CLOSER The writers and studios are talking and have settled on some aspects of online distribution. Each side still hates the other and everything could fall apart like it did in December. But for now, things are going in the right direction. Or if you’re like us and hope the Oscars will get cancelled, the wrong direction. [LAT]
Jon Stewart will do a lot of things for his career, like star as the third leading male in Death To Smoochy. But crossing the picket line, that is too much.
In a turn that would make the Oscars even more unwatchable, Stewart has told insiders that he won't host the event if the producers and the WGA don't work this whole strike thing out.
Ugh, we're as tired about writing on the strike as Americans are tired of watching American Gladiators. Please producers and writers, just end this story now and we'll never make fun of Desperate Housewives again.
The Writers Guild and Producers continue to approach considering maybe making a new deal possibly that would end the writers strike.
Producers and WGA leaders have met for the past two days and there is another meeting scheduled for today. People are saying the recent get-togethers were productive. That, along with the recent Directors Guild deal and a new interim deal with Lionsgate, means this could all end soon. Hopefully not before the Oscars are canceled.
NEXT SEASON WILL SUCK, TOO Due to the writers strike, CBS has cut 20 projects from development for next season. ABC, Fox and NBC are probably doing the same thing, though they haven’t admitted it. The only way we’ll forgive the writers for ruining next season is if they cancel the Oscars. The Oscars are the lamest. [Hollywood Reporter]
• Devo from Saturday Night Live. No, not "Whip It."
• The Directors Guild, not the Writers Guild, reaches an agreement with the alliance the producers. Does this mean we'll find out what happens on Desperate Housewives?
• Winner of the Someone Haiku from Mollygood:
Tom Cruises By Puke:
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Thetans,
They Go To Venus.
So far the writers strike hasn't really affected ratings at all. January is the first month when the networks were supposed to feel it or whatever, but people like reality TV and football, so people are over how everyone ended up on that island in Lost.
Writers Guild, we're all mixed up about this. On the one hand, you effectively canceled the Golden Globes and might do the same for the Oscars, which is awesome. We'd rather stab ourselves in the eye than watch those shows. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but we'd definitely rather get something caught in our eye, like an eyelash or something, than sit through them.
But now people are having conversations about American Gladiators like it's the second coming of 24. 24 was populist and a bit racist, but compared with Aggro Crag or The Eliminator or whatever it is, it's like Flaubert. So just figure out your shit with the producers so we can stop thinking about ratings and go back to just judging people for watching TV at all.
Remember what happened to the Golden Globes? How the writers threatened to boycott and SAG actors would feel crazy awk crossing picket lines? So instead we got the bootest awards show ever and no one watched? Yeah, but the Golden Globes are like preview award shows, the same thing couldn't possibly happen to the Oscars, where the awards are given by the Academy and it's crazy important, right? Right?!
Well, set your DVR to this: The Writers Guild does not anticipate giving the Academy Awards a waiver, so the exact same thing could, and probably will happen unless an agreement is reached.
With Sunday’s Golden Globes even more boring than usual, NBC had the lowest-rated telecast for the awards show ever, averaging 5.8 million viewers. NBC lost an estimated $15 million in ad revenue, and only beat a repeat of One Tree Hill.
Thank god for that creepy Chad Michael Murray.
NO-GO ON THE GO-GLOBES This year, the Golden Globes will be like a long-winded school announcement aired by NBC news. That means no red carpet, no never ending speeches and very little ad revenue. If in the end, the strike only accomplishes canceling a masturbatory and meaningless celebrity event, then truly the writers have won. [Deadline Hollywood]
The other day, we were thinking it would be good to get out of the house and see a movie. But we had no idea what to see. There were so many movies out there. So we went to the internet, looked up who was nominated for a Golden Globe.
See when a movie was nominated for a Golden Globe, that means it's good. That’s the law in Hollywood. We ended up seeing up seeing Juno and decided that Michael Cera should keep playing reiterations of George-Michael until he finishes puberty.
But, wait, what’s this? The Golden Globes might not happen because the Writers Guild will picket them if NBC airs them? And NBC can contractually stop the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from holding the event at all if the network can’t air the show? F!
Seriously, this is going to destroy the editorial calendars of a half dozen magazines and worst of all, destroy us in the office Oscar pool. The Writers Guild of America has no sense of limits.
Wednesday was so bomb. Late night programming returned, which was quite a relief because now we don’t have to think about how hopeless our lives are and can just watch celebrity interviews instead.
And when Leno returned on Wednesday, he made a joke about how he was writing his own monologue, which was funny, ha, ha, until the Writers Guild of America was like, “Hey, guess what Mr. Funny? That violates our agreement. You’re no better than Carson Daly.” To which Leno was like, “Do you see how I act with my guests? Where do you think I started?
Even without writers, The Tonight Show is still beating David Letterman's Late Show; Leno's mediocrity is that appealing.
So unless you were living in a shoe for the past eight weeks, you know that the writers strike has more or less destroyed American entertainment as we know it.
But last night, no longer able to sponsor their cast and crew with their own paychecks, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien returned. Only Letterman and Ferguson had the help of their writers; only Leno and Ferguson had shaved recently.
Without people on staff to be funny, Leno and O’Brien resorted to self-depreciating jokes about how unfunny they are. To kill time, O’Brien spun his wedding ring on his desk for 36 seconds. Yeah, these two shouldn’t have a problem as the strike continues.
After the jump, the first WGA approved scripted television in eight weeks from The Late Show. Since the clip is from YouTube, neither the writers nor the networks are profiting from this online material. How’s that for a compromise? CONTINUED »
First they took away our late night shows, then they took away our sitcoms. Then they gave us back our late night shows, but now they might be taking away our self-congratulatory events.
That’s right, the Golden Globes, the big shit award show until the Oscars come, might be canceled due to “internet royalties” and this damn writers strike.
The deal is if the writers pickets the Golden Globes, then “the good people” actors like George Clooney would feel totally awk attending. And George Clooney doesn’t need to scab to remind people how good he looks in a tux. People, and People, will remember. CONTINUED »
NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR CAUSE In the eight weeks since the writers strike began, we, the viewers, have been hurt with repeats and reality TV, but networks haven’t been squeezed. Viacom and Sony stocks are up a bit; News Corp, CBS, Time Warner and Walt Disney are flat, and GE is only down two points. [Variety]
DAMNED IF YOU DO … “An ultimatum was put in front of me … It was, 'Put a new show on Dec. 3 or 75 people are fired. What's your answer?'" says Carson Daly, explaining his decision to cross the WGA picket lines. See that’s the thing about being a tool: either way, you come off like one. [LAT]
STEWART/COLBERT '08 Joining Conan, Leno, Letterman, Ferguson and trail blazer, Carson Daly, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will return with new shows, produced without writers, starting January 7. [NYT]
Who would have guessed that a production company with a ridiculous name like World Wide Pants would be in such a plum position?
But since World Wide Pants, not CBS, owns The Late Show With David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both shows are probably going to return with new episodes in January through an interim agreement brokered with the Writers Guild of America. CONTINUED »
Thing are looking good for insomniacs. NBC’s Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno are probably going to return to late night in early January, even if the WGA strike doesn’t get resolved, which it won’t. There’s talk of a joint picket crossing with CBS’s David Letterman and Craig Ferguson. The competing networks have finally found a common enemy: The Struggling writer. [Variety]
Well, it’s come to this. Striking writers have so little to do they’ll hit up a taping of Last Call With Carson Daly.
On Tuesday night, strikers snuck into the studio audience of Last Call, a move not approved by the Guild, and reminded Carson Daly what middle school was like.
According to a tipster to Defamer, a few of the writers interrupted Daly before a producer warned that hecklers would be prosecuted, at which point over 20 people left the studio audience.
It’s hard to tell what makes Carson Daly look worse: crossing the picket line or the fact that 20 people can so easily crash a taping even with only Ellen taping new shows.
Editorial Director
