Are You Ready?

I love television. I like the excitement of it, I like the humour and drama in it, I love the escapism of it, but most of all, I love the entertainment of television. Lately, however, it seems that the lives of writers is garnering much more entertainment value, almost more than tv itself.

3 weeks now the writers have been striking. They've been striking for their own work, work that is receiving awards and page views and advertising. But everyone is losing. The non writerly people who have no show to run and who are losing pay because of someone else. The studio execs who are resting a little easy now because shows are still on and people are still checking out the shows on the web, but if they don't come to a decision, that will end very soon. The writers who are not getting paid and who, if they cave now and back down, will have had a pointless strike, wasted everyone's time as well as not having gotten at least one thing they did deserve, a piece of their own internet pie. The viewer who, very soon, will be forced to look at reality tv or go back to paper (I will be reading if there's not tv). I suppose I could write about reality tv - I like a few... food ones and that crazy Who Wants To Be A Superhero - but in the end, reality tv just doesn't provide the pure escapism I want.

Which means I will probably submerge myself in last season's DVDs. Maybe I will rewatch the last 3 seasons of Veronica Mars. Maybe I will re-watch 30 Rock. For some of you who are just catching up to TV, I have a few titles you should check out, but that will be for another time. So enjoy the remainder of your new shows and remember that you want the writers to get some of what they ask for. I know I do.