So if you didn’t know, there’s a big thing potentially going down within the next week. No, not involving North Korea or Syria — this one’s closer to home and maybe not being talked about quite so much. The Writers’ Guild of America
is about to go on strike again.
The last time this happened in late 2007, it cost the industry an estimated 2.5 billion dollars in lost revenue, but more than that
had cascading effects on several television shows of the time, up to and including delays and cancellations. Look at that list and you’ll see how most of the late-night talk shows went to re-runs for the duration, and there’s no reason to doubt it won’t happen again. The strike is, rightly or wrongly, credited for both killing off the momentum of the promising Heroes series and cementing the ascendancy of reality television, which got around the strike by professing to be “unscripted” (for a given definition of unscripted, anyhow). It also is pointed to as a period where web-based series and shows started to get a lot more eyeballs as people hungered for content that the boob tube wasn’t delivering and writers… well, I know my share of professional writers and much like Dawn gets antsy if she hasn’t drawn anything in awhile, writers gotta write. If you’re a fan of
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, for instance,
you could consider the upside.
But they’d also like some health care, which is the current sticking point of negotiations, and the Studio argument they can’t afford to help out is dimly looked at in the face of revelations like
the head of CBS getting multi-million dollar bonuses for 2016. If you’re interested in the whys and wherefores of both sides,
this article has a pretty good rundown.
It’s not yet a done deal that the strike will happen, but if it does, and it lasts at least as long as the last one, I wonder what the impact will be this time around? Will it accelerate the exodus from network and cable television that the 2007 strike arguably started? Will it hurt services like Netflix and Hulu, or help them? Will any feature films still in early development be affected, like the upcoming
Captain Marvel movie? And will anything currently running suffer a
Heroes-esque meltdown?
We’ve often heard the past several years described as a “Golden Age of Television,” but I don’t think it’s understating to say a strike now certainly has the potential to end that. But don’t worry, for
Zombie Ranch at least it will still be creation as usual. Just be prepared, especially if you’re a fan of late-night talk shows, because in about a week the re-runs could begin…
6 thoughts on “540 – Trick Hello”
Scarsdale
Called it, she figured he’d do this, if by choice or by zombie voodoo. I’m sure the “friendlier” questioning will start soon, if she doesn’t just kill him out-right. Or just add him to the herd.
Crazyman
Gotcha!
Zombatar
This turn of events is a surprise only to Eustace. And, maybe, Eustace’s subconscious. After all, this way he doesn’t have to actually risk actually attacking Suzie, which gives him a greater chance of survival than actually attacking her. I wonder what he was promised/threatened with?
ConcordBob
Not to nit-pick, but since sights are on target, finger should be on the trigger. Especially this close.
The usual rule is “keep finger straight and off trigger until sights are on target”.
Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)
Not to nit-pick, but since that was current philosophies regarding trigger discipline have evolved.
Of course, it will depend on who you get/got your training from.
Experiments have determined that the fraction of a second to go from finger off the trigger to finger firing when appropriate is insignificant, and the risk of firing unintended is greatly reduced.
Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)
I did the google thing and I believe I saw how you reached this conclusion … but there are two parts to it – One should not omit the second part.
“Trigger Finger Discipline: · The practice of keeping your finger “off the trigger” until your sights are on target AND YOU ARE READY TO DISCHARGE THE FIREARM.” (Caps are my own)