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TV's Golden Age Is Anything But, Say Writers Preparing To Strike (bloomberg.com)
The world's largest media companies returned to the negotiating table Monday with Hollywood screenwriters, seeking to avert a strike that could cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars and take popular TV shows off the air indefinitely. From a report on Bloomberg: Hollywood is bracing for the worst-case scenario after the Writers Guild of America warned advertisers and investors of the financial fallout and said members will most likely walk out May 2 if the new round of talks fail. Major TV programmers, such as NBC and CBS' flagship network, are scanning their slates of upcoming shows to determine which ones can air without guild writers. Negotiators on both sides are counting on cooler heads to prevail as they seek to avoid a repeat of the 100-day work stoppage in 2007-08 that cost the entertainment industry more than $2 billion, according to Milken Institute estimates. Yet the entertainment business, specifically TV, has undergone myriad changes that are creating new sticking points since the last strike almost a decade ago, and the writers say they haven't benefited.
When they strike now, what do you think will air in autumn? Stuff has to be written, then shot, edited and then broadcasted. If nothing is written today, then sometime in autumn there is nothing to broadcast anymore and your summer reruns become all year reruns into summer 2018.
Who cares if any if it ever comes back? So much to see and do in this world the last thing worthy of consideration is whether these glorified advertising vectors air with 20 minutes of "new" content. Listen to podcasts, read a book, watch the thousands and thousands of hours of already released content, play the latest vidya, watch YouTube, go to the park, fly a kite, take a picture every day, play with your kids, tend to a garden, learn something new, volunteer somewhere, go talk to your neighbor, go fishing, go bird watching, lose ten pounds, write the next great app, call your mom, get high, change your own oil, ask your significant other how they feel, go watch the ballet, go protest something in front if city hall, better yet run for mayor, get a penpal, pick up litter, listen to the radio, go geocaching, write a short story, hell write a book, paint a picture, ride a bike, clean your ears, pet you pet, learn origami, shitpost on slashdot. But for the love of God don't worry about television.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days