Various Strike-Related Stuff

First, the most important thing:

IT'S OVER!!!!!

I am pleased and excited that the strike served its purpose, that a large and reportedly fractious group of people were able to stick to their guns for 100 days and get the job done. Congratulations, WGA, and all my favorite television and film writers!

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I was reading a post at United Hollywood by a writer for a cable show who talked about how she gets paid less than she would elsewhere, for doing the same amount of work, and how it was a failure of negotiations over the past 20 years that led to that. She was less complaining than being forward-thinking, talking about using the past to make things better in the future.

Over the past many, many (far too many) weeks, I've been 1000% on the side of the writers. I've overcome my typical aversion to the modern union because I believed what they were fighting for was important. But there's a big flaw in the above thinking.

If I sell my book to Publisher A, I stand to make several thousand dollars more than I do if I sell it to Publisher X. That wouldn't change the effort it took me to write the book, the amount of time spent and so on. Similarly, if my CFO husband were working for a different company, he could be making tens of thousands of dollars more. That's the nature of capitalism. I have never had an interest in economics or politics, so forgive me if I sound ignorant, but isn't everyone being paid the same amount called socialism?

In any event, that one small bit of perspective has shown that my attitude toward unionization hasn't really changed.

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On a lighter note, check out some final picket signs here. My favorite is the scripts one.

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TV Guide has a new Strike Chart, showing the tentative status of most shows. Most of the ones I watch will have more new eps in March/April/May, exceptions being the ones that just started (Terminator and Jericho shot their full orders for this season and are TBD for the fall) and a couple of hour-longs that probably won't come back until the fall. But it's still something to look forward to! Check out the list for your own favorites.

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I fell in love last night:



I'd forgotten that BAG was the reason I watched a few episodes of Freddy a few years ago. I, like most of my generation, think of him as David Silver, the break-dancing freak of Beverly Hills, 90210. But his role in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is perfect. Some of it is the way the character is written--self-contained passion, driven, SPOILER ALERT being John's uncle, fuhgawdssake, how could it be any better? But most of it was the way BAG layered his character, showing us so much with so little. Each choice lent every other a value, giving every moment bigger impact.

The crappy thing is that he's only credited for two episodes, dammit, and the only other thing listed at IMdB looks like one of those straight-to-video-after-three-years-on-the-shelf movies.

*sigh*

At least I still have Jericho.

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I had a lot--and I mean, a LOT--of work today. But the entire time, my brain kept going, "Can we iTunes it tonight, canwecanwehuhhuh???" Turns out, CBS is showing the whole series on their web site, so I watched three. (Thank goodness we have a two-hour delay tomorrow!)

Yes, I'm still nitpicking. There was a little thing I noted last night that I don't remember now. My biggest complaint is that, as compelling as the overall show is, and as much as I like the Hawkins storyline, for too many episodes the focus was too much on him and not enough on Jake. I think I have three episodes left. When I forced myself to stop watching, the New Bern dictator was lying about Jake and Eric and the intentions of the people of Jericho.

I'm looking forward to spring. On the show, of course. I think they need to do an episode with Jake and Stanley chopping wood with their shirts off. Yeah, Jake's pretty scrawny, but he has nice arms. I'm an arms girl.

Sucks that Heather is (apparently) dead. I like her, and with her and Roger both gone, the only prospect for Jake getting it on is Emily, and that prospect does not excite me.

Still two episodes of Supernatural left (speaking of excitement!). This week, Dean dies over and over as Sam keeps reliving the day. It's already killing me, too.

Must go to bed now, and hopefully dream good dreams. I have enough inspiration, don't you think? :)