wicked games

"If this strike lasts longer than three months, an entire season of television will end this December. No dramas. No comedies. No Daily Show. The strike will also prevent any pilots from being shot in the spring, so even if the strike is settled by then, you won’t see any new shows until the following January. As in 2009. Both the guild and the studios we are negotiating with do agree on one thing: this situation would be brutal.”

Seriously?? I read this quote from a celebrity blog today… and it made me think… would it be so horrible if this was the case? If we didn’t have new TV for ALL of 2008? Even though I LOVE TV- and watch it far more than I should- I almost think it would be a blessing in disguise.
Remember those ads that used to play at the beginning of movies for anti-piracy? You know- they showed the “regular joe” who worked as a ‘key grip’ or something on the set and he said “if you keep pirating movies- I’m the one that loses his job. It hurts me, not the big execs. Stop or these movies will cease to be made”.
To me that was a great outcome- not that the working stiff would lose his job- but that big budget movies would cease to be made (I don't think there is as much of an industry to pirate the indie flicks).
Most of the movies that are produced these days are such garbage- and actors get paid insane amounts of money to make them. So what if they don’t get made anymore? Are we really going to suffer? Or are we going to then be forced to watch quality movies made by independent producers- and actually give them a chance to shine? Maybe Cameron Diaz won’t work again but I personally wouldn’t miss her.
And now- here with the TV. How horrible would it be if I didn't want to race home on Thursday nights to watch "The Office", or eschew plans with friends on Sunday night in favour of "Family Guy" (not that I do that- really). Of course a downside is that there would be a proliferation of reality TV- as that is ‘unscripted’- but there would also be more free time for us to read, or go out, or play games, or engage with our friends. I’d LOVE to see the impact on our society if there was ‘no new TV' - but I don't see that happening... something will work out. (or maybe there will be non-stop "Beauty and the Geek"- which wouldn't make me terribly unhappy either!)