Writers strike could pull plug on TV favorites
Networks will run out of new episodes by January, turn to reality shows
By Stuart Levine
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 9:23 a.m. ET Oct 15, 2007

Goodbye 'Grey's Anatomy,' hello 'The View: Primetime'; say so long to 'Friday Night Lights' and welcome 'The Biggest Loser: The Three Hour Edition.'

Your TV schedule may change drastically in early 2008 if the Writers Guild of America goes out on strike Nov. 1, as it has threatened to do over the past few months. Those threats no longer feel like empty rhetoric anymore. Now, a walkout by TV and film writers seems like a very real, and frightening, possibility for the viewing public.

Before we go screaming into the night with clickers in hand, a quick recap of the facts that have led to the Hollywood showdown between the WGA and the Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The current WGA contract expires Nov. 1, and up until a few weeks ago, there was a lot of talk about how the scribes would continue to work after that date. The theory was that the extended time working without a contract would be a gesture of goodwill and, if that didn't help bring about a new deal, the writers would join forces on the picket line with the Screen Actors Guild, who, along with the Directors Guild of America, may stop working when their respective contracts expire June 30.

That theory, however, is losing steam. The writers don't want to wait that long and aren't willing to make the extra effort to play nice. They're ready to turn off their computers and walk away on Nov. 1, wanting to get the point across that TV production '” or at least scripted TV '” can't go on without them.

For the most part, they're still reeling from the last negotiation when producers pretty much shut them out of all the DVD and iTunes money.

So what does this all mean for viewers? Well, nothing immediately. In the long term, however, it's not good.

Typically, most primetime dramas and comedies are in production somewhere around four or six episodes ahead of air date. That means if you're watching the fourth episode of 'House' this week, the writers are putting the final touches on something like episode eight or nine now, with filming to begin soon.

Each show is different, though. Aaron Sorkin and David Milch, two extremely talented but deadline-challenged writers, didn't give their actors scripts to work with until they were on the set, so production was always behind schedule. If episode four of 'The West Wing' was on the air this week, you could be pretty sure episodes five and six weren't even completed yet.

So let's go back to the assumption that the strike begins on Nov. 1. There should be enough new episodes in the can to last through, at least, the middle of January. Up until then, viewers wouldn't see the results '” and possibly not even care '” about the work stoppage.

But come February sweeps, when networks need to get their best ratings, there could come a huge shift in programming.

Reality shows '” even though a great majority of them are written by professional writers '” aren't under the WGA contract, so networks would quickly add a ton of reality and even newsmagazines to the nighttime lineups. Fox would be in great shape, obviously, because it has the biggest reality show of the year in 'American Idol' against a bunch of much lower-class competition.

Think NBC is afraid of 'American Idol' now, when it has to run 'Bionic Woman' against the 'Idol' results show? Wait to see how petrified network boss Ben Silverman becomes when he's forced to counter 'Idol' with either a repeat of an existing scripted show (highly doubtful) or a reality show that is sure to be completely dominated in the ratings (MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC-Universal and Microsoft.).

But he might not have much of a choice. And both he and the folks at CBS, ABC, CW and even Fox (for non-'Idol' nights) are currently working on all kinds of reality shows that they can plug in if the strike happens.

And for viewers, that might not even be the worst of it. Shows that premiered just a few weeks ago that are doing marginally well in the ratings might not get the benefit of the doubt by the networks in terms of a full-season order or second-season renewal. It costs a lot of money to build and keep sets functioning, pay cast and crew, etc., and if the strike continues on, a network or studio accountant might convince the programming people that losing this much money on a show that's not airing doesn't make financial sense.

And here's something else. Although the new fall season has just begun, in a few months TV executives will start to see scripts for the new shows that will air next September. Sometimes a network will buy a show based solely on the pedigree of the writer (if you've ever worked on 'Friends,' 'Frasier' or 'Seinfeld,' you can get by on your reputation), but those scripts haven't been written yet.

For WGA members without that impressive resume, you can't pitch your brilliant new show if you can't write it. It's a brutal cycle.

Not all popular dramas will be affected come January or February, however. Season four of 'Lost,' for example, wasn't supposed to air until February anyway, and several episodes have already been filmed, meaning they'll have a bunch to broadcast while everything else will be reality in one form or another.

'24,' which normally starts up in January, is in the same situation. With Kiefer Sutherland now serving 30 days in the pokey, though, who knows how that will affect production.

With the studios and TV studios having circled Nov. 1 on their calendars as a potential doomsday, they've been asking their writers to try and get as many episodes done as possible before that date. Because of an already intense work schedule, made even more daunting by this deadline, writers are burning themselves out. All of which means the quality of shows might suffer. Quantity, as TV is concerned, has rarely equaled quality.

So that's where it stands now. Networks are hording scripts like squirrels saving nuts for winter, putting as many in storage as they can, hoping they don't run out before a possible strike is settled.

Hopefully, like in all negotiations, eventually clear-minded folks can find a middle ground and order will be stored.

Here's a word to the wise: For those episodes that you Tivo in January, don't watch them too quickly. You might just want them on hand when the viewing options turn bare.

Stuart Levine is an assistant managing editor at Variety. He can be reached at stuart.levine@variety.com.
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21251689/page/2/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com

---------------------

Thank god I dont watch that  much tv, I'd go apeshit with all the reality shows that are going to be premiering.

MSN Tracking Image
  MSNBC.com
Long-lost text lifts cloud from Knights Templar
700-year-old document shows pope absolved order of heresy charges
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:10 p.m. ET Oct 12, 2007

ROME - The Vatican has published secret documents about the trial of the Knights Templar, including a parchment '” long ignored because of a vague catalog entry in 1628 '” showing that Pope Clement V initially absolved the medieval order of heresy.

The 300-page volume recently came out in a limited edition '” 799 copies '” each priced at $8,377, said Scrinium publishing house, which prints documents from the Vatican's secret archives.

The order of knights, which ultimately disappeared because of the heresy scandal, recently captivated the imagination of readers of the best-seller 'The Da Vinci Code,' which linked the Templars to the story of the Holy Grail.

The Vatican work reproduces the entire documentation of the papal hearings convened after King Philip IV of France arrested and tortured Templar leaders in 1307 on charges of heresy and immorality.

The military order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon was founded in 1118 in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land after the First Crusade.

As their military might increased, the Templars also grew in wealth, acquiring property throughout Europe and running a primitive banking system. After they left the Middle East with the collapse of the Crusader kingdoms, their power and secretive ways aroused the fear of European rulers and sparked accusations of corruption and blasphemy.

Accused by an indebted king
Historians believe Philip owed debts to the Templars and used the accusations to arrest their leaders and extract, under torture, confessions of heresy as a way to seize the order's riches.

The publishing house said the new book includes the 'Parchment of Chinon,' a 1308 decision by Clement to save the Templars and their order.

The Vatican archives researcher who found the parchment said Friday that it probably had been ignored because the 1628 catalog entry on the 40-inch-wide parchment was 'too Spartan, too vague.'

'Unfortunately, there was an archiving error, an error in how the document was described,' the researcher, Barbara Frale, said in a telephone interview from her home in Viterbo, north of Italy.

'More than an error, it was a little sketchy,' she said.

The parchment, in remarkably good condition considering its 700 years, apparently had last been consulted at the start of the 20th century, Frale said, surmising that its significance must have not have been realized then.

Burned at the stake
Frale said she was intrigued by the 1628 entry because, while it apparently referred to some minor matter, it noted that three top cardinals, including the right-hand man of Clement, Berenger Fredol, had made a long journey to interrogate someone.

'Going on with my research, it turned out that in reality it was an inquest of very great importance' on behalf of the pope, Frale said. Fredol 'had gone to question the Great Master and other heads of the Templars who had been segregated, practically kidnapped, by the king of France and shut up in secret in his castle in Chinon on the Loire.'

According to the Vatican archives Web site, the parchment shows that Clement initially absolved the Templar leaders of heresy, though he did find them guilty of immorality, and that he planned to reform the order.

However, pressured by Philip, Clement later reversed his decision and suppressed the order in 1312.

Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, was burned at the stake in 1314 along with his aides.

Surviving monks fled. Some were absorbed by other orders; over the centuries, various groups have claimed to have descended from the Templars.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21267691/
MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com

----------

This book would be so interesting to read.