He makes a lot of good points, as a viewer who is tired of having new episodes of decent shows lost in the clutter of reruns or worse, not shown at all in favor of another show’s reruns. He wonders whether the Neilson families really exist – I mean, has anybody ever really MET a Neilson family? And why are these paltry few hundred families allowed to decide what shows live and what shows die? Come on, we know the truth – the advertisers have the final say. And we are hoping that once the advertisers figure out that people are staying away from their programs in droves, maybe there will be action at the bargaining table sooner rather than later.

Both my husband and I come down firmly on the side of the writers, but no matter which side you are on, I’m sure we can all agree that this strike is damaging everyone. There will be no winners here, and the casualties are mounting. John approaches the whole situation as an irritated viewer. I am that as well, but in addition, I worked in "the Industry" for many years as one of the many "little people" behind the scenes who toil to make the shows we watch. Some of these people are barely staying afloat by now, because of circumstances beyond their control. But the banks won’t care why they can’t pay their bills – they’ll foreclose on the houses and repossess the cars and ruin credit for years to come; because no excuse, even the best excuse, is sufficient.

The stars of some of these shows, the writers of blockbusters, the producers and directors – can probably last indefinitely. Some might even enjoy the enforced vacation. I applaud them for getting out on the picket lines, but let’s face it – their homes and lives aren’t on the line – they’ve already made a fortune. It’s the rest of the casts and crews I feel for: the "day players" – actors with a few lines in a scene or two; the "atmosphere" – those actors in non-speaking parts without whom scenes would be far less, well, atmospheric; the production assistants, most of whom who toil for a pittance in hopes of moving up the production ladder; even the union workers, who are very well-paid indeed; all are feeling the pinch by now. Working in the movie and television industry isn’t like having a steady job. Sure, you get paid a lot when you are hired on a production, but once that production finishes, whether after 6 episodes or 26, you have to go out and find another job. So there is no real job security – you hear about jobs and get hired by word of mouth and through past associations and co-workers. Usually that works OK for most, but when there are no jobs because there are no productions, things can go south pretty fast. If you don’t have a LOT of savings, and I’m guessing many don’t – you are probably in big trouble by now.

Letterman’s company World Wide Pants has made a deal with the WGA and he is going back to work with the Guild’s blessings: O’Brien and Leno are also going back to work, albeit without WGA agreements. They are all doing it to save the jobs of all the NON-writers who are being held hostage by the strike. Whether or not we agree with their decision, at least they are doing something.

We the viewers should do something, too. STOP WATCHING the endless reruns and the non-scripted junk they are throwing up on our screens in a lame effort to keep us "entertained." Instead, pull out your movie collection, or watch the good "old" stuff on TNT, TCM et al. Watch your local stations – they show great reruns of old stuff all the time. Get a subscription to Netflix or Blockbuster – they will deliver whole series to your door for you to enjoy for as long as you want. Aren’t there some episodes of favorite shows you missed way back in the day? Wouldn’t watching a rerun of a favorite old show beat much of the junk that’s on these days? Take a walk down memory lane and take your pick: Cheers, Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, All in the Family, The Odd Couple, I Love Lucy – the list of comedies – GOOD ONES – is endless. Plenty of good dramatic series as well. Why not watch Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, The Rockford Files, Ellery Queen or ER from the beginning? Law and Order, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues…just pick one and order it. And just think – they will all be commercial free.

Most important, in the time you free up by not watching the current crop of junk, write the networks and the producers and let them know that you aren’t watching. And let’s alert the advertisers to our position, too! If you don’t want to waste a stamp, shoot them an email. With luck, they’ll have to hire extra people to deal with all the messages they get.

Here are a few addresses to get you started:

I think one of the biggest bangs for our postage buck is AMPTP – the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They are, after all, the group with which the Writer’s Guild is currently doing battle.

While there, take a moment to check out their news updates before you give them a piece of your mind…

Then, on to the networks!

NBC

3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA. 91523

ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
(818) 460-7477

For all of the above, if you go to their web sites you will probably not find a general email address, so you’ll have to pick an area under "contact us" and just leave your message. Someone will have to read all the comments, and if there are enough about the strike, maybe they’ll start to pay attention. And don’t stop with these – visit as many web sites as you can think of and let them know your thoughts.

And if you are pro producers and anti WGA, contact the WGA – their news updates are well worth a read, too: