Congrats, Linz!

[alanajoli]

I just found out that Lindsay Archer, who did all of the art for Into the Reach and Departure (as well as my lovely icon), has been featured at Margaret Weis Productions. Hurrah! You can see a lot of Lindsay's work over at DeviantArt.com.

In other news, non-scripted TV got rated very highly last week, and the article I read seemed to say that was a bad thing for the Writer's Strike. Thing is... since all of the scripted shows were reruns (except Desperate Housewives, which was number five in the most watched category), is it any surprise that the new reality shows that were just premiering got high ratings?

*sigh*

Comments

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

Not a surprise, no, but it does imply that viewers are not (by and large) reacting to the lack of scripted programming by turning off their TV sets.

The purpose of all TV programming is to, (as one of my professors put it so delicately) "fill the space between Lexus commercials." As long as advertisers get the eyeballs they're paying the networks for, they're happy. And if they're happy, the networks are happy.

Now, if a lack of scripted programming had caused rating to plummet year to year (and that's the number to look at, not necessarily the "versus other programming in the timeslot" information) advertisers would demand even more reimbursement than they already have, the networks would be hurting, and the writers would be able to point and say, "See, you don't need just anything. You need US."

Note that everyone fully expects FOX to make an absolute ratings killing when American Idol comes back in a few weeks. But, it's hoped that might motivate a network like CBS, whose bread and butter are the scripted CSI franchise shows and other procedurals, to seek an end to the strike to get their shows back on the air to compete. Given though that at this point they'd still be looking at a significant gap before they could get their shows back on the air, I don't know how effective that's going to be.

So no, I don't think anyone at 3rd and Fairfax is jumping up and down in glee at the new reality show ratings, but I don't think they're surprised either.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's what struck me about the way it was being reported--there was an attitude of this being *HORRIBLE* news for the writers and a *HUGE SHOCK* to anyone involved withscripted television, woe-is-them. To me, it was kind of a no brainer.

But it's also a good reason why the WGA needs to win over the reality show writers/win over their members to including the reality show writers/win over the studios to allowing them to increase their bailiwick.

[spyscribe.livejournal.com]

The people who work on reality shows certainly need to get a collective bargaining agreement through *someone* whether it's the WGA or not. Which isn't to say that I don't think they should be WGA or that they should, but the labor abuses going on are just unreal.

[militiajim.livejournal.com]

I think the couch potatoes will watch anything. (And why aren't those idiots tuning into the History Channel and the Discovery Channel? I guess they want to stay ignorant.)