This is Bad
Well, they told us they were going to do it, and they did it. Twelve-thousand movie and television writers represented by the Writer's Guild of America have walked off the job.
Those bastards.
Late night, daytime, soap operas, prime time comedy, all gone. Leno is out feeding donuts to famished strikers, Tina Fey walks the line, and teamsters have stopped delivering. This is serious, folks. The important question for me now becomes:
Will I even notice?
Of course, you saw that coming. For years, television and I have been drifting apart. I've never watched daytime. (You probably won't believe me, but what I'm about to share with you is absolutely true: I've never once seen The Oprah Winfrey Show.) My TV hasn't been on after 11 PM since the Carter Administration. The last hour-long prime time drama I watched with any regularity is LA Law. And for the past few years, the only network shows I've at all sought out have been cartoons. Kind of sad, isn't it? The Simpsons and Family Guy are what I will miss if the strike endures.
You always hear about ratings, demographic groups, and target viewers. When I was younger, I always wondered why older adult viewing habits were never reported in the statistics, why the middle-aged demographic group didn't matter, why television advertisers didn't target us with their commercials. Now I know.
We don't give a shit what's on TV.
The writer's strike could last 10 times the 22 weeks it lasted in 1988, cripple network television beyond repair, and spawn a whole new breed of unscripted reality shows such as Will He Be Executed? and Nancy Grace Crawls Back Into Satan's Ass, and I'd never notice. Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Modern Marvels, Good Eats, the Weather Channel, and TCM are the extent of my TV viewing habits now. I don't think those shows even have writers.
Let me know when it's over.
K-
Those bastards.
Late night, daytime, soap operas, prime time comedy, all gone. Leno is out feeding donuts to famished strikers, Tina Fey walks the line, and teamsters have stopped delivering. This is serious, folks. The important question for me now becomes:
Will I even notice?
Of course, you saw that coming. For years, television and I have been drifting apart. I've never watched daytime. (You probably won't believe me, but what I'm about to share with you is absolutely true: I've never once seen The Oprah Winfrey Show.) My TV hasn't been on after 11 PM since the Carter Administration. The last hour-long prime time drama I watched with any regularity is LA Law. And for the past few years, the only network shows I've at all sought out have been cartoons. Kind of sad, isn't it? The Simpsons and Family Guy are what I will miss if the strike endures.
You always hear about ratings, demographic groups, and target viewers. When I was younger, I always wondered why older adult viewing habits were never reported in the statistics, why the middle-aged demographic group didn't matter, why television advertisers didn't target us with their commercials. Now I know.
We don't give a shit what's on TV.
The writer's strike could last 10 times the 22 weeks it lasted in 1988, cripple network television beyond repair, and spawn a whole new breed of unscripted reality shows such as Will He Be Executed? and Nancy Grace Crawls Back Into Satan's Ass, and I'd never notice. Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Modern Marvels, Good Eats, the Weather Channel, and TCM are the extent of my TV viewing habits now. I don't think those shows even have writers.
Let me know when it's over.
K-
It doesn't concern me, either. The networks will pressure both sides to get it resolved as soon as they start losing ad revenue. As for those TV ads, I think I now know why they're so LOUD. It's so old folks like me can hear them from the other room.
I love your proposed "Nancy Grace" show. I've had a love/hate relationship with TV for a long time. I have seen some stuff in the last 10 years that I absolutely love ("Band of Brothers," "The Wire," for instance), some shows that offer a welcome break from and alternative to our national reality (e.g., "The Daily Show"), some stuff that is sort of guilty fun ("Survivor," "Top Chef," "Pimp My Ride"), some stuff that's habit-forming but not necessarily great ("Law and Order," "CSI") and lots and lots and lots of dreck. Writing this, it's apparent to me just how much TV I've watched. But all that history notwithstanding, we canceled our TV service earlier this fall. So far, I'm surprised to find how easy it is to live without it.
You canceled your TV service!?! Dan, you are an exemplar, an ideal, a model to us all. I salute you, and the horse you rode in on. Nicely done, sir.
K-
Well, to be completely accurate, we "suspended" our DirecTV account. I called to cancel, and the DirecTV guy naturally asked why (do not let customers go gentle into that good night). I said our son had just gone off to school and we felt we didn't need the service any longer (not entirely true: Kate and I agreed to try life without TV, but I felt qualms about being cut off from my sports and HBO). The guy said, well, you know, you can put the thing on hold for up to six months if you want and your account will still be open. Won't cost you a cent. So, I did that, through January 1 -- sort of a methadone approach to TV withdrawal. Things have been different. For instance, no TV during the World Series and none during football weekends when it would have been on continuously whether I was actually watching or, more likely, not. I'm adjusting, and at this point I can't say I really miss our 27-inch video fireplace.