Bigger on the Inside

This just in from ComingSoon.net serves as something of an update on the writers’ strike that I mentioned yesterday. It shows how this action is having an impact across on the production of many big hitting shows.

Although late-night shows like “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and “Saturday Night Live” have already shut down because of the writers strike that started on Monday, primetime shows still have a number of episodes in production before running out of new material.

“Lost” fans, who have been waiting a long time for new episodes, will get to see at least eight new ones if the strike continues for a long time. “Lost” executive producer Carlton Cuse told Entertainment Weekly that ABC will soon have eight episodes in the can that it can begin airing after the first of the year. If the strike is prolonged and the writers can’t get back to work writing the rest of the episodes, fans are going to be stuck with the kind of stunted season they were forced to endure last year.

“It will feel like buying a ‘Harry Potter’ book, reading half of it, and then having to put it down for many months,” explains Cuse. “There is a cliffhanger at the end of the eighth episode. It will only be frustrating [for viewers] to have to step away from the show and not see the second half of the season.

“The first half of the season, like a good novel, sets all the events of the show in motion and the second half deals with the consequences,” Cuse continued. “We’re very proud of the first eight but it feels weird to have to stop literally mid-stream.”

This is all well and good but it is not that I find so fascinating. What gets me is that the reaction from the public is generally positive and supportive with only a few commentators throwing muck at the strikers. However, when they do others seem to jump to the defence of the writers. I find this interesting. I think back to when I was younger and the miners’ strike was in full force in England. If the Internet were around then, how would it go? Of course it is like comparing apples and lumps of coal; the writers are unlikely to completely lose their livelihood.

Moreover, the positive reaction gets me wondering who will go out on strike next for better conditions. I myself am really lucky because I live in a country where my employment is protected to a certain extent but I know people that live in the USA that tell me of their lack of holidays and poor wages and such. What would happen if teachers or healthcare workers in the US got it into their heads that they wanted better conditions. I would say a lot of people are watching the Writers’ strike quite carefully. If they succeed what would stop others from following suit? And what would be the impact on the struggling US economy? We live in interesting times indeed.

Related Links
What Does the Writers Strike Mean for Lost?
How will the strike affect ‘Lost?’

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