Writers strike felt in missing NBC stars, absence of Fox schedule for TV sales pitches

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DAVID BAUDER 51 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AP) — The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBC Universal.

Fox declined to announce a fall television schedule on Monday, citing uncertainties created by the strike.

Some 11,500 members of the Writers Guild for America, saying the rise of streaming has hurt their earning power, walked off the job two weeks after talks on a new contract broke down, and haven’t returned to the negotiating table since.

Network late-night shows immediately shut down. Picketing writers targeting some of the few shows shooting episodes forced the shutdown, at least temporarily, of programs including Showtime’s “Billions,” “Severance” on Apple TV+ and the new Marvel show, “Daredevil: Born Again” on Disney+.




Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nbc-writers-strike-stars-mcentire-a2772c8f8c2e6774863e98caceffcea9

[Auggie]

1. There's always ...

MAJOR. LEAGUE. BASEBALL!

Warts (like the universal DH) and all.

[LudwigPastorius]

5. Yeah, and they've got a new pitch clock.

I think their new slogan is: Major League Baseball ~ Now with less time for spitting and crotch-adjusting.

[rpannier]

8. Pitch clock and hours of advertisements

I've noticed in the discussion about how long games have become, there is never any talk about the endless commercials

[FakeNoose]

2. Seth Meyers was a writer before he was a comedian/talk show host

Of course he's going to take the writers' side. I think just about everyone in television has a dog in this hunt, one way or the other. If the writers lose this opportunity to renegotiate their contracts, it's going to be that much harder for everyone else later on.

[highplainsdem]

3. Seth Meyers tweet from April 28, which I posted in a GD thread

about the looming strike: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217868837 .

Link to tweet

[Rhiannon12866]

4. On his last show, Stephen Colbert explained that he's also a member of the union

We're sure missing our late night hosts on these weeks of breaking news...

[Auggie]

6. I guess Real Time is dark too.

[Rhiannon12866]

7. Yup, both HBO shows that I regularly post, Real Time and Last Week Tonight are preempted

They employ writers, too. *sigh*

[Roy Rolling]

9. Enter the Digital Era...

In 2001.

I sat at the AMPTP negotiations in 2001 for a national labor contract. It was the dawn of the digital era, beyond multimillion dollar boutique CGI production studios.

Back then the future topic was the “24P” camera, a digital camera that could take video frames at 24 frames per second to match film cameras. That’s how fast things have advanced.

This battle began 20 years ago for crew labor, “above-the-line” people are the last to be affected. But writers being replaced by AI and machines replacing workers is the essence of all labor negotiations.

It’s not an economic issue of profit-and-loss like producers frame the debate, it’s about the value of human activity even when there are cheaper machines to replace them. Everyone needs a job, and there’s no price tag on human dignity.

I support the WGA.