Can I start a topic here?

This is important. Writing is everything to these shows. I lost respect for Ellen this week, how could she even begin to think that she could have survived without strong writers behind her.

I don't understand the injustice that is done to this career.

What do others think?

Did I miss something she said, I didn't know Ellen thought that. In fact she said she would not be doing an opening monologue in support of the writers AND in fact made a point of not standing in her normal spot.

So far the actors I have seen have had nothing but support for the writers.

I don't think she should have crossed the line.

OH you mean to film her show?
Alot of people have crossed the line, not just Ellen. There was some filming done on Desperate Housewives after the picket line was up. The View was still filming episodes after the strike.

How do you feel about it?

The other day, one of the girls from Desperate Housewives was on the show and she said it was written into their contracts that they had to NOT work either.

I think if your in support of the writers demands you would not work.

Are you saying you feel like Ellen shouldn't be doing her show at all? I guess thats how the writers feel from what your saying. I haven't read that much about it I guess.

Yep, that's how I feel. I think that writing and writers are not given the credit, pay, acknowledgement, that they deserve. Jay Leno is dark, Letterman and O'Brien are dark, I don't understand Ellen and the View.

I wonder how far in advance the scripts are written for some of the prime time television shows. I was thinking that maybe some of them that are still crossing the line will eventually run out of scripts to film.

I also wonder if this is a deal where they can just say fine (the show producers) and hire other writers?

Danielle - do you know anything about that? Do you have to be in the union to even write for these shows?

The interesting thing about the shows that have completed scripts is that even those shows may not be able to continue production, because the show runners (often writers themselves) are picketing!

I'm not sure if the writers have exclusivity clauses in their contracts, and I'm not sure about union requirements, either. I'm assuming all writers are in the Guild, but I could be wrong.

I love that the cast of The Office decided to support the writers by not showing up to work, and that people like Conan and Jon Stewart are keeping their shows dark. I definitely agree that Ellen should have stayed on the other side of the picket line to support her writers.

The writers are the backbone of the television industry. As much as it pains me to know that Heroes will likely come to an early end this season, the reason is very worthwhile, and I support it!

I was unaware that some shows had stopped showing episodes when they had that ability. Although I do remember that Craig Ferguson said he was a member of the Writers Guild and could not write shows.

I just assumed that some shows had some scripts already written and thats what they were falling back on.

I don't know much about it but if they wanted to hire new writers, they couldn't get them from members of the Writers Guild right?

Thank god for HBO.
I have also been downloading TV series from the internet, some of them broadcast only in the UK so that will keep my busy when they run out of new episodes. I'm really going to be lost if they start airing re-runs of my soap operas.

And then a strike gets closer to home:

Broadway is dark, almost dark.
I sit in hand with over $500 worth of tickets to see Spamalot in New York.
It's closed.
We get refunds if it looks as if they show will not go on.
The word is that the play hands have worked since July without a contract.
The last strike on Broadway - the musicians - lasted a few days.

I also read this morning that the crew of "The Office" has been fired. The non-writer workers.
And the debate continues about Ellen. I just don't know. I can see where she is in a contract and that she wants to protect her non-writing staff, but it does get a bit confusing when you see who has stopped working and who has not.

Maybe the View is still on because they have the same type of contract as Ellen.

Has anyone heard any news if they are closer to any resolution?

Right or wrong, I think this writers strike will hurt TV in general. Viewership has been dropping over the past 2-3 years.

As each new fall season starts, there are fewer and fewer watching mainstream TV. More and more people are watching alternatives. I got a Blockbuster online membership a few months ago and love it. It doesn't matter what's on TV. I like several of the show on TV and looked forward to seeing Heros and new shows like Pushing daisies but there are other things to do.

Once people get into the habit of finding alternatives, I think it will become harder and harder to lure people back to TV.

I'm not a fan of realities shows for the most part but that's what's going to replace the shows that are off - because they need no written scrips. I read tha some of the shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy had enough scripts to film only 3 more shows. 24 has been put on hold indefinitely.

Joan - I just read an article about the same exact thing, advertisers are very scared that viewers will find other things to do.

As far as a resoultion, Lisa, I don't know. I haven't heard anything about a time-table.

I haven't heard of any resolution either, but they say it's possible for the strike to go on for months.

I read that too-that they expect it could go on for months. Advertisers are already having a hard time with so many people recording shows on DVR's, etc. Nobody is watching the ads anymore and they are trying to come up with creative ways to work the ads into the show or make funny ads or ads with games in them, just to get people to watch them.

I like BBC tho. They will still be having new programing.

I have heard they are negotiating with a mediator to resolve their issues. Some of the Soap writers have already crossed over the picket line. So I dont know if this will be a trend, or if it will drag out for some time.

I used to work in a factory that had a union and I was the shop steward for that union for a year so I am behind the writer's on strike. I hope it ends soon because ultimately, we are the ones who are going to suffer because of the re-runs.

Odd too that pro wrestling is still going but I guess that is because it is a private company and their storyline writers must not be affected by the strike.

I suppose if they wanted to support the writer's strike, Vince McMahon would probably fire them. I mean there is no more shows with drama and comedy than pro wrestling. lol.

Also, we have a good story going on the NBC Soaps site. It's called "Bubbles' Story". Maybe they will hire us to write for them. lol.

As far as mainstream TV shows go, I can hardly NAME any of the new series, much less say I've watched them, within the past 8 or so years. I hear ABOUT them, but as far as watching them, I've seen maybe one episode of Seinfeld, maybe 10 minutes of any Survivor. We have a DirecTV HD DVR which we use for sports and much more informative documentary-style programs on Discovery, Smithsonian, TLC and other channels like that. How many ways can one see lawyers battle it out, or grisly crime investigations? Not to say anything about these "reality" shows. If there are nothing but reruns for the next year, I wouldn't notice it one bit!

Nothing that I've seen commercials for on NBC, ABC, CBS, etc really strikes me as funny or even remotely interesting to view. The only one that had a chance with me was Threshold, but that got killed off quickly.

Combine that with the availability of entertainment options available online, listening to good music, and good old fashioned talking with the person next to you, and Prime Time TV, well, lost its influence.

Interesting you mention Threshold. I'm watching the entire series of shows today on SciFi as I work. I loved that show. It was one that the network just didn't care about. It was doing well on friday nights so they decided it must be the good spot it was in-so they moved it to another night and put some show in the Friday night spot that they wanted to promote.

I think Threshold was pulled off the air after one airing in the new time slot.

Vance, I've never watched pro wrestling but isn't that more in the nature of sports or reality TV? I don't suppose they even use writers for that. News and sports are exempt as their writers are in a different union.

Kriss, as far as the soap writers crossing the picket lines-soaps are in trouble viewer-wise anyway so they don't want to lose the few they have probably.

Pro Wrestling isn't a sport. It is sports entertainment and they do have storyline writers for the wrestlers. It isn't so much reality television as it is a "male soap opera", so to speak.

That's really interesting! I never knew that about pro-wrestling. Funny how men make fun of women's soaps and then they have this-lol.

What I heard (I'm not vouching for accuracy here, there's too much conjecture out there right now) was that most of the writers made sure there were enough scripts to get through November sweeps, which I think has now ended, but not much beyond that. Shows that have new episodes next week will likely be airing the last one they have.

As for Heroes coming to a quick season ender, it was my understanding that they already had plans for the spin off "Heroes: Origins" to take over the time slot for six weeks or so in mid-season, and I read about that before the strike. If the Origins scripts were ready in advance (I'm sure at least one or two were), the Heroes franchise may be the best prepared on primetime to continue showing new episodes during this crisis.

As much as I love being entertained, I think I'd rather it all come to a screeching halt if that's what it takes to get the attention required to further the writers' cause.

Ditto for the Local One stagehands striking on Broadway. I know what kind of work they do; I've done it. It's hard work with no glory, and a general public that thinks the actors and directors are all that matters. Some of us thespians aren't actors, we're techies, hands, artists, costumers, stage managers, etc. It does my heart good to see them turn around the follow spot, so to speak.

I read in the newspaper this morning the writers are going back to the table.

I guess the writers are still on strike. It seems like after the Thanksgiving break the media stopped covering the strike alot. I came from Starbucks today and have noticed alot more people hanging there lately. My professor told me we might see more people at Starbucks with laptops and notebooks. Have you all noticed that at any of the coffee shops you go to?

I've seen larger crowds at coffee places lately, but I attributed it to the massive amounts of people fortifying themselves for and recovering from shopping binges. Then again, the coffee shops I frequent are near big shopping centers. So maybe I'm not seeing a good cross section of the current coffee house population.

More shows seem to be running out of scripts. I'm seeing a lot fewer ads for "an all new ____(fill in the blank with name of show)." *sigh* I just wish the strike were over...

I've noticed too that quite a few shows this week were re-runs. Of course with holiday shows coming on in Dec it won't show up much til January probably.

I've noticed bigger crowds at the book stores I frequent. Maybe people will start reading again!

I can't stand repeats, and now that you can watch whatever show you might miss on the web, there really isn't any reason for repeats. Unless, oh that's right, there is no one to write the new shows!!! (slightly sarcastic huh?)

Hopefully everyone will be busy with holiday stuff and family time, and my the time all that is over, the strike will be too. I am already going to stock up on dvd's for Christmas just in case.

Sue - I think the DVD idea is great!

Usually they show re-runs in December anyway, so hopefully there will be a few new episodes left for January. I'm sure though that we will be hit with way too many weird reality programs soon.

Chloe!
I agree and it will be interesting to see what "topics" they find to cover in the world of reality television.