Writer's Strike Ends: Leaves Some Casualties, Some Survivors

During the writer's strike, I found my favorite shows suddenly gone. In their place, was schlock like Wife Swap, Deal or No Deal, Supernanny and Lost.

My reaction to this writer's strike was twofold. First, it seemed to me that the writers were rather greedy. An entry level television writer makes more than my husband and I combined. It struck me that any writer for television and movies who makes $200,000 a year should count himself lucky.

However, on the other hand, the producers seem even greedier. I was shocked to discover that the average television producer makes $20 million.

So who was responsible for this writer's strike; the writers or the producers? I don't know. Perhaps both. All I know is that it affected my life negatively. I get precious little joy in my life. A couple of hours in the evening watching some quality programming can really lift me up. We had a particularly good lineup last fall. In fact, I was surprised, because television's offerings are usually disappointing.

Being forced to watch reality television was only part of the injury that I suffered at the hands of the greedy television writers and producers, neither of whom seemed to want to make a compromise for about three months. The level of television quality was brought down several notches to the point where it really deserved to be called the "boob tube." I believe that if we broadcast mindless garbage across the airwaves, it brings us all down to a lower level.

Casualties of the Writer's Strike

The strike may be over, but it's left some damage in its wake. The first casualty is Bionic Woman, a remake of the original series starring Lindsay Wagner. TV Guide's website reports that there are no episodes expected. Now I know that this show was floundering in its story line before the strike, but it could have made a healthy recovery had the writers kept working. It's not quite as bad as the cancellation of Star Trek, but it still hurts.