In a move that falls under "fantastic idea", CBS President and CEO Les Moonves says that CBS plans to integrate some Showtime series into the current primetime schedule at midseason if the strike continues. Shows they are thinking about include Dexter, Weeds and Brotherhood - edited for broadcast tv of course. I would love to watch the first season of Dexter again and get caught up and I'm sure there are a few who would like to check it out for themselves, as well as Weeds and Brotherhood. Not only will it give viewers new, non reality, content, but it will possibly also encourage more people to pay for Showtime when the strike is over and the shows move back to their homes.
For more information on the on-going writer's strike, check out this summary by United Hollywood.
Tanya Huff's series Blood Ties, about Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, an ex cop, Vicki Nelson, and the complicated relationship they have solving supernatural crimes together in Canada, plays on Lifetime. The real Henry Fitzroy died of consumption, but in Tanya Huff's Blood series, she theorizes that he did not die at all, but was turned into a vampire. It's an interesting series. Lifetime, though, decided to offer the last two shows of the season for download only. With the writers striking primarily for their stake in the future of online media, it was a pretty brash move for Lifetime to make. Tanya Huff thought so as well. She normally writes about the show for Lifetime, but she refused to do so for the final two shows and goes so far as to mention torrenting the show (though doesn't encourage it) so that fans still get to watch it, but the networks don't make the money off of it.
That writers are even mentioning torrents is something else altogether. Torrents are files you download to watch or listen to anything from movies to music. That's all part of the illegal downloading saga that has been going on since Napster. TV shows are a bit more sketchy, since they start out free. You only have to pay if you want to get them all at once without commercials. While torrenting may make networks mad at the moment, this may be something that could come back and bite the writers on the ass later. I mean, there is a bit of a convenience thing to watching shows online - and you can deal with 4 30 second commercials in a 30 minute show or up to 8 in an hour. While torrents allow you to watch any show, whether online or not, commercial free, it takes a little time to download them and you could be done with the online version of 30 Rock before you finish downloading. The disadvantage to networks concerning the whole torrenting thing is that they usually air shows the next day and torrents are available within the hour after the show has finished airing. So people who work nights can come home, download their shows and watch them all before the first synopsis hits the internet or they get spoiled by ESPN's Colin Cowherd on their morning drive. But for writers, if they start making money on webisodes and online downloads, then torrenting will cut into their bottom line - so suggesting torrenting (they couldn't be encouraging something illegal, could they?) is something that should be done lightly. And maybe it was done lightly, but in the end, some people will do it and find their lives tremendously streamlined for it.
The rest of us will just watch last season shows from Netflix and by the time we're ready for this new season, the strike will be over.
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