Gotta strike ‘em all!

If you follow which writers are on the Opinions page, you’ll notice that I’ve been suspiciously absent since early last November. Sadly, that is because I’ve been on strike. Fortunately, the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) has signed a deal with The Rose Thorn which has - okay I’m just messing with you. Of course, the WGA strike is messing with me. For those of you who live under a rock and are wondering why your favorite TV shows have gone into endless reruns, the (poor) writers have declared war (strike) on the (insanely) wealthy television stations.

Unlike the rest of the media, I find it difficult to throw my full support behind the striking writers. I fully believe they deserve credit and profit for their work when it is shared across the Internet. Exceptions to this rule are shows like “Desperate Housewives” where no one should want to take credit. I also think studio executives are overpaid. Honestly, $52 million a year for one executive is basically more than most small countries in Africa produce each year. The reason my support wanes is because the strike is not impacting those problems. Instead the strike is hurting the stagehands, set designers, and other professions that are out of work. Some writers, such as those who work for “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” have lost their jobs. While the WGA and TV networks may have deep enough pockets to weather the strike, the thousands of workers caught in the cross fire simply do not. It’s much like the Flipside starting a civil war where the only hurt party is the readers who are given substandard wartime content. Nope, not slander (it’s libel, haha). I digress. The studios and the WGA need to “suck it up and negotiate.” Regardless of finger pointing games previously seen only in the Bush-43 (an isotope of conservatism, not of beer) Administration, both sides need to get over themselves and get down to the business of negotiating; The WGA and the TV studios bear responsibility. Besides, I want a full season of “Lost.”

The WGA should also consider the potential impact on American television. If the strike goes on any longer, studios may outsource television, and I can imagine no worse fate. Just consider the last major show we imported: Pokémon. What sort of responsible society would let children wander the world at age 10 with other strange children and participate in violent battles, creating a culture whose main economic drive is glorified animal fighting. Michael Vick (formerly of the Atlanta Falcons) would be thrilled. And Pokémon was imported when the industry was not struggling to find programming. So to both sides, end the strike. I’d sooner we only import our electronics, textiles, and tech support from Asia…

I do want to offer one alternative to an all out strike that would benefit everyone: halt production on DVDs and Internet content until a negotiation can be reached. The stagehands would be reemployed; the TV stations wouldn’t have won, and best of all, I won’t have to “catch ‘em all” (or whatever Asia sends us next). However, the strike drags on. As a result I have no new episodes of “House” to watch and the season finale of “Scrubs” might never be produced. Simply unacceptable. Honestly, how could the writers and (edit made by WGA) networks be so selfish?