Writers Strike

-Anna Sillers

In December, TV viewers across the country realized something about their favorite shows — they were all reruns. On Nov. 3 the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The strike was brought about due to the lack of money writers receive for internet downloading or watched on the television websites. Increasing sales of DVDs are also a problem, as writers are asking for double the percentage of what they are currently being paid.

The internet has such a powerful influence on everything that’s expanding daily,” senior Kevin Shepherd said. “It’s ridiculous to leave the writers out from internet royalties entirely.”

One of the biggest impacts of the strike is while some TV shows have a whole season filmed, many shows only had a few episodes in the can. Late night talk shows such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno went to reruns quickly, as they depend on current events and new issues for content. But both O’Brien and Leno have been supporting their writers, continuing to pay their writers during the strike. David Letterman, who owns Worldwide Pants, a company that owns both Late Show with David Letterman and Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, has been trying to reach an agreement with the writers, with no success. He, too, is paying his writers. On Jan. 2, both O’Brien and Leno came on, improvising and doing interviews without writers. The Daily Show and Colbert Report have also returned sans writers.

But students may be more concerned with their weekly TV dose than the writers.

If they cancel Grey’s Anatomy I will get rid of my TV,” sophomore Caroline Curtis said.

Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, and Saturday Night Live have all been reruns. Still, some students have a different approach.

“I respect Bill Lawrence for not crossing any picket lines,” said senior Thomas Clayton, of the Scrubs creator.

While iTunes has many of the current episodes, those who originally paid for an entire season are disappointed. It is unknown if Apple will reimburse those who bought a season for the full price, but only got nine episodes or so, or if they will wait until the shows come back up again.

Some students are unaffected by the strike.

“Who cares about the writer’s strike? I live for American Idol!” senior Rachel Polk said.