Tele-What?

In today’s most laughable news story, the Writers Guild of America just went on strike. Apparently this means nobody will be writing anything for television until the strike is over. My question is this: How will anybody notice?

I mean, seriously, “original” writing these days means watching television shows from other countries and trying to figure out how best to steal their ideas. There hasn’t been a truly original idea in television in decades.

The ironic thing is that the worst-case scenario is also the best-case scenario. In the case of a prolonged strike, people might actually venture outdoors, or into the increasingly unfamiliar world of reading. Children might rediscover their latent imagination, and parents might learn to actually interact with their children. What a tragedy that would be!

Comments

Kevin Lloyd said…
No original ideas in decades? That's a pretty strong statement to make sir. What are these incredibly original shows that they were making decades ago? Leave it to Beaver? And what about modern shows like 24 (Which I don't love, but was arguably unlike anything that we had ever seen before when it came out)? Or Lost, can you think of any serialized dramas about victims of a plane crash that rely on flashbacks and flashforwards in order to advance the story and develop the characters? There is a new one this year that I am absolutely enamored with called "Pushing Daisies." It's very original from its characters to its tone (it even referenced "Build a Little Birdhouse in your Soul"), and in many ways pays homage to the sweetness of our parent's childhood shows. In conclusion, you are right in saying that much of TV is unoriginal and uninspired and that a writers guild strike is kind of ridiculous (almost as ridiculous as the fact that they call it a guild), but I refuse to accept that their is nothing original on television. Rant Over.
November 2, 2007 at 1:16 PM
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