The Writters Strike

Last night I was watching Scrubs on Comedy Central as I do on the daily before I go to bed. Normally after Scrubs The Daily Show is scheduled to be shown. Since the WGA strike though they have been showing really really outdated episodes. I mean I know its comedy show in the vain of "fake news show" but it does deal with current events and showing a rerun of a "fake" news broadcast is almost as bad as showing a rerun of the real news (Which could be done in El Paso and I doubt people would notice). Well last night Comedy Central decided to not show a Daily Show rerun. Instead we got 2 back to back episodes of Futurama. They showed the first 2 episodes of the series which are hilarious!! I haven't seen them in so long. I had the first season on DVD but some stupid bitch borrowed them then fucked me over and well she kept them. I'm not bitter though i only paid like 50 bucks for it on the day it came out. So yeah it was really awesome to see that the great evil corporations are pulling out quality tv from the past. I do feel the WGA is 100% justified in their demands, but them not having a job afforded me to see episodes of a show that i really enjoy.

The stations are going to start pulling out all the stops to try to keep all their viewers. Its almost like its a viewers market right now. The networks are so scared of losing money that I think it is high time we (the viewers) start making demands of our own. We can have back all the shows they took from us. ER could be replaced by Charles In Charge, Grey's Anatomy could be replaced by anything just keep that show far from me. Ok so of course that wouldnt work but it would be nice to think that the people of the USA still have some power over things here in this country instead of being the preprogrammed consumer sheep that we have been turned into.

So the writter strike (as i understand it) is about them not getting a cut of the internet revenue generated by their content as well as a cut of the DVD revenue. It sounds fair. I think they should get that cash. Anytime that anything they created gets bought or sold they deserve to get a cut after all it is their work. But i do have to feel a little like it is 2 giants fighting over how they are going to share the bones of the people they just crushed, when the "industry" releases these bullshit 2.5 dvds. I have been screwed at least 2 on this bullshit. On the day that Spider Man 2 came out and the day Jackass 2 came out, I went bright and early to the store and bought them. Now months later there is a Jackass 2.5 with special features that were not on my Jackass 2 dvd. What the fuck is that bullshit? So the faithful fans who went and did as they were told and bought the dvd on the first day will now have to shell out extra cash to buy a new version of the film? That is bullshit. So on that point i dont give a fuck who gets my cash all involved with little scams like that are assholes in my book.

I am on the WGA's side though. If i am going to get drained of my hard earned cash at least give it to someone who wrote the stuff instead of some guy who just sits behind a desk signing his name on papers. Many people have countered that argument with the fact that the fry cook at Mc Donalds doesn't get a cut on all the fries they sell, or the guy in my position who works in an office for a set rate regardless of how much money the corporation makes off of my work. Yeah thats a true and fair argument however we are not dealing with intelectual property in those cases. The fry cook doesn't grow the potatoes, he doesnt cut them, he doesnt inject them with all the chemicals to make them crunchy. All he does is throw them in grease and then takes them off when a buzzer tells him to. Not much thinking going on there. Where as a writer has to grow and idea from a little notion that strikes them. They then must tend to that idea and grow it into something bigger. Then prepare it to be read and recorded. So they create this thing then develop it and see it all the way through till its final stage. It is their idea, its their voice and they are getting it stolen from them. Now as for the office worker who makes millions for his company but never really sees it **COUGH COUGH**. I cant speak for everyone but in my case I don't invent anything. I guess my job is more of a maintainence position. They tell me what to do and how to do it. I should get a flat rate because it is the company that devised this plan of many "maintence" people working on stuff that generates a profit. Now if i had a great idea and they took it and made cash off of it and I didn't see a dime I would be pissed.

It doesn't look like the strike is anywhere near being over. Neither side is going to back down. The big corporations feel like they can survive without them and that simply isn't the case. Eventually people are going to get tired of The Honeymooners reruns. People are not going to care if Urkle did that or not. The people are going to want something fresh. While they do have decades upon decades of reruns they can show i doubt that the american public is going to sit through decades upon decades of reruns regardless of what the TV on DVD sales state. Oh wait do you mean to tell me alot of people buy TV on DVD? Well then i guess you do make money off of it huh? Yeah the one of the corporations claims was that they weren't even sure if they made money on the dvd's and internet.

So everyone is talking about how the late night shows came back sans writers, with the exception of David Letterman. David Letterman was able to negotiate with the WGA because he owns the production company for his shows (world wide pants). Jay Leno, Connan O'Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel had to fly solo. You would figure that i watched some of this shows last night but nope. I dont care about the late night talk shows. David Letterman is my dads favorite and his show is good. Connan O'Brien is hilarious but his show is just on too late for me (I get up at 5am daily). Throughout the strike these host stood by the WGA members, well all but one. Jay Leno is the devil hahahaha. Ok so maybe he isn't but sure could have fooled his writers. When the strike happened the hosts were paying the writers salary and doing their best to help them out. Jay said he would do the same and help out. What his writers got instead was a holiday bonus of $100 bucks and their walking papers. What a douche.

While i hope the writers get what they are asking for I cant help but think about how pointless this whole thing is to me anyway. I am just an average dude who watches TV like they tell me to, i buy what they tell me to, i eat where they tell me to. We have a war to pay attention to, we have environmental issues that we can focus on, we have social issues we can focus on. I have my own problems why should I care so much about the future of the entertainment industry. It is unfair what is happening to the writers but its like getting involved in organized crime and looking for fair play. So what is my idea to solve this mess? Throw away your TV and search for that spark we lost so long ago that made us human.