Lose-Lose Situation For Hollywood, Writers
The Washington Post notes that the writer's strike is likely to do permanent damage to the entertainment industry. (Gee, where have I heard that before.) They point out that people are already turning to the internet.
After a mere three days, the strike against producers is already having an impact in living rooms and dens. With no writers to supply topical jokes, late-night talk shows were the first to go into reruns. Comedy Central says the audience for repeats of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" is down a predictable 30 percent from the ratings for original episodes.
TV's most popular programs — prime-time, scripted dramas and sitcoms such as "Desperate Housewives," "House" and "Two and a Half Men" — remain safe for the near future, thanks to stockpiled scripts and episodes in the production pipeline. But if the strike extends into January and beyond, viewers might end up looking elsewhere for original entertainment, potentially giving Internet video producers the biggest traffic boost in their relatively short history.
Hundreds of short and cheaply produced video series populate the Web on sites that might not quite rank as household names — Blip.TV, Heavy.com, Metacafe, FunnyOrDie.com, among others. A few better-known names, such as the satirical Onion.com, have extended their text franchises into original video productions as well; the Onion produces a "Daily Show"-like TV news satire.
The problem the networks and writers are going to run into this time are that once people have turned away and found other sources of amusement, they won't go back. That is a losing scenario. It has happened before:
The last writers' strike, which lasted for five months in 1988, cost the networks an estimated $500 million in revenue. When it was over, viewing never returned to pre-strike levels — although it's difficult to determine whether those viewers disappeared because of the strike. That work stoppage came at a time when cable was starting to make significant inroads in urban and suburban households, and just after Nielsen Media Research had introduced its "people meters," which radically altered how TV audiences were measured.
Obviously, I think both sides in this are being stupid. The early indications are that they certainly were. Hmmm. Maybe I should start the Blue Crab Television Network. BCTV has a nice ring to it……
By wheels, November 8, 2007 @ 8:30 am
I don’t watch much TV, and haven’t for years. I only tune in the Tonight Show on Mondays, for the “Headlines” routine that’s usually done then. Mostly, I watch sports and movies, with a few things such as Ninja Warrior and Mythbusters thrown in.
I do like the sound of BCTV. My home wireless network is “Radio Wheeler.” It used to be “Radio Free Wheeler,” but the wireless DSL modem I got when I changed DSL providers some time ago won’t handle a name that long.
By Sam L., November 8, 2007 @ 9:16 am
Most of my TV watching is movies on TCM and Formula One races on SPEED Channel. I do love “Lost”, though. Gave up on late-night TV because it’s after my bedtime–and it’s after Johnny Carson. The L boys never did it for me.
By Uncl Fester, November 8, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
Boo hoo.
Don’t you go on strike, Gaius.
By Gaius, November 8, 2007 @ 4:52 pm
But I want better benefits!
By Uncle Fester, November 8, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
Don’t make me call Glenn Reynolds.
By Edie, November 14, 2007 @ 2:58 am
I rarely watch TV anymore. I’m on the internet all the time. I am an online video producer but I spend a lot of my time on sites like Digg. I hope the strike ends soon though. It’s putting a lot of people out of work. Even more to come from the trickle down. I doubt your average viewer would turn to Metacafe though. They hardly offer anything but how to videos, soccer, and cats. Revver, blip, funny or Die, or even Veoh (which Michael Eisner has his hands in) has more intresting content in my opinion. Oh and of course YouTube. Maybe this strike will finally catapult Nalts to the stardom he deserves.