Most people who watch TV probably know that there is a writers strike in progress that started November 5th.  Members of The Writers Guild of America (WGA) are on strike in order to obtain a better deal for their work. They want, among other things, a piece of the action when programs they have written are sold in DVD format or shown via the Internet. It’s actually a lot more complicated but I don’t have the space to explain it all. These people are upper middle class wage earners who don’t make the gazillions that studio executives do. It’s hard not to sympathize with them at least a little. The guys running the studios like things the way they are. They see writers as tradesmen and the words they produce as a product—like a finished toaster on an assembly line. The last time the WGA went on strike was in 1988. It lasted 22 weeks.

The immediate victims of the strike were the late night talk shows like Leno and Letterman. Their writers produce fresh material on a daily basis. With no new jokes disparaging the president or some young Hollywood airhead, their programs are immediately crippled. Since these late night hosts got their start as stand up comics, you would think they could write their own jokes. But as it happens, they are also members of the same union and therefore are forbidden to write any scripted material for their own programs. If you’ve tuned in, no doubt you’ve noticed there’s nothing but re-runs. Leno has run shows from 15 years back. At least the jokes seemed new.

 Other programs like soap operas will also be affected early on. Will John leave Marsha and run off with the gardener from Juarez? We won’t know until the strike is over. The public may have already noticed that some of their favorite programs have gone into re-runs or replaced by shows that don’t require the services of writers. Really awful reality and quiz shows are either here or on the way. We can expect to see shows like “Battle of the Morons”, “Are you Smarter than a Slug” or “Dancing with Dwarves”; shows that would have otherwise never made it.

 The strike against the studios has also forced nearly 40,000 workers — including electricians, carpenters, welders and prop handlers — out of work, according to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. If the shows aren’t being made, the hands aren’t being paid. Unlike the WGA, which has a $13 million strike fund that offers low interest loans to their members, the non-union and non-striking support people are out of luck. This is where my sympathy for the writers runs pretty low. I’m all for the writers getting a fair shake, but there are other people making a lot less who are getting hurt and who won’t realize anything from the strike other than getting back to work with a lot of bills to pay.

But when the strike gets between me and my cop shows like CSI, NUMB3RS and NCIS, any sympathy I may have had for the writers runs out completely.

There are plenty of things on TV other than network programs, particularly if you have cable. I like documentaries and historical shows. You can watch cooking shows, news channels, shows about home improvement, gardening, several sports channels, nature shows, C-Span, cartoons and all sorts of old movies.  Of course there are other things people can be doing other than staring at the goggle box, like reading. People read a lot more books before television. You could listen to music, play your piano or pick your guitar.  If you get in a real pinch, you might even try talking with the family. Remember, with conversation there are no commercials.