A Little Less Losing, A Little More Lost

The Writer's Guild strike is just plain bad news. Sure, the impact hasn't been huge as of yet, but the effects will be apparent very, very soon. There is a lot of reading out there about the topic, but it boils down to the residuals from the internet and digital content. The WGA got burned during the last negotiations with DVD revenue, which was a great unknown at the time, and are not about to do the same with the unknown world wide web returns. They are really not asking for much, and I believe it is fair, but it looks like nobody is willing to budge.

That's all nice and good, but how is it going to affect us as consumers? The daily written shows were the first to go, such as late night television (which has recently been forced to go back to work, due to the fact that other workers who are not writers are left in the cold). This wasn't a big deal to most, as their fans are not "invested" as other shows. I really believe that this whole thing is going to reach its tipping point when television shows are adversely affected.

"Lost" is one of those shows. The fans of this show, me included, are very dedicated and invested, if you will, to its soap opera storyline. When people realize that the Lost season will be cut in half due to the strike, with Lost already on countdown to its end, there are going to be some angry island watchers.

I mean, if you thought there was some crappy TV gracing your HD screen, just wait. Reality and game shows up the wazoo.

I learned in Economics that there could be gains on both sides every transaction. Well, this strike has taught me that everybody can be losing too.

So please, let's get this settled. Just give the writers their due, and maybe we all can be Lost in good writing again.