November
7
"Back to You" among the first casualties
The strike is claiming its earliest victims with sitcoms "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Back to You" (pictured below), "’Til Death," "Rules of Engagement" and "The Office" already shut down. And of course the latenight shows immediately went dark. For more details see the story from our TV gurus (and fellow Season Passers) Mike Schneider and Joe Adalian here.
After this morning's rally by showrunners, who convened outside ABC, there should be several more shows going dark as more folks at the helm of shows realize they can't, in good conscience, picket the companies as writers and then turn around and work for them as producers.
"Ugly Betty" exec producer-creator Silvio Horta explained the dilemma succinctly saying “The perfectionist in me wants to participate, the Norma Rae in me wants to support my union.”
For more reactions like this, see the story above and Variety's new strike blog, Scribe Vibe.
Buckle up folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
— Kathy Lyford
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This might be the first time in the history of television that a show jumped the shark because of a writers strike.
Look at these ratings!!
Big Bang Theory 6.1/9 3.8/9 in the 18-49 demo 9,675,000 viewers
How I Met Your Mother 5.5/8 3.4/9 in the 18-49 demo 8,867,000 viewers
Chuck 4.5/7 3.3/8 in the 18-49 demo 7,606,000 viewers
"The Big Bang Theory" has so much potential, and gives me so much enjoyment, yet, it's almost as if its first season will boil down to being similar to a mid-season replacement with only 9 episodes produced.
If the WGA strike drags on, any momentum this show built vanishes. This reminds me so much of a certain sport's strike from 1994.
Posted by: Dave aka LogikReader | November 07, 2007 at 01:38 PM