If you’re not happy with “Heroes” or
“Grey’s Anatomy” this season, you can
blame a lack of quality TV on a potential
Writer’s Guild of America strike.
Members of the WGA might strike
as early as this morning, according to
trade Web sites and magazines, such
as Variety. Writers want more royalties
from DVD sales and Internet distribution.
The royalties are part of a clause
in the WGA contracts, which expired at
midnight on Oct. 31.
Despite what you might think, popular
shows, such as “Heroes,” “Grey’s” and
“Lost,” rely heavily on their writers, as
do late-night comedians David Letterman
and Jay Leno. Both new and returning
shows – for example, “Pushing Daisies”
and “Law & Order: SVU,” respectively
– this fall are performing dismally in
ratings. We won’t know if they’ll get
better without their writers.
So what does the WGA
strike mean for us faithful
TV viewers?
Next year, our TV
schedules could
look very different.
We might
get reruns,
game shows
or, even worse,
a slew of new
reality shows.
Honestly, how
many of us can
stomach another
season of “A Shot
at Love with Tila
Tequila,” let alone a
full episode?
The last major Hollywood
strike took place in 1988 and lasted
22 weeks. This strike resulted in a
$500 million loss for the entertainment
industry. Given the state of
television these days – it’s
bad – the strike does
not particularly
bode well.
However, the
strike might not
be so bad for
the film industry.
According
to Entertainment Weekly.
com, this week,
Sony hired
James Vanderbilt
to write “Spiderman
4.”
That’s right, we
might be getting another
“Spiderman” movie.
More importantly, how many sequels
is enough? The “Spiderman” movies
are some of the latest examples that
established franchises don’t have to be
well-written to make money. The first
“Spiderman” movie had an estimated
$139 million budget and grossed more
than $821 million worldwide. With an
estimated $200 million dollar budget,
“Spiderman 2” grossed more than $783
million worldwide, while “Spiderman
3,” released this May, had an estimated
$258 million budget and grossed more
than $890 million worldwide.
“Spiderman 4” would probably get
an even bigger budget than its predecessors
and will probably break box office
records. However, Vanderbilt, who
penned “Zodiac,” might actually come
up with a good script.
Perhaps the TV industry should start
hiring new writers too. Who knows, we
might get a “CSI: Detroit” out of this.
(Just don’t cancel “Pushing Daisies.”)