Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 26 > Entry
I’m b-a-a-a-ck! If only TV would come back, too!
Friends who were able to bring themselves to make eye contact with me over the holidays asked with a tone of sympathy bordering on discomfort:
“So, what are you going to write about, you know, now that TV is more or less gone?”
Good question, and folks are right to be concerned — not about me but about the state of entertainment television. I can always switch to writing about acupuncture for dogs (which I’ve done before). Viewers and, to a more serious degree, TV industry workers, face considerably more dire consequences.
We’re stumbling into Day 52 of the writers’ strike, with no talks scheduled and no end in sight. Reruns, reality shows and a smattering of new shows that smack of old shows that didn’t make the fall schedule. Welcome to the wonderful world of television today.
Producers are richer and thus able to hold out longer than writers in this dispute over Web-generated revenue, but what will either side have to return to if this drags into spring? Television already has seen its audience splinter to cable and, increasingly, disappear to Internet and DVDs. The lengthening writers’ strike could be the beginning of the end for anything resembling a mass audience for TV.
For the time being, we still have some new shows and even repeats of some old shows worth seeing again. Thus, the goal of the TV blog and the TV column will be to sniff out what’s left, forage in the forest and find a reason to dust off the remote. And we’ll keep an eye on the impact on all of this on the industry and the couch-potato culture.
Feel free to send suggestions … every little bit helps.
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By GTex
December 27, 2007 1:49 AM | Link to this
But isn't the goal worth the sacrifice? How can we honestly expect any of those poor impoverished writers for Jay Leno, for example, to make ends meet on just $500,000 a year? Surely they believe we should have pity on the lot of them, producers and writers alike.
By Sandy K
December 26, 2007 4:58 PM | Link to this
We still need to know what's worth watching, whether on cable or whatever. Game and reality shows aren't all that bad if the subject is good. Please continue to keep us posted. Thanks
By Sandy K
December 26, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
We do need to know what is and what isn't worth watching. Reality shows aren't all that bad most of the time. Depends on what it's about. Game shows are good. So, please keep us up on what's going on, including the able networks. Thanks!
By austinights
December 26, 2007 1:21 PM | Link to this
I think that my 9 year old nephew summed up the future of television - at least for his generation - when he told me over the holiday - "I don't watch TV. I go online!" When you see NBC reach out and grab an online production to fill in (QUARTERLIFE), then it just reasons that the internet power is definitely for real. Of course, I also read over the weekend that several unemployed striking writers are finding some work doing online productions. The future is now!