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]
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.
BigThink.com is a new press-happy website where ideas of "great minds, leaders and cultural figures will be used to catalyze an online discussion about the big issues of our day among a global audience." It's also the place where New Yorker editor David Remnick made fun of a media blog, and David Patrick Columbia defended bloggers.
Today, the site is home to a new roundish table discussion video about the WGA strike — with actual writers discussing the matter.
We mean to emphasize this because most Internet videos featuring striking writers show them not speaking, and communicating through the written word on cue cards. Or pieces of cardboard and a Sharpie.
The segment has comedy writers Dan Goor, Laura Krafft and Colin Jost "[offering] a perspective of the strike from the picket line. They talk about what's behind the strike, what's at stake, as they see it, and why they're still deeply committed to the cause."
And in an asterisk-worthy note: "The writers requested that we not post their show affiliations."
Huh. That's curious. Writers on strike who don't want their show affiliations mentioned? Because talking about the strike more than Nikki Finke is somehow bad form? We're not buying.
Which is why we copy/pasted their names into IMDB to REVEAL ALL THEIR SECRETS! CONTINUED »
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.
• On seeing this picture of his ex-fiancée and current GF Heidi Montag posed on all fours, Spencer Pratt thought to himself, "now this looks familiar."
• Trying to seem smart by taking a stand on the writers strike, Joaquin Phoenix ends up looking like a misguided first grader, and misspells his name.
• For our money, Brian Austin Green peaked during the later college years of 90210. Everything that came before and after was for not. CONTINUED »
• With the Golden Globes canceled, the city of Los Angeles can expect to lose more than New York ever did during the Broadway strike. [MG]
• Stereohyped visits with the cast of Broadway's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof — and gets schooled by Phylicia Rashad. [SH]
• Fox News falsely reports, decides to name Paul Begala to Hillary Clinton's campaign. [HuffPo]
• Terry Bradshaw throws in the broadcasting towel. [NYP]
• Simon Cowell is still pulling for Britney Spears: "I think she's the most searched artist on the Internet at the moment, so she has a head start." But, to be fair, so was Anna Nicole. [People]
• The New York Observer remains a grooming ground for media beat reporters, despite what one frustrated blog mogul thinks. [MM]
• The new ad campaign from Equinox gyms is looking more like a Dieux de Stade calendar. [Queerty (maybe NSFW)]
So Chris Beam, a friend from college, is going to be on the Colbert Report tonight. Awesome for Chris!
He's really charming, and he even writes this neat blog for Slate on the campaign called TrailHead. But, after watching the above clip from a writerless Colbert Report last night, we think his appearance may have something to do with the strike. Just putting that out there.
We get it: David Letterman thinks he's funny, even when he looks like a manorexic Santa Claus. And generally, he is. Much more so than Leno. But last night's show, where he had his beard shaved off, was padded with a few too many belly laughs at his own jokes. And at eight minutes, let's just say Sherri Shepherd expounding on the flatness of the earth is less tortuous.
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]
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 »
When news of the Writers Guild of America's strike was coming, one woman was able to turn what was to become, at its core, the most boring standoff since Heidi vs. LC. Then Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily blog made things interesting, trafficking in facts, gossip, and plucky web video better than industry rags like THR, Variety, or even the Los Angeles Times could attempt.
And if there are three things Nikki has done well – besides keeping the story fresh for weeks – it's storytelling, increasing pageviews, and caring. CONTINUED »
Just a quick FYI: Owning your own production has its benefits. Because David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants, made a separate agreement with the Writers Guild of America, the second-rated late night host can have Screen Actors Guild guests without any awkwardness and/or protests from the WGA. CONTINUED »
In what world is a MIT physics professor a big talk show"get"? In the murky waters of the WGA strike, where some late night hosts are returning with their writing staffs, and others without.
The professor is YouTube star Walter H. G. Lewin, who makes physics fun with lively demonstrations; he also happened to be featured in the New York Times, so you know the logic path that followed in bookers' minds.
And if Jay Leno were to get him, that'd be just splendid — since David Letterman's arrangement for Late Night and Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show allows them to return with writers and the blessing of the Screen Actors Guild, which the Times reports "is explicitly directing its members — including every A-list movie and television star — to appear on the CBS shows."
Which isn't sitting well with the Lenos, O'Briens, Stewarts, Colberts, Dalys, and Kimmels of the world. Something about an unfair competitive advantage. Or a growing fear that Jay Leno by himself is, indeed, not funny. Shudder.
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 »
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