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February 23rd, 2008Now that the recent writers’ strike has officially come to an end I’ve begun to look back and see just what, if anything, this strike really accomplished. Obviously the writers have won and no doubt got what they were clamoring for; however, I can’t help but wonder if we, the viewer, really missed anything or not. Over the last three months the stories continued to flood in: the writers were on strike and the industry was being hit hard as a result. The film and television industry was hurting and they were desperate for new shows and new ideas. Naturally, they instituted more reality shows, game shows, and make-over “whatever” editions than is humanly possible to keep up with. However, these shows have been popular for years and most have never gone off the air; the few that did were simply replaced by something similar. Without the news updates I probably would never have known there WAS a strike because so few programs were using intelligent or well-written dialogue in the first place. It’s also puzzling why so many late-night hosts went off the air; considering that many of them are writers and comedians themselves they seem perfectly capable of carrying their own shows and I admired the select few who did this and took a chance on themselves. For once it was also a pleasure to actually watch awards-shows because they were a reasonable length. No more four hour marathons with pointless blather, bad jokes and cheesy numbers mixed in the middle; awards were handed out and people went on their way. We’ve reached the point where people can make their own speeches and presentations without someone else doing it for them. The entire Golden Globes ceremony was only about half-an-hour, making it much more manageable to view and also easier to actually figure out who won as a result. Some shows didn’t even seem to be affected by the loss of the writers. Although seasons and episodes were cut down in some cases, most of them had enough momentum to keep going. I even heard from some people who follow programs like soap operas that the writing actually IMPROVED and storylines began to grow much more interesting. Maybe this is a sign that the new and lesser-experienced writers have the right ideas about how to carry a story and really draw an audience in. This wasn’t the case with every program but the difference was hardly noticeable to me and many others. While most episodes were finished before the strike there were still holes and new material that needed to be written and the few writers who were left handled it very well. In the end I’m happy the strike is settled. The writers can get back to their jobs and Hollywood films and television can carry on as usual. However, a lot of writers have been turning out less-than-impressive material and re-hashes of what has come before. They’re capable of better and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and prove that they’re the right ones for the job. I’m glad the writers are back; I’m just wondering if we’ll be able to notice. |
