Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Writers Strike Officially Over

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sick-of-reality-tv dept.

CNN is reporting that the 100-day Hollywood writers walkout is now officially over. The new contract managed to snag two of the three major points the Writers Guild was looking for. The writers will now have "jurisdiction" for content created especially for new media (Internet, cell phones, etc) and will get paid for the reuse of content on new media when the studios get paid. "Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., told The Associated Press, 'At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry. [...] It's unclear how soon new episodes of scripted programs will start appearing, because production won't begin until scripts are completed, the AP reported. It will take at least four weeks for producers to get the first post-strike episodes of comedies back on the air; dramas will take six to eight weeks, the AP said.'"

65 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. First post by shentino · · Score: 2, Funny

    And I'm just hoping that my favorite shows like Numb3rs and NCIS weren't affected.

    I really don't care what happens as long as my shows keep coming and nobody gets hurt.

    Thanks to scuttlemonkey for posting my submission.

    1. Re:First post by ThinkingInBinary · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yay Numb3rs. It's cool to see that other geeks like it -- I'm a college freshman in CS, and I'm so tired of hearing that my classmates either haven't heard of it or think it's crap and not worth watching. Personally, I'm willing to suspend enough disbelief to enjoy the show despite the far-fetched uses of math.

      --
      ttuttle is a rankmaniac
    2. Re:First post by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yay Numb3rs. I just skip the middleman and rewatch Pi by Darren Aronofsky instead of watching its TV rip-off when I'm the mood for a math story, personally :)
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    3. Re:First post by edwdig · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've only watched (part of) one episode of Numb3rs, but that was enough for me to totally write off the show.

      The scenario was a guy robs a gas station. He holds a gun over his head and fires up into the sky. There is no video of it, just stories from the witnesses. The math guy rambles off a bunch of math terms, says algorithm a lot, then draws on a map, marking off a couple of places that the bullet was most likely to land.

      The explanation of what he was doing was just random words strung together that didn't make any sense. "A guy fired a bullet into the sky" is no where near enough info to find a bullet.

      After that, he went off into another "derivative algorithm sine cosine algorithm mean median algorithm integral algorithm" rant, so I changed the channel and never looked back.

    4. Re:First post by wattrlz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While quite entertaiing that movie has almost nothing to do with math. If those are the kind of writers we're expecting to see back in business geeks can go back to not caring.

    5. Re:First post by Idiomatick · · Score: 2, Informative

      Thats the only chance you get to use 99% of math. In made up scenarios where you fill all the blanks. Hell my math prof could only think of 1 actual use for sequences and it was a calculus aproximation method you don't actually use anyways. The mathies need to get it out somehow :( .... Also have you seen CSI before .... 'hey this smudge is yellow' ... 'i know who did it that yellow smudge could only mean one thing...'

    6. Re:First post by popmaker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes! That movie is the reason I'm in mathematics now!

      That little speech he does repeatedly "everything can be represented with numbers, if you plot the numbers, patterns emerge, etc...". And when he starts again "evidence: The rise and fall of the Nile, sunspots cycles, etc..." it gives me goosebumps.

      The thing is... if people can't relate to that I feel sorry for them. But that movie made mathematical beauty almost understandable to a general public. The movie paints a picture of mathematics that is exciting, passionate, beautiful and dangerous. It's a movie every mathematician should whatch when he feels all those little uniqueness and existence theorems are getting a bit dull... because the AREN'T. I swear to god I sometimes feel like that guy. And it makes me feel great. Anti-social, paranoid, borderline sociophobic, manic-depressive... maybe, but you are cracking open a mystery of the universe! It made mathematics look almost - dare I say it? - cool!

      THAT is the true appeal of the film, however inaccurate the actual mathematical details might be. And while this isn't a contradiction of your post or even a logical answer to it, I think this belongs in the discussion.

    7. Re:First post by syousef · · Score: 2, Funny

      or since we're talking movies....

      dy/dx (Movie)

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
    8. Re:First post by syousef · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I meant since we're talking math.

      Way to screw up a joke eh.

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  2. Crisis Averted! by Mickyfin613 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Future generations will look back at this strike as "the year we almost lost Hollywood and no one really gave a crap."

    1. Re:Crisis Averted! by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Honestly, I cared. I really cared. Why?

      It sent a goddamned message to the public. The fact that this was such a big deal for so many people was absurd; less of life needs to be focused around what happens on TV. My only regret is that it's over in time for the Academy Awards. I think not having that ceremony would've sent a strong message to people about silly and over-hyped this whole culture is.

      --
      I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    2. Re:Crisis Averted! by TheLazySci-FiAuthor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Very true.

      To quote my good friend, "I've been bored lately, so I started law school, built my own first computer and learned how to use Ubuntu. The writer's strike is the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

      Really, didn't this strike seem kind of like a bad move. This is how I see it.

      Writers want revenue from "new media" sources (the internet, namely). The writers strike, forcing "old media" sources to stagnate - but "new media" sources continue to flourish. Individuals find more entertainment online than with the old media sources and thus move over in greater numbers.

      In other words, the writer's strike has only hastened the demise of the old media, and shown that new media can be entertaining without either the television companies or writers.

      I'm sure this won't kill television by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that a lot of viewers' eyes have been opened to other outlets of entertainment, and outlets that are in fact less passive, and probably more rewarding as there is the "hey, I found this. It didn't find me" feeling.

      I do think that active (vs. passive) entertainment does actually appeal to people. Perhaps it's just that active entertainment in the recent past (television era) has required some physicality (board games, sports) - not so with the internet. I can sit on my couch physically inactive, but actually have an active mental experience.

      Maybe the writer's strike has made us all a little bit smarter?

      --
      Read my Very Short "Stories"
    3. Re:Crisis Averted! by monoqlith · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While I agree that American culture revolves too much around television and other distractions, I think what this deal represents is much more than that. Organized labor has managed to mount an effective protest against executive management and work out a deal that favors both parties. That's the first time that's happened in awhile.

      This should give organized labor across the country a little bit of confidence.

      So it represents something big even if it is just the television and film writers.

    4. Re:Crisis Averted! by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I see it as much less than the triumph of organized labor. The masses can always take over the executives if need be, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Living in NYC, I think of the times when the garbage men and subway operators basically held the city for ransom while striking.

      Rather, it's an admission of the changing environment the arts operate in. It's indicative of a realization of executives that the current technological climate is radically different than it was even a decade ago, and the business model needs to change accordingly. This is a triumph for internet transactions and dissemination of artistic works.

      --
      I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    5. Re:Crisis Averted! by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Honestly, not having any new music for a while wouldn't be such a bad thing. People wouldn't be able to just latch on to the next cookie-cutter artist out of the box, and would instead have to explore their tastes and find something that they can actually listen to for more than three months worth of binge drinking.

      --
      I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    6. Re:Crisis Averted! by Amorymeltzer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Absolutely, and those people deserved to be paid more than they were (although, in fairness, both groups get amazing benefits from the city) but that doesn't make it "good." There's a reason why it's illegal for them, or teachers, to strike - they're so integral to the functioning of the society (and in the case of the WFC, the global economy) that we simply cannot function without them. That power has thankfully not been used to extremes yet, but there's no reason it wouldn't. Especially in the case of those in Hollywood, I simply do not trust SWG/SAG/DGA to always be so beneficent with their choke-hold over American interests and thinking. If the writers demanded double what they were, and one if not both of the other guilds decided they wanted the same, there'd be nothing produced here. There'd be such pressure from corporations and the public to get it over with that the guilds could probably get their demands met.

      --
      I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
    7. Re:Crisis Averted! by Stefanwulf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They didn't need me to care in order for it to be an effective strike/protest...they just needed me to not be watching when the commercials came on.

    8. Re:Crisis Averted! by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      "This should give organized labor across the country a little bit of confidence."

      Oh God, I hope not. While I'll admit in this case, it was a good thing....in general, I think unions are killing us in the US while trying to compete with business on a global scale.

      Look at the recent postings of losses by GM. The outrageous fees they have to pay for retirements and other union perks, is killing them. They cannot sell a car at a decent price with a decent profit any longer....and they're more shoddily made, due to unions having people in there that cannot be fired without an act of God. It is almost like a govt. job.

      Seriously....while I know the unions at their start helped make things right that were wrong, they have proved to go far beyond their useful place in labor relations, and have now been strangling US businesses. I'm sorry, but, a manual laborer should not expect $30/hour, and lifetime benefits...it isn't a special job, anyone could do it without formal education, but, due to job lock-ins, there isn't competition for that job.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    9. Re:Crisis Averted! by timster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I couldn't disagree more. It's tempting to look upon this huge landscape of art that's already been made and conclude that the old stuff is better, that so much of the new stuff is uncreative, and that there's no reason to make it anymore. That thinking would make this a pretty poor society. We need music, and even TV, that reflects what it's like to live in OUR time. We'll certainly make mistakes and there will be plenty of terrible art, but in a way making bad art is part of the process of making good art. It's like R&D for culture: you can't just make something good out of whole cloth, you need an understanding of what is good and what isn't.

      That isn't to say we should worship the new, but to denigrate it as you have done isn't useful, in my opinion.

      --
      I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
    10. Re:Crisis Averted! by Zedekiah · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dear god, we're giving workers what they deserve, and find that employers aren't quite so well off and profit margins are lower! Forgive me if I save my tears.

      --
      What I wouldn't do for the ability to mod "-1, Plain Wrong"
    11. Re:Crisis Averted! by The+FNP · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually the problem is that the Third World is _NOT_ Unionized. If Chinese workers or Malaysian workers were unionized, the costs of making the goods and shipping them halfway around the world, tariffs, duties, customs, shipping them to the warehouse, the trouble, the cost of translators, Quality Control, etc, etc, ad nauseam, would make it not worth the trouble to outsource your manufacturing.

      It's only when you can treat your serfs as the disposable Kleenex they are that the cost savings of the manufacturing offsets the increased costs of logistics.

    12. Re:Crisis Averted! by SoCalChris · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why does someone in a low skill job deserve $30+ hour, full benefits, and a pension plan?

    13. Re:Crisis Averted! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why does someone in a low skill job deserve $30+ hour, full benefits, and a pension plan?

      Why does someone in a high-skill job? They are both people, after all... Before you say "well, the market set the prices at..." let me remind you that most "high-skilled jobs" do not have market forces set their compensation. In fact, the union benefits are determined by a free-market, whereas the medical, legal and political fields are not. Executive compensation has other aspects that imply the executive's labor is not the sole reason for the high salary.

      Why should "full benefits" (assuming that, since you remove pensions, all that is left is health/dental benefits) be dependendent on having a job at all? Seems like a human right.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    14. Re:Crisis Averted! by Maestro485 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why does someone in a low skill job deserve $30+ hour, full benefits, and a pension plan?
      What is with the superiority complex of Slashdotters? Who are you to say that labor jobs are low skill? Can you assemble an automobile? Can you construct a high rise, or even something "easy" like a house? Can you repair mass transit vehicles, weld steel dangling a few hundred feet in the air, or ensure that a jet engine will operate safely?

      Just because you can operate a computer doesn't mean you're any better than "low-skilled" people.
    15. Re:Crisis Averted! by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      "Why does someone in a high-skill job?"

      Well, in general, a high skill job, is one that requires skills that most people do not have, and therefore is rare and in demand more, and commands a higher rate of pay. (I don't like to use the word salary, being a direct employee to me is like being a slave, but, that's another soapbox).

      "In fact, the union benefits are determined by a free-market"

      I'd argue that they are NOT determined by a free market. Without unions, someone that was willing to take a bit less could get the job. Union areas...well, I've heard that in some places and some jobs...you can NOT even be considered for a job, unless you are a union member. That is hardly 'free market'.

      "Why should "full benefits" (assuming that, since you remove pensions, all that is left is health/dental benefits) be dependendent on having a job at all? Seems like a human right."

      I agree...health benefits should not be a part of having a job. It wasn't always that way...I don't remember the particulars, but, I think it was some time after WW1 or 2...where employers for some reason, in lieu of raises or increased wages, offered insurance to workers...and it basically started from there. Frankly, as an indie contractor....I'd much prefer to be paid my bill rate, which I require to be high enough to allow me to make my own benefits. I like to be able to set up my own IRA's and sock money away pre-tax. I like that I can set up a high deductible insurance (for catastrophic cases)...and then set up a HSA (Health Savings Account) that builds year after year, and can also be invested into the market to make money...all pre-tax, and tax free in most cases. In the long run, I can come out far ahead of most people that 'pay' insurance premiums and co-pays all their working life.

      If they'd just let us more easily work this way....work in a contract manner, we'd be more protected (contractual obligations spelled out), we'd get paid for what we work (no more 80 hour weeks on a salary based on 40 hour weeks), and we could be in more charge of our own destiny.

      I agree...but, slightly differently...I think we could all be ENABLED as a right, to provide for our own health care. If we didn't have the govt. and insurance corps and HMO's all so ingrained in the medical industry as we do now...and doctors could compete with each other as they did in the older times (30 years ago or so)...we would have affordable health care, and people could save and pay for it.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    16. Re:Crisis Averted! by syrion · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...because everyone who is expected to live in an area must be paid in accordance with the cost of living in the area. If your garbage men can't afford to live near where they work, they will have to move farther away which will cause them to financially collapse when the price of fuel rises. Remember, pay is relative to location. $30/hr. is excellent pay out in the sticks, but if you live in New York it's not so much--and it's not like you can drive out to Iowa to buy groceries.

      If you don't pay people a wage that will allow them to live with some measure of decency, you get unrest. Unrest is a bad thing. (Strikes are just about the most positive way unrest manifests.)

      Furthermore, "deserve" is an interesting word. What does anyone "deserve?" The only reason most of us in the United States (and Europe, etc.) can have the standard of living that we do is because we had the incredibly good luck to discover that you can use "rock oil" for a lot of things. Weirdly enough, that rock oil mostly occurs underneath populations that maybe aren't so fortunate.

      Think about it like this: you might not think garbage men and other low-skill workers "deserve" a living wage or a pension if you are an Objectivist or a person of like persuasion, but you also deserve nothing. You don't deserve to not starve to death. "Deserts" are a human conceit. It's a silly argument to say that "you could have been born in Sudan" or something similar, because you couldn't have (you wouldn't be yourself), but note that the majority of people are born in vastly less comfortable positions than people in the West.

  3. YAY! by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I'll get to see the new episodes of Star Trek!

    What? What do you mean "cancelled?"

    OK Battlestar Galactica. No? How about Babylon...

    Oh hell. Somebody please point to a nerd show I can watch tonight?

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    1. Re:YAY! by Xentor · · Score: 2, Informative

      Tonight? Can't help ya there...

      Just wait for Heroes to come back. Only major show I still watch.

      --
      "The amount of intelligence on this planet is a constant. The population is growing." -Cole's Axiom
    2. Re:YAY! by Random+BedHead+Ed · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's on tomorrow night and is called Lost. And while it may look like a Survivor-themed soap opera on the surface, make no mistake: it's a sci-fi show. While I'm on the topic, the creators have mostly committed to making five more episodes this season (of an original eight that were held back by the strike). Expect about month's hiatus in between the eighth finished episode and the five new ones.

    3. Re:YAY! by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, seeing as its Wednesday, there's a fresh ep of Mythbusters on tonight. Does that help?

      Oh, and you all should be watching Lost. It's one of the closest things we've got to Sci-Fi on a mainstream channel right now.

      Bonus: The end of the series has been plotted out and sealed with the studio, so no inconclusive endings a la X-Files, no cancellations before the show ends a la Serenity. Just an interesting story, from beginning to end. When was the last time you had a guarantee like that from a network show?

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    4. Re:YAY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Heroes - The dumbed down show full of pretty people that tries to appeal to every market.

      Coming in season 3...

      The pensioner heroes like Reginald has the power to kill just by talking. He starts about the war then mentions how things aren't how they used to be back in the day.
      Eastern European minority hero Svetlana who has the ability to setup a soft-porn website in just 22 seconds and can scam your credit card details by knowing your name.
      CGI heroes like Jar-Jar Binks who has the ability to make all viewers watching a show turn channels instantly.

    5. Re:YAY! by click2005 · · Score: 4, Informative

      OK Battlestar Galactica. No? How about Babylon...

      I know you're trying to be funny but BSG returns April 4 with first half of 20-episode final season. Production on second half could start as early as March. Airdate for those TBD.

      B5 The Lost Tales (DVD #2) - no idea.

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
    6. Re:YAY! by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I could tolerate the first 5-6 instances of terrible writing on Heroes, but then it just started to get on my damned nerves. Screw the brain-eating and telekinesis, Sylar's only real superpower is that nobody ever kills him when they have the chance. I especially enjoyed how half of Hiro's story was filler for half the first season... they might as well have just flashed "FILLER" on the screen instead of giving us pointless subplots that went nowhere. Also make sure you never explain how Mohinder got back to New York, because that wasn't confusing or anything.

      Anyway, I don't think a writer's strike could hurt Heroes... I'm kind of surprised to learn it was written at all.

      --
      Comment of the year
    7. Re:YAY! by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It appears that a lot of people hate it because it copies the idea of Mythbusters

      I don't. I hate it because it ditches the interesting parts of Mythbusters (quirky, real people; lots of tinkering and failure, a ridiculously wide variety of subjects and techniques) and keeps the boring parts (unnecessary time dilation to pad out the 44 minute format; forced expositional banter).

      What really bugs me about the show is that they appear to be actually looking for alternative solutions to big problems with the aim of saving more lives/making it cheaper and easier to save more lives, but you never get a sense of that beyond the voiceover intro. Whether they succeed or not, no mention is made of the current methods they're trying to supplant or whether any of the potential insight they've gained will be used/passed on to relevant people who might then use it to save lives.

      Also, the presentation of the show is still very rough around the edges. In Mythbusters, they'll happily divulge details step-by-step. In Smash Lab, there's a lot of "and thens" that can be quite jarring.

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  4. writers read... by techpawn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with...
    Meaning that before it WASN'T a fair deal that the writers couldn't live with.

    I'm still not going to rush back to my television set over this.
    --
    Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
    1. Re:writers read... by SQLGuru · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think we need to unionize Slashdot posters so that we can get a better deal, too. If it weren't for us, this site wouldn't make any money and what do we get for it? Articles 3 days after Digg had them? Typo's and grammatical errors in the summaries? ASCII porn?

      Layne

    2. Re:writers read... by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Funny

      Absolutely! I propose that all Slashdot posters get a 35% increase in pay right now!

    3. Re:writers read... by abaddononion · · Score: 4, Funny

      Terms seem reasonable. Granted. Get back to work. ~The Management

  5. No summer reruns? by Ilan+Volow · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If the TV shows I watch were several months behind due to the strike, does this mean that the season will be shifted several months ahead and this summer won't be a graveyard of reruns like it usually is?

    --
    Ergonomica Auctorita Illico!
    1. Re:No summer reruns? by Mickyfin613 · · Score: 2, Informative

      You may see a few new episodes in the Spring, but the writers won't be able to churn out scripts over night. Not under the *new* collective agreement, anyhoo. From what I understand new episodes are written over the summer, so I would imagine you'll have reruns (for the most part) until next fall.

  6. earth-friendly programming by themushroom · · Score: 3, Funny

    Good that we have writers so we don't have to deal with reruns anymore.
    Now we can get back to rehashed stories with slapdash writing as usual.

    --
    Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
  7. Finally... by abaddononion · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can get back to enjoying "The Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report", instead of those generic knock-offs, "A Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report".

  8. TV? by PhreakOfTime · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Im sorry, but its too late.

    I took the plunge and got rid of 'pay-tv' once and for all right before this strike, and its amazing how little I actually miss it. And amazing how I was spending over $70/month for just regular ad-laced channels. Yes, paying to watch advertisements is not how I want to spend my money anymore. That INCLUDES the 'ads' that get thrown right into the shows, soap opera style(thats how they got their name after all).

    The internet is now my primary tool of information sourcing and entertainment. The TV industry missed the boat, the same way the music industry did. The only thing that made it take as long as it did was the bandwidth difference between audio and video.

    The TV is dead, long live TV!

    1. Re:TV? by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, things were going great with my girlfriend, but in the end, I realized that she doesn't fundamentally respect the way I want to live life. That's right: we couldn't agree on which TV package to get.

      --

      If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
  9. Did they ditch the DVD demand? by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Everyone talking about the strike is talking about the terms for Internet streaming/new media.

    I'm curious as to why nobody's mentioning the writers' other big demand, for an increased royalty on DVD sales. Did they drop that demand as part of a compromise?

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
    1. Re:Did they ditch the DVD demand? by dghcasp · · Score: 2, Informative

      From The Economist's coverage:

      The writers made other concessions too: they for instance dropped their demand for a higher share of money from DVDs. They also gave up trying to get reality television and animation covered by union terms.

      HTH. HAND.

  10. the battle is over by jollyreaper · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, who got screwed the most in this one? I'm assuming the writers since the studios have deeper pocketses.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:the battle is over by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, who got screwed the most in this one? I'm assuming the writers since the studios have deeper pocketses.

      The audiences. The studios will try to gouge us to recoup any concessions they made, and the pipeline for new stuff has run dry.

      We'll have a drought of work over the next little while. Eventually, they'll go back to writing the same old tired sitcoms. The content won't magically get any better, in fact, the studio system will fall back more on formulas to try to get greater return on investment.

      On the plus side, the studios will have resurrected the Oscars before their entire awards season is a bust.

      Cheers
      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  11. Maybe too late. Already weened. by bigredradio · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unrelated to the writers strike, I got rid of my television and cable. I use the internet for news and watch movies with a digital projector. After a couple of months, I not only didn't miss it, but realized a big quality of life increase. More time with the kids, actually eating at the dinner table, etc.

    I wonder how many people turned to other entertainment venues due to the strike. If there is NOTHING good on, I am sure some people cut back on their tv watching. Now that viewers have so many options (ie netflix, internet downloads, itunes tv, youtube, dvd kiosks, etc) this could not have come at a worse time. I am curious if this writers strike was the tipping point for a lot of people to ween themselves from their tvs. Not from shows all together, but the old standard of scheduling your life around when your show comes on and sitting through commercials.

    --
    Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
    1. Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. by morari · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I can relate, though oppositely. I hadn't had any television service for a few years (not even PBS!), but just recently obtained a cable connection to the world. It doesn't cost me anything, so I didn't see the harm. Now, however, I find myself and my loved ones watching television far too often. Most of the time is spent just idly looking for something to watch, or watching something that no one really cares about but isn't as mediocre as whatever else may be on. Before we used to watch a lot of films together, which felt a lot more gratifying and only happened two to fours hours a day. Now however, my Netflix subscription doesn't seem to matter as much since we don't watch a daily film or two.

      Television is awful, and it continually spirals farther downward. And honestly, I never saw much of a difference between having writers and not having writers around.

      --
      "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
    2. Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. by Aladrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For years I have only watched shows that I want to watch. I have not flipped channels, searching for something to watch, in all that time.

      What is my secret?

      I have hobbies. Too many of them. TV shows are each a hobby and I am drawn to the interesting ones like a moth to a flame. But the boring ones interest me not at all, and channel flipping less so. I've always got something else I've rather do.

      The problem is not that 'television is awful', the problem is that you have nothing else you'd rather be doing. Games, playing guitar, making model planes... Anything is better for you than mindlessly channel-flipping.

      I seem like I'm preaching, but I'm not. It's simply the answer to your problem.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    3. Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. by Enigma2175 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unrelated to the writers strike, I got rid of my television and cable. Why is it that every time there is a television thread, area man has to show up? Isn't there some sculpting you need to do or some Proust you need to re-read?
      --

      Enigma

  12. Re:Journeyman by tripmine · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry bro, I think it's Canceled
    Too bad. I really liked that show too.

  13. Writers are too greedy. FAIL! by readgs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why should the writers get any of the profits? They get paid for a job...done. They're not taking the risk on a show that will flop like the networks do. It's just like owning a business. You take a high risk because you're responsible for your company succeeding, but you could also make more as the owner. The employees get paid for doing there work...and can go home to their families.

    The writers and the networks get a big fat FAIL!

    http://wwwfail.com/?url=slashdot.org%2Farticle.pl%3Fsid%3D08%2F02%2F13%2F1724211
  14. Nothing will change by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To the people who think that the American People (TM) have used the writers strike to go forth and do without television, leading to a new utopia, I'd like to remind you all of the 1994 baseball player's strike and how nobody ever bought a stadium ticket again after that, causing the death of major league baseball.

  15. Eureka! The ultimate nerd show. by HTRednek · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now maybe they'll get started on Season 3, of course I still think they should bring Firefly back.... even though it won't be the same without Wash and Shepard...

  16. If only.... by owlnation · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...anyone involved in Reality TV would go on strike. Permanently, and forever. It's hard to imagine anything more anti-geek than Reality TV.

    Welcome back writers. Congrats on your win. We need you, more than ever.

    1. Re:If only.... by Ma8thew · · Score: 2, Informative

      Reality TV writers are given job titles by the networks which prevent them joining the WGA, like 'segment producer' or consultant. They are basically treated like dirt by them, despite writing being a large component of 'reality' TV, they aren't paid overtime, they don't have insurance and they have no leverage.

  17. The Fallout by Evets · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One thing I don't see mentioned in the comments is the fact that during the strike many writers were fired, and many shows were cancelled. 24 has decided not to air this season and will continue next season.

    It may be a win for some people, but for others they are now out of a job. I don't have a pony in this race, but the strength of the writer's guild is in serious question. One Presidential candidate after another crossed the picket line in favor of publicity. They did not protect the jobs of those who they sought to protect. Actor/Writers crossed the picket line for fear of losing their jobs. And most importantly - many high value shows seemed to be airing new episodes in the middle of the strike.

    I'm all for TV coming back, but make no mistake - this strike did not end well for the union. It seems that every labor union in the last several years that has gone on strike (save the port workers who affect the global economy when on strike) has yielded either poor results (eventual acceptance of offers barely different than what was available pre-strike) and in a loss of jobs for unionized workers.

    I hate to turn this into a political thing, but the strength of unionized labor vs. corporate dollars has shifted dramatically in favor of corporate dollars.

  18. Re:Just Wait Till You Have Kids! by PhreakOfTime · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Amazing how many people share that same assumption. You may want to spend some time and take a hard look at the lifestyle you are providing to your children.

    Maybe you missed what I said in stating the importance of the INTERNET over the importance of TV in providing the same services. Perhaps you should be more concerned that the rest of the kids in your childs age group are comfortably using the internet as a replacement for TV, while your children are starting blankly at a screen.

    Im sorry to hear about the parenting your children received, but that was your choice.

  19. For true satisfaction, reality is better. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can understand why people want to see fiction they like. Everyone knows it's fiction, and sometimes fiction can explore issues in a way that would be difficult for a documentary.

    However, I got tired of seeing fiction that tried to make me believe things that could not be true due to the laws of physics, or due to other aspects of reality. So, now I only watch or read non-fiction. Defending myself from the deceptions and errors of fiction takes brain processing time, and I'd rather use my brainpower to work on something else besides the ideas of a writer who had little interest in reality when he was in school.

    It bothers me that comedians can't operate without writers, that they present their jokes as their own, but the jokes are actually written by someone else.

    Far worse, however, is the media writing that George W. Bush said something when he was obviously only reading something someone else wrote. In class you get disciplined if you present someone else's work as your own. If you are president of the United States, that is considered acceptable.

    1. Re:For true satisfaction, reality is better. by twistedsymphony · · Score: 2, Insightful

      However, I got tired of seeing fiction that tried to make me believe things that could not be true due to the laws of physics, or due to other aspects of reality. So, now I only watch or read non-fiction. Defending myself from the deceptions and errors of fiction takes brain processing time, and I'd rather use my brainpower to work on something else besides the ideas of a writer who had little interest in reality when he was in school.
      There's quite a lot of space between Documentary and fiction that breaks the laws of physics.

      CSI and a lot of other tech/police shows do break a lot of rules to make it "work", I usually try to avoid shows like that because it frustrates the hell out of me. However there are many shows that are fictional and still follow the rules. Monk for instance doesn't use any fake tech but rather interesting fictional situations. Then there are shows like Star Trek that use fictional technology but clearly define the laws and limitations of their world.

      Unless I'm watching something like the History Channel/Mythbusters/Dirty Jobs/How it's Made/etc I find most "reality" based programing to be far more of an insult to my intelligence than anything CSI and the like could throw at me...
      --
      Collector's Edition
    2. Re:For true satisfaction, reality is better. by AJWM · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Then there are shows like Star Trek that use fictional technology but clearly define the laws and limitations of their world.

      Riiight. At least until the plot requires otherwise.

      --
      -- Alastair
    3. Re:For true satisfaction, reality is better. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm a former political speechwriter, and the idea of just using talking points on the grounds that the politician will then speak better -- or from the heart -- often comes up.

      The problem with talking points is this. The politician could well deliver a really great speech. But if the politician is feeling tired, or off color, or just doesn't care about the subject it's easy for the speech to become a complete disaster.

      At least a written speech puts a floor under the quality. A speech delivered from a written document or an autocue is unlikely to be truly, truly awful, even if it's not going to be truly, truly great.

      And believe me, President Bush's speeches are not the worst I've seen. I've seen politicians forget the main point they're supposed to deliver; I've seen them go blank and stand, blinking, at the lectern; I've seen them throw their talking points away -- usually with a flourish -- and then deliver a disastrous speech from the heart about something the audience doesn't care about.

      A written speech minimises the chance of that happening.

      And that's why speechwriters prepare complete speeches.

      Posting as AC for obvious reasons

  20. the dirty truth by AKAJack · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Your first paragraph pretty much sums up what this was all about. The writers guild was coerced into striking by the studios. They didn't want to and worked without contract for months, but the studios refused to negotiate. So they felt a need to flex their muscles and went out on strike.

    The studios felt they were saddled with dead weight in the form of long-term development deals that were going no where. Sure you get a good show or two out of them, but there were too many for the product that was being produced. There were some that were three years into their deals and had no product yet. All of those deals have "act of god" or "force majeur" clauses in them and most were 90-days (from what i was told by the Universal Studios folks).

    After 90-days those deals were killed, the people had all been laid off earlier and now, amazingly, 10-days later the strike is settled. The WGA was a puppet used to smack down the small production companies.

    The tiny concessions given to the writers have been estimated to amount to about $3,000 per year for a constantly working writer of average pay. And even in those concessions there are loopholes for the studios - like they get to wait a month after releasing a show for the web before they have to pay anything to the writer. Look for lots of "pay for it on iTunes or get it free after a month" deals from now on. So basically the writers sold out tens of thousands of actual hard-working people (grips, food workers, etc.) for hollow concession to feed their damaged egos.