Friday, December 28, 2007

Set the TiVo!

Starting next week, GSN (the channel formerly known as Game Show Network) is restoring its old seven-nights-a-week black-and-white game show block. Every night at 3 AM (Midnight on my coast), they'll be running a vintage What's My Line? followed by an old I've Got a Secret. These were all run on GSN a few years ago but it'll be nice to have them back every night instead of once a week.

• Posted at 11:18 PM · LINK

More Breaking News

Even as I was posting the previous message, I received an e-mail from the Guild that included the following...

Second, this is a full and binding agreement. Worldwide Pants is agreeing to the full MBA, including the new media proposals we have been unable to make progress on at the big bargaining table. This demonstrates the integrity and affordability of our proposals. There are no shortcuts in this deal. Worldwide Pants has accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on December 7.

So the terms of the deal are acceptable to us and we're already using it to tell the world we're not asking for anything so unreasonable. Okay, let's see if we can predict the AMPTP press release...

We respect the position of some independent producers to enter into arrangements that will spare them from the damaging, costly strike that the Writers Guild has caused in our industry. However, a company like Worldwide Pants is not engaged in areas such as Animation and Reality Programming that make the WGA demands so unacceptable to most production entities. The WGA demands would harm and cripple any studio engaged in those areas so we cannot and will not entertain them.

Something like that. It should be out any minute now...

• Posted at 5:13 PM · LINK

This Just In...

Just got back from the market to a whole batch of e-mails asking me what I think of news that David Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants, has made an interim deal with the Writers Guild. I think you'd have to look at the terms of that deal to decide if it's a good thing for the WGA. If it establishes some meaningful gain that advances the ball on the issues that matter in the current strike, it's great. If it just means that CBS gets back one of its major points of profit, then I don't think much of it.

There is a slight potential bit of division possible within the Guild if some writers go back to work while most are hiking about with signs. I don't think it will divide us in any significant way if it seems like the interim contract will help our mission, even a little. Some members will complain but the WGA can't hire a new janitor without someone complaining. Most will see it as a good thing, especially if Letterman's ratings show a clear advantage over his competition, and if Dave's on every night speaking of Network Weasels. If the Guild can field a few more of these, it will do a lot to combat the AMPTP claim that it's impossible to make a deal with us.

• Posted at 5:08 PM · LINK

Happy Stan Lee Day!

And a happy birthday to Smilin' Stan Lee...from Madcap Mark, as I was once dubbed by him. You're nobody in the comic book business until Stan has assigned you an alliterative adjective.

May you have 85 more, Stan. Either that or we're going to freeze you inside a glacier so that one day, you can be found and thawed out and resume your amazing career. (If I were you, I'd just keep on living and forego the glacier option. Glaciers don't seem to be doing too well these days...)

• Posted at 1:59 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Everyone knows the Carl Reiner-Mel Brooks routines about the 2000 Year Old Man. What some don't recall is that they did other routines on their first records. Here's one, from what I think is a 1962 Timex All-Star Comedy Special. It's introduced by an obscure comedian named Johnny Carson...

• Posted at 1:53 AM · LINK