My wife watches a lot of TV, and, now that they're beginning to air the last episodes of Chuck, Reaper, Pushing Dasies, and et al, I'm scared. Now she's going to want to do stuff, like going out to nice restaurants, read books again, have conversations and, worst of all, sex.

Damn you writers' strike.

Awesome.

The entire writers strike and not having any shows to watch until 2009 is totally worth getting David Cross in a cat suit playing the piano. That might have been the best thing i've ever seen, and then putting him on the Carson Daily show is comedy gold.

Shutting down television will have some wonderful consequences (unintended, but still wonderful) for family relationships, health, and productivity to name a few. I wish it could last forever!

Imagine how many children will get an additional hour with mom when Desperate Housewives ends!

Imagine the health benefits of children playing in the back yard instead of sitting on the couch watching Nickelodian (sp?).

Imagine how much more productive adults will be if they went to bed at a decent hour instead of staying up to watch Letterman, Leno, Conan etc...

Thank you writers!

Imagine the health benefits of children playing in the back yard instead of sitting on the couch watching Nickelodian (sp?).

ah, were it true. You know kids don't care if Dora the Explorer is a rerun or not. Every episode is the same anyway, nobody can tell the difference. The great electronic babysitter will not be thrown out.

Also, the great evil (american idol) will be returning just in time to babysit adults every night. (fox has to run something between all the simpsons/family guy/seinfield reruns)

The rest of your post though, i concur.

Fucking brilliant!

support the writers - exactly what does that mean? Stop watching TV and possibly stop buying the advertisers products. OK well, that's cool, be good for families, kids, general overall health etc.

If, however, it means telling the studios to pay up then forget it. The writers are in a union. They signed on to a contract to provide services. No one held a gun to their head and forced them to sign their contracts or to work in this field. If they failed to foresee the value of their work in the Internet age and failed to get that written into their contracts they have nothing to gripe about. That's the nature of contract bargaining. You don't get to say wait a minute when you find out you overlooked something by not doing your due diligence. The writers are owed nothing for their work beyond what they contracted for. It's not their work once they've completed it, it is the studio's.

Here's a new fact I just heard on Talk of the Nation from a Letterman Writer for all of you who think the writers are overpaid:

"For a writer to get health insurance from the Writers guild, you have to earn $30,000 a year. Half of the Writer's guild went without health insurance last year" You do the math.

Anyone notice "Chocolate Rain" played in somber tones? David Cross.. woot!

B

I just knew that Carson Daly was an anti-worker dirtbag. Or I suspected it. MTV and all.

Ok - just for the sake of argument - isn't a bit hypocritical of Norm to be supporting these writers when he's basically doing the same thing the studios are doing? Namely, using content produced by these folks to generate traffic, where traffic=revenue.

Norm, I really dig this site, and am not t... aw forget it, I like you but maybe(!) you're in the wrong here.

At any rate it's something to think about

The Magnolia Electric Co -

Whether the writers have health insurance or not is irrelevant to the initial reasons for the strike. It is a red herring intended to elicit sympathy for their side. They are striking to get a slice of the revenue from the digital rights to content they created. They failed to negotiate this in the past when no one realized the value of it so it's tough luck. The studios are under no obligation to pay it if the writers can't negotiate it. This is what contracts are all about. Are you implying that contract law should be thrown out the window because they are ineffectual bargainers, got a raw deal and are suffering for it?

In my past I was the job steward for a large hotel (i.e. the head union guy in the hotel)with over 500 employees - I'm very pro-union, but I don't sympathize with anyone who negotiates an agreement then says waaaah it's not fair. If you don't like it don't sign it, end of story.

Cross as a cat, disturbing.