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"First, let me admit that I did not watch CBS' Jericho beyond the first episode. I had various reasons not to watch it beyond the premiere, one being that I simply can't make time for all TV series in my schedule, even if said series are gems. That out of the way, I just watched the preview for Jericho's second season and let me tell you that it piqued my interest enough to put a note on my calendar to watch the show's season premiere on February 12."
"The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Friday posted a video message indicating striking writers have now lost more than $151 million in salary and benefits, which is more than what the WGA proposed in its three-year deal to the studios.
The message, posted Friday on the AMPTP Web site and YouTube, claims that WGA leaders are to blame for their members reaching the $151 million milestone (hit shortly after 10 a.m. Friday). The WGA is trying to expand its power, rather than address the issues that matter to its members, including new media, the AMPTP said."
"Well, they’ve gone and decided to do it: the WGA will picket the Golden Globes.
A spokesman for the Guild confirmed on Tuesday, just a day after it was announced that a waiver for Golden Globes writers would not be forthcoming, that the group will indeed picket the awards ceremony on January 13. This is assuming the strike is still going on by then – but does anyone really think it won’t be at this point? The upshot of this is that many celebrities due to be honored at the ceremony most likely will be no-shows since they won’t want to cross the picket line. There’s talk that security could be arranged the same way as it is for the Oscars, which requires a special pass to get anywhere near the theater, so that the picketers are relegated a few blocks away from the theater. It’ll still be a media spectacle, nevertheless."
"While it may be nice to run into your sweetie under the mistletoe, this traditional holiday plant can be potentially toxic to our animal companions.
Found throughout the United States, American mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant that lives off a variety of different tree species. If ingested in large enough quantities, mistletoe can potentially produce gastrointestinal irritation, excessive thirst and urination, a drop in blood pressure and heart rate, seizures, coma and even death in pets."
"It's a case in point of how Hollywood's definition of a hit TV series is radically changing. Though still the primary focus, "live" TV ratings are no longer the sole barometer of success. As viewing habits change, programmers are struggling with how to factor in DVR use, Web viewing, sought-after niche audiences and online chatter when weighing shows' health.
"In the new world we live in, that kind of cultural permeation — the awareness that's greater than the numbers indicate — speaks to the potential for growth of the show," says Gossip executive producer Josh Schwartz.
The pattern followed last year's surprise resurrection of CBS drama Jericho, which was granted a seven-episode reprieve (due early next year). In a campaign to save the show, dedicated fans sent cartons of nuts to network executives — who were nonetheless more impressed by the 5.3 million episodes that were streamed online."
"The WGA action hit the late-night talk shows first and hardest, with virtually all of them, deprived of their nightly ration of political jabs and other topical jokes, going to reruns immediately. "Saturday Night Live" suffered a similar fate.
News and reality series, whose writers are not covered by the WGA contract, have not been affected. Most daytime soaps, whose scripts tend to be written far ahead of their air dates, will reportedly not be affected for several months.
The situation for prime-time comedies and dramas is more complicated.
"The Office" was scheduled to air a new episode this week but then is likely to go into reruns. Other popular series, including "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "CSI," "Heroes," Law & Order: SVU" and "House," have between three and eight unaired episodes.
"Jericho," which is due to return at mid-season with seven new episodes, has produced all seven and isn't likely to be affected. But another show previously scheduled for a mid-season debut is in limbo."
Help animals survive here.
"If the writers strike persists through the end of the month, it could suck $200 million from the entertainment industry's contribution to the Los Angeles economy, one expert predicts.
Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said that more informed data will come with the November release of state employment figures, due December 21, but using the 1988 WGA strike as a guide, fallout is expected to be significant. Beyond that, a full economic recovery could take months."
"The Center for Media Research notes that the latest figures from Nielson Online support their recent research brief about the importance of the trust placed in word of mouth marketing.
The Nielsen figures for the top U.S. social networking sites and blogs in October show that:
Facebook more than doubled their traffic in the last year
MySpace had a 19 percent growth over October 2006
Althought their numbers are much smaller, LinkedIn was the big winner in terms of growth - 189 percent!
Kids are getting active in the social media space too - Club Penguin visitors grew by 157 percent
Buzznet, a new kind of social site that gives members the tools to create multi media around music and pop culture is also attracting a growing audience. They’re up 117 percent in the last year."
"The Internet is turning the TV world upside down.
Just when CBS was about to pull the plug on “Jericho” and NBC was about to shut off “Friday Night Lights” due to low ratings, fans persuaded network executives to renew the shows through concerted online campaigns.
Now loyal viewers of the Disney Channel’s animated series “Kim Possible” hope the same tactic will work for them."
"Below is a post from United Hollywood - a pro-WGA blog that has seen fan efforts spring up in the wake of the strike. At the suggestion of Showrunners across Hollywood, United Hollywood is organising a campaign to send Pencils to the heads of the Six Major conglomerates who own and run Hollywood. These are the AMPTP guys who are denying the WGA the fair and reasonable residuals they are asking for."
"I've never been a fan of futile gestures. I've (all in good fun) ridiculed fandoms for proceeding with "send random crap to the network" campaigns immediately in the wake of Jericho's successful nut campaign, both for the lack of creativity and the lack of rationality in some cases – no amount of crackers were going to save The Black Donnellys. But I appreciate the desire to do something when our favourite shows are threatened with cancellation."
Do you love animals?
See this.
CBS: Clean Up Your Mess at CBS.com
South Africa Watches Jericho
"Jericho starts on SABC3 on Wednesday at 8.31pm.
One lucky Jericho viewer could stand in line to win an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles. Competition details to follow in the Tonight throughout the weeks to come."
"The strike casualties among the show's crew include camera operators, assistants, grips, electricians, hair and makeup artists and many more. And then there are the extras.
"We use a lot of extras each week, and these people barely make it," Thorpe said. "What are they going to do? It's so unbelievably painful to think about the size of this. Thousands and thousands of us have lost our jobs this week. The lady I buy my donuts from -- she has two kids in college. It a huge loss of income."
"The WGA East is not happy with Ellen DeGeneres. The funny lady whose recent dog-drama sparked headlines last month is in hot water with the East coast WGA after they found out she’s planning to go ahead with the two New York tapings of her talk show, which are scheduled for later this month."
Rich of Copywrite Ink says,"The writers strike could be the perfect opportunity for Jericho fans to stop taking each other out on the CBS Jericho message boards, and begin to building a fan effort in support of the writers.
Such a move would only increase the exposure of the show before it returns in January by engaging all television fans about something they are passionate about. Fan crossover is somewhat proven to work. For the most part, there has been continuing cross over between the fans of Veronica Mars, Supernatural, and Jericho."
Rich adds, "Besides, Jericho fans may even have the best message if they were so inclined. What’s that?
Stop paying writers peanuts."
"Seven steps to a TV shutdown"
The number one step?
"1. "Rally the 'Jericho' fans--they brought a show back, they can take one out."
I have to agree. Thank Rich.
