Solidarity For Writers
The writer’s strike, at the moment, seems to have no end in sight. At the moment, The Simpsons seems unaffected as one might have guessed. The most notable results so far, has been the lack of quality talk shows. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, for example, have been off the air during a time where they’d be mining pure comedy gold: the presidential primary elections. At any rate, Stewart and Colbert, as well as Letterman and Leno, have made forays back onto television, but without their writers in tow. In other respects, the avalanche of reality programming is beginning too. American Gladiators. Enough said. Of course, the new season of American Idol is coming, and one fear is that with a lot of “not written” shows on the air, one might be lulled into thinking “What strike?”
That’s a shame. Nicholas Pappas, of The Daily Utah Chronicle, may have a point:
Think about that. How many jokes have you stolen from “Seinfeld” or “South Park” or “The Simpsons?” I’m willing to believe that half of the people out there wouldn’t know how to be funny without them. I had a friend who made his entire schtick out of Ralph Wiggum lines.
“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!”
It’s just one simple, brilliant line written by a member of the Writers Guild of America. He deserves our respect for it. They all do.
Basically, television, much like the internet, has become a medium that has worked its way into the fabric of many people’s lives. It’s a medium that is often taken for granted, one that people naturally would assume would always be there. Certain bit of creative usuage is bound to happen — just go onto any snarky message board and look for the image of Comic Book Guy announcing “Best Thread Ever!” While there’s not an avalanche of this image out there, it certainly is used often; one is bound to find it eventually, as well as it’s angry counterpart, “Worst Thread Ever!” In the end, that was inspired by something a TV writer created. So, in the end, before American Idol takes over TV screens across the globe, it does merit remembering that television writers have their place and deserve to be heard.
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