The Guild's on Strike...What to Do??

 

During my freshman year of high school, my paternal network television ban was lifted. After all of the pining for sitcoms, like Family Guy and The Simpsons, I was finally free. This tele-redemption led eventually to a life of Television Dependency, which culminated in an astonishing twelve serials a week that same year. The habit died down, and in my senior year, I was down to about five. But, on November 5th 2007, my living room luxuries abruptly ended.

On that fateful day, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The strike was over DVD and “new media” (streaming, on demand, and other emerging technologies) residuals. It left millions of dedicated viewers, like yours truly, sobbing in their living room, helplessly clawing at the TV screen, screaming, “WHY MEDIA CONGLOMERATES, WHY!” Nevertheless, this feud in the entertainment industry caused a blackout throughout scripted American television. After January 2008, most shows which had already been recorded had finished airing. The future seemed bleak.

I suffered through a relentless onslaught of reality shows: 1 vs. 100, the revival of American Gladiator, Amnesia, Big Brother 9, The Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars, Deal or No Deal, The Moment of Truth, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad, Supernanny, Survivor, and Wife Swap. Stopped reading? I stopped watching. I decided that rather than suffer the agonies of viewing this Guantanamaic spectacle, I would rip off my Huggies, stop listening to the Big Five (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, CW), and start entertaining myself in other ways.

I went to the Internet. Instead of watching middle-aged British nannies yell at American children, I decided to read Digg. Digg.com is an intriguing news website that gets its main-page articles according to how much the Digg community likes it,. The average Digg user is an 18 to 24 year old liberal geek atheist who is vehemently against Scientology, strongly for freedom of information, and other things, like the little man. The average Digg user hates conservative media, including FOX and the MPAA, but loves Apple. Most importantly, the average Digg user loves interesting facts about obscure subjects. With all of that in mind, one can get a good idea of the kind of content that is on Digg.

My “boob tube” became YouTube. From here, there, and everywhere, I was sent to the mystical corners of the video-streaming site, a magical land where everyone can make it big and word of mouth is king. From music videos by mainstream and underground musicians, to comedic shorts and clips of crazy real life events, like a break-dancer kicking a toddler in a face, you name it: YouTube has it. But I couldn’t just live without television.

Meanwhile, in the Home of the Brave, television continued to be riddled with poisonous reality TV. And, frankly, if I wanted to face reality, I wouldn’t be watching TV. So I swam across the pond, to the United Kingdom’s Channel 4, where I set my sights on Skins, a British teen drama. Over a whirlwind winter break, I watched all nine episodes and then proceeded to watch minisodes on the Skins website in the interim between winter break and the premiere of the second “series”, the British term for season.

On February 10th, the day before Skins series two premiered, the WGA ended their strike, reaching a settlement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the AMPTP. After all the protests, all of the Chuck-less Monday nights, Hollywood was at peace. The AMPTP, clamoring to make a buck, rushed production on primetime’s most successful shows, including Gossip Girl and Lost. My shows would be coming back.

But through all of this television deprivation, I’ve learned the joys of the Internet as a form of entertainment. It is definitely a quirky place to entertain oneself, but a viable method, still. And to all of those faithful fans whose shows haven’t come back yet, keep your head up, and your eyes on the computer screen. The future is wild.