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« Today's News: Our Take
NBC Faces Reality of Strike with More Reality
As the WGA strike goes on — the AMPTP's latest offer was summarily scoffed at late Thursday, with talks not resuming until Tuesday — NBC has unveiled a schedule featuring at least six hours a week of unscripted fare. American Gladiators debuts Jan. 6, then moves to a Mondays-at-8 time slot, says the Reporter. (Chuck depletes its fresh offerings after Dec. 3.) The quiz show 1 vs. 100 returns Jan. 4, airing Fridays at 8, leaving Deal or No Deal with just its Wednesday berth. And The Biggest Loser, which wraps up its current cycle Dec. 18, sprints back to prime time on Jan. 1 with a fifth season featuring couples. Those air in two-hour batches Tuesdays at 8.
NBC's previously announced that The Celebrity Apprentice premieres Jan. 3, airing Thursdays at 9.
For ongoing WGA strike coverage, check TVGuide.com's Strike Watch blog.
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Nov 30, 2007 11:02 AM
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I think I'm going to be physically ill.
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Nov 30, 2007 11:28 AM
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Let's see: there's the stockpile of books I haven't read yet, the library, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and Netflix. Yep, I'm good. Goodbye, NBC! I'll hardly miss you.
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Nov 30, 2007 12:32 PM
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I'm actually kinda looking forward to being able to watch my dvds.
Oh, and the terminator show on fox. I hope it's as good as I want it to be. (Did that make sense?)
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Nov 30, 2007 12:58 PM
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I really don’t expect this to be resolved anytime soon. If you are one of the studios you have to ask yourself how much you’re actually losing and I honestly don’t think they’re losing that much. Advertisers still need to advertise so when they do renegotiate fees they’ll pay less than they would have for an hour drama but still significantly more than they would pay for the same Reality shows under normal circumstances. Then you have to take into account the fact that reality shows cost around 1/3rd of what you’d pay for the average hour of scripted TV.
So you have studios that really aren’t losing that much from this strike. They surely want it resolved before pilot season but I don’t think they have any motivation to really deal before May or June and the writers have far more to lose from a long strike. So if the WGA has really dug their heels in I don’t think there’s much left to be done except maybe read a book.
The writer’s are determined to fight a battle they just can’t win and that's going to kill this season of TV.
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Nov 30, 2007 1:59 PM
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Oh, and the terminator show on fox. I hope it's as good as I want it to be.
I watched the pilot a few months ago and I would say it was the best pilot I've seen this fall. The question is can it maintain that level week after week.
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Nov 30, 2007 3:56 PM
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Can't sell most reality shows into syndication, ThomasC22. And there really isn't a market for them on DVD either. Besides, it does hurt them, seriously, when it comes to films. The networks aren't going to be able to sell spots for reality shows in advance, which means an advertiser will be able to look at the ratings week-to-week to decide which shows they want to run on and quit at a moment's notice. So the networks won't have a predictable revenue stream. Sure, advertisers still need to advertise, but they'll be in the driver's seat with regard to how much they're willing to pay for fewer eyeballs (not to mention they'll want to pay even less, if those eyeballs don't belong to the right viewers).
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Dec 1, 2007 10:57 AM
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You say "The writers are determined to fight a battle they just can't win." Certainly, it's a difficult fight. Of course it is. We're just people, asking for a fair deal, and they're 6 heads of huge corporations. But if we don't fight, what then? If we knuckle under, then the next union loses its fight, and the next, and the next, and the gulf between the worker and the boss, the poor and the rich, the striver and the born-powerful just gets bigger and bigger. Is it a fight we "just can't win"? I sure hope not. But even if it were... I don't think I could live with not fighting it anyway.
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Dec 2, 2007 1:51 AM
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