The Irony of Strikes

Saturday, March 28, 2009 8:25 PM

I was just thinking the other day how utterly stupid some of the WGA writers might be feeling lately. There were several good shows that premiered last season. Some were critically acclaimed and had fantastic ratings. The ones that pop into my mind are Chuck and Pushing Daisies. Then the Writer's Strike happened.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the plight of the writers and I kind of understand why they went on strike. The way I understood it, they weren't getting paid properly for their work that was released on DVD . . . or some such. But I strongly feel there SHOULD have been a better way to handle it. What that way may have been is beyond me. That's for smarter people than myself to ponder

But look at what happened. Journeyman, a show that aired on Monday nights was just gaining ground when the strike happened. But the ratings were still questionable, so the network decided not to renew it for another season. Pushing Daisies (a personal favorite) was very well received. It was different and imaginative and had great ratings. But the strike, for whatever reason, helped viewers forget about it and when it DID return the ratings were way down and never recovered - canceled. And now there is news that Chuck might get renewed for the same reason Daisies was. Viewership is down. I personally don't think the quality of the show has suffered when it came back this season. It's still a great show. But the length of time between last season and this, because of the writer's strike, caused people to lose interest and that's a shame.

I feel the irony of all this is in the fact that the writers of those shows who striked to get better wages in one area, lost there jobs because of it. Now I know that some of them have already moved on or had several other projects going on at the same time. But now, those shows are gone and will never return.

I truly hope that Chuck is renewed. It really is a fantastic show. Those actors AND writers deserve the recognition in terms of the show's potential longevity. And . . . well . . . Adam Baldwin certainly deserves to have a steady job for quite a while, dontcha think?

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