I don't really watch that much television at all. I've not been a regular follower of the Soprano's, Entourage, Lost, 24, Grey's Anatomy, etc... even though they're all probably really good shows, to me, there's just not enough time in the day.
So this writers strike isn't really affecting me at all.
But it got me thinking...
What would happen if both sides dug in, and they just never went back to work?
What if the big media companies said, "Fine, screw it, we'll just put reruns for the next year or two"?
Would people stop watching television? What would they do with their time? Would they go and read books? Would online traffic start to go up? Maybe we'd emerge from our houses and start to discover the outside world in a big way. Has attendance at Meetup's gone up since the strike? Are people in NYC apartments desperately knocking on the doors of neighbors they've lived next door to for years and never talked to before?
"Please... entertain me... I'm desperate! Charades! Jenga! Anything!"
How many seasons of reruns and reality television could they put on before they shake loose every last viewer?
I have to be honest, I was surprised that TV writers get royalties. I thought of it more like a salaried job.
Aren't there tons of creative people dying to be writers anyway? I could never figure out how workforces get away with striking when there's probably 2x their number waiting to get into that job. I'm surprised there aren't more hobby writers that wouldn't cross the picket line. I'd write for one of these shows. How hard could it be to write for Grey's Anatomy, seriously?
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