Oh, It’s On!
The last thing I want to do with my evenings is to get trapped in a quiet moment that could allow thoughts about my actual life to seep in and awaken me from the bliss of my mindless zombie state. I need content to fill the void, otherwise reality will. Obviously, these days, the evening news provides no respite. The internet isn’t what it used to be. I need TV. And with the writers’ strike dragging on, I was quickly running out of decent content (I already ran out of the high quality stuff). My back was against the wall. My unconscious was revving up its negative, self-defeating engines in anticipation of my impending, involuntary meditative moments. My prestige TV defense mechanism was lost between the couch cushions (along with several AppleTV remotes) and I was being dragged from an unprecedented age of TV, with a cornucopia of content at my fingertips, to taking a one-way trip to the Walden Pond region of my psyche, where self-loathing roams free. A seventh round of reruns of The Office would be no match for what was coming. Panic had set in. Seriously, do you know what it’s like to eat a TV dinner in front of a blank wall? Shows once considered guilty pleasures or background watches had moved to the top of my queue. I watched bad documentaries on topics about which I had no interest. I attempted to connect with random, inaccessible episodes from every corner of the globe. Subtitles on or off, it made no difference. Gimme the content, I need, I need. Holy hell, I even started watching shows with commercials—during which I wondered more than once, “Do I really want to live in a world where Taylor Sheridan is not typing out five new shows at once?” Thankfully, I won’t have to answer that question. The pencils are being sharpened, the laptops are being charged, and the TV writers are back to work. As of 12:01am on Wednesday, The Writers Strike Is Over. (Which means Sheridan’s probably hammered out 10-12 episodes of something by now.)
+ The Hollywood Reporter: How the Writers Deal Got Done: Inside the Room. (Candidly, the blow by blow isn’t nearly as exciting as watching a show, but if you’re caught up on your scripted show substitutes like Love is Blind, Below Deck, and The Real Housewives of Holy Shit There’s Nothing On, then it’s worth a read.)
+ “Historic raises and guarantees on AI use will have major ramifications in Hollywood, but the new transparency in streaming data means Netflix and Disney Plus will have to change how they work.” The new WGA contract will change how Hollywood work.
+ This is emerging as the year of the strike in America, so it’s especially notable that the writers got a lot of what they wanted. Vox: The Hollywood writers’ strike is over — and they won big. (Congrats, congrats. Now, type!)
+ Of course, the actors are still on strike. So we’ll have to wait for new episodes to be shot, but I have a feeling it won’t be long. I need it to not be long. In the meantime, the talkshows will be the first things back. Late-night TV shows announce their return after Hollywood writers strike ends.
+ While we’re waiting for more content, we’re likely to get more strikes. Las Vegas hospitality workers overwhelmingly permit union to call strike against hotels, casinos.
