Burn Out: The Writers’ Strike Wreaks Havoc; Food Doesn’t Taste The Same
Better to burn out or to fade away?
This thing is killing me. We all knew the writers’ strike was going to be a major inconvenience, but I never suspected it would have the effect it’s currently having on my psyche. Ever since the writers took to the picket line three weeks ago, television has kind of sucked, and not just because my beloved late-night shows immediately went into reruns. Despite the fact that we’ve still been getting new scripted episodes these past few weeks, the strike has, in a way, highlighted just how solidly mediocre this fall has been. The new series, while marked by very few cancellations (honestly, who would have thought Cavemen would still be airing new episodes three weeks into November?), have generated no significant hits (with the exception of Samantha Who?, but it’s hard to say if it is the show that is successful or its Dancing With the Stars lead-in) while our favorite returning series from years past have either been wildly inconsistent (How I Met Your Mother), shockingly awful (Weeds) or just kind of a mess (Friday Night Lights). To top it all off the two series that have been consistantly good and occasionally great in The Office and 30 Rock are the first to run out of episodes. The whole mess can put your average television viewer into something of an existential conundrum: if interesting stories can vanish as quickly as they appear, what’s the point of it all? More after the jump…
This isn’t to say there hasn’t been some fun programming this fall, but the shows that I would consider to be my current favorites are either kind of trashy (The Hills), targeted at teenagers (Beauty and the Geek and Aliens in America) or both (Gossip Girl). Now that Project Runway has started up on Bravo I find myself in the wholly bizarre situation of being excited about more reality shows than scripted ones for the first time in my life. Dr. Peter Venkman said it best: “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria!”
Obviously, this isn’t the most conducive environment for one to operate a television blog largely devoted to episode recaps and reviews. Clearly we’re going to be needing a bit of a format shift. For the rest of the year I’m going to be focusing on the specifics of the writers strike, the news that comes out of it and not so much what is actually airing on television. There will certainly be exceptions (Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl etc.) but the strike is, without a doubt, the best drama in television. If you find this completely unacceptable, please let me know why I’m a jerkface in the comments.
Hopefully this whole thing will end up being moot, as both sides are slated to go back to the table after the holiday weekend. If we’re lucky everything will be back to normal by the end of the month and maybe, just maybe, we’ll still get a full season of Lost come February (as at this point, that’s all I’m really looking forward to)… but I’m not holding my breath.
Tags: 30 Rock, ABC, Aliens In America, Beauty and the Geek, CBS, Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, NBC, Samantha Who?, Showtime, The CW, The Hills, The Industry, The Office, Weeds, WGA Strike
November 20th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
I never thought I’d see the day where all of the shows you were currently into watching made you appear to be a teenage girl or a douche bag. It’s a good thing I know you…say, you know what TV needs these days?…something Post Modern…yeah, I like the sound of that…Post Modern Television…
November 20th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Nor I, my good man… nor I.
Though I do want to state for the record that “Aliens In America” is FANtastic, and does not cater to one’s inner teenage girl in any way (unless you like that, in which case it does). EVERYONE should be watching.