This morning I learned that Fox's "24" will NOT return in January for Day 7 because of the strike by the Writers Guild of America. OK. Now I'm really mad. Take away Desperate Housewives and Dave Letterman. I don't care. But do not take away Jack Bauer. Keifer Sutherland should don his Jack Bauer bullet-proof vest, bomber sunglasses and canvas nap sack, storm the offices of the Writers Guild and demand that they start writing scripts again. After all, he would tell them, the future of the world rests on their shoulders and, dammit, if they don't start writing, the life of the President may be in jeopardy!
Maybe I'm a little too into "24", but with good reason. It is an awesome show. Just when you think the concept of real-time television might get stale, the writers (now former writers) always came up with an awesome plot twist. Now, the twist is that there is no Day 7 awaiting me in January. I understand that especially for a show like 24, (that starts in January and ends in May so that there will be no repeats) it is imperative to have a full season written out before filming starts. And this is why they went ahead and postponed Day 7. But that still does not sit well with me.
I heard somewhere on the radio that television writers have a starting salary of about $200,000. And as my husband pointed out, they are not paid on commission. They are paid for their product, the script, and once they are done writing, then that is the end of that. After all, writers aren't punished monetarily if they write for a television show that doesn't make it. The studio absorbs the costs of sucky shows, not the writers. The worst that happens to a writer is he or she moves on to another show. And if they happen upon a hit show, then kudos to them.
I just hope it ends soon. I don't pretend to understand all the details of the dispute between the writers and the studios. They just better not cancel Grey's Anatomy, or I might have to don the Jack Bauer bullet-proof vest and storm my way into Hollywood and change some minds. After all, the future of the world depends on it.
2 comments:
Awesome... until the Grey's Anatomy part.
This may not be particularly bad news for me! I have been watching 24 from the beginning on Nexflix. I'm only on season 2 disc 4 and was worried Day 7 would start before I could catch up. The strike might give me a chance to watch them all.
By the way, 24 is the only show OR movie that I am able to sit still for. I usually watch one full disc in one sitting...almost three hours, and I still probably wouldn't have finished them all before January.
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