Monday, November 12, 2007

coping through the writers' strike

Sorry about that last post. It was pretty lame.

Anyway, Stephanie sent me an interesting email with a very interesting link. This is a very handy guide showing how much new material will appear on tv before the written well runs dry.

Notice that, as of today's date, there is only ONE episode of The Office left. That is the most severe casualty, but also the most important. The Office isn't my favorite show on the air, but it's definitely the most popular from a group perspective. It's the one that comes up most in conversation with peers and family. A lot of people would argue that watching so much tv blots out our social skills. Well, when The Office goes off the air, what are we gonna talk about? No, tv is actually essential to our social progress.

Possibly my favorite show is 30 Rock. It's got a writer's strike median lifespan left of five episodes. Once that one goes, we'll be shifting into severe panic mode.

Perhaps it's time to watch a few shows with long future lifespans. Men in Trees has 13 episodes left to air. I really have no idea what this show is, but it has 13 episodes of new material. I may need to either begin watching this show or else begin tivoing commercial breaks hoping to get a glimpse of new and important commercials. Another show that has 13 episodes is apparently its entire season is 13 episodes long and none have aired yet. I've seen a little of this show. It's well-made. Gritty. Fascinating and flawed characters. It's really not so much a tv show as it is a depositing into the epicenter of corrupt cop hell. In other words, the jokes aren't funny enough. One Tree Hill has 12 episodes left. Yeah, I guess it is still on the air. A few years ago when I was a rabid The O.C. fan, my friend Kristi told me that The O.C. paled in comparison to One Tree Hill. Although she'd never actually seen an episode of The O.C. I actually accepted her offer to watch an episode of OTH with her so she could show me what I was missing. When she showed up a half-hour late to the episode because she was at the store she simply told me to start without her. Message clear: One Tree Hill is worth telling your friends about, but it's not worth actually watching.

The list doesn't contain some necessities. I'm really curious about the length of time that The Simpsons has left. I imagine that it's got a pretty long run since the writing and voice work would need to be finished long before the animation. Maybe Simpsons will finish the season. That's just a guess though. It's sort of an irrelevant guess, since even though The Simpsons is the greatest television show of all time, I rarely watch new episodes when they come out.

If there's one good thing about the strike it's to satisfy my sadistic desire to get Pushing Daisies off the air. I only saw most of the first episode, so maybe I haven't given it much of a chance; but it's that first episode that seems to have charmed everyone else. This show thinks it's way more clever than it is, the acting is obvious quirky obnoxiousness and the gimmick is just to upfront for us to enjoy any type of subtle enjoyment. Pushing Daisies only has four episodes left and, although everyone is talking about it now, this writer's strike could mean death to the fledgling show. Sad, really. But it makes me happy.

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