Monday, February 4, 2008

Writer's Strike Over?

According to Nikke Finke, the one-stop-shop for reliable strike-related news, the end of the WGA strike may be announced by the end of this week. If you didn't hear, News Corp. mogul Peter Chernin canceled his appearance at the Super Bowl so he could negotiate with the WGA over the weekend. Word came out Saturday that a compromise had been reached and Sunday, Cherin was at the Super Bowl after all, and apparently telling people that "the strike is over," according to Finke. According to TVGuide's Michael Ausiello, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives are already planning to get back in production in March. In fact, most returning shows are planning on resuming production, while all new shows (Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl, et al) are focusing energies on their second season.

More will be posted when details come out.

3 comments:

mesfox said...

How about some review of the Super Bowl ads? Were there any really good ones? Any flops?

Brian Farrey said...

I'm highly suspect over the "news" that the strike is going to be over soon. The same thing happened in November. "Leaks" assured us that it was a done deal but what really happened was the producers gave the writers a laughable offer.

It seems like a posturing ploy to me. The producers puff up their chests and say, "Oh, yeah, this is about to be over" and then they made a ludicrous offer that the writers have to reject. Then the producers shrug and say, "Gosh, we tried our best. We really thought this would end it.." hoping this makes the writers look bad.

Of course, this is pure (somewhat paranoid) conjecture on my part. I'm just saying how this LOOKS to me. If word "leaks" out that a deal is in the works and then the writers reject it, they look like they're being difficult and not fighting for their rights. Don't get me wrong: if the stories are true and the stike is over soon, I'll be ecstatic. But I'll wait until official word comes down, as opposed to "leaks."

Charles Jurries said...

Brian,
It looks like your "paranoid conjecture" may be fact. WGA writers haven't heard anything, and it sounds like there are still issues on the table that need to be worked over and mediated, not to mention the actual language needs to be drafted. I'm still optimistic the strike could be over soon, but, I'm less so now.