. Conan is my hero.

I completely missed your post. I have been enthralled in the late shows since they restarted and I am also a HUGE Conan fan. I think that Letterman is pretty funny and Leno is just a joke (no pun intended.) I have always thought the spirit and charm on Conan’s show is exhibited by Conan himself. He always makes dumb, witty comments that leave you with that “What the?” expression.

As for when the writers return, I kind of do hope that they come back. I love how the show is now but I would like a lot of the recurring stuff “Analogies,” “In the Year 2000,” “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” and many more to return. I also saw his bit on spinning the ring and that was comedy gold.

But yes, Conan is my hero as well.