Life > February 7, 2008

By Ellen Hart | Staff writer

As of Feb. 7, the Writers Guild of America’s strike has been pushing on, much to viewer’s frustration, for 13 weeks and three days. We all know the devastating effects this has had on the networks, forcing them to choke out more and more reality shows, but what does this really mean for our coveted study breaks?

click to enlarge

Will the discount popcorn sit sadly on our shelves? Will prime time be passed in lonely dejection and better time management? What’s your favorite show? There should be a class on this. Really, it’s an interesting phenomenon. Each show has experienced its own form of consequences.

Fox: Where in the world is Jack Bauer?

In mid-January, Fox’s 2008 schedule opened with the series premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles closely followed by American Idol. New episodes of the popular medical show House began January 22.

But what happened to Bauer? Day seven of 24 is actually being tremendously delayed, due to what appears to be simply the nature of the show. A story that is supposed to take place during the course of 24 hours in one season cannot afford to risk any interruptions.

ABC: Lost saves struggling station

It’s a different story with ABC’s Lost. This time, the nature of the story actually works to its advantage. Anybody who has seen Lost knows that it is not like other shows, so it isn’t as harmed by the writers strike like other series. Fortunately, this show actually has eight scripts up its sleeve.

Even better, since ABC is currently otherwise devoid of popular shows, Lost can claim the best time slot possible, further improving its chances. And with all this available time, why not also air all the previous seasons as well and give new audiences a chance to catch up? The fan base would swell enormously. Because Lost is a continuing story, it is in a unique position so that airing old episodes might actually be beneficial.

ABC is otherwise in bad shape. Essentially the only shows it has lined up are Lost, Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, Wife Swap and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. All things considered, that’s not very impressive.

NBC: The "Biggest Loser"

NBC isn’t faring much better. One might even go so far as to say that it is the worst off of all the major networks, with essentially only The Apprentice, Dateline and American Gladiators to offer. The new edition of the American Gladiators program turned out to be a big disappointment for those who followed the original series which ended its seven year run in 1996.

Reality TV 101

Now let’s examine all those reality shows. Will they ever stop? Probably not. It’s a genius money making strategy as long as the premise is nice and addictive and it appeals to our emotions, dreams and sense of humor.

You don’t need a script (well, ideally there is no script), most of the time it’s fairly inexpensive (of course with a few notable exceptions) and people love it.

The rough formula is very simple: just hook some annoying people up to various surveillance devices, throw them in a strange situation where they have to work together or fight each other or some combination of both and let them have at it. It’s sadistic, it’s mind-numbing, it’s fun and it’s WGA strike-free.

We all grew up watching them. It all started with The Real World, a gratuitous and delicious display of vanity at its finest. Then it was Survivor, am I right?

The phrase “voted off the island” became part of everyday speech.

Producers are evidently becoming inspired by the big reality shows of today such as American Idol and their resilience to the writers strike.

So we’re getting a flood of reality shows this season filling the empty time slots.

Now, to each his own, but I would advise caution when putting yourself under the addictive power of one of these shows. Not all of them are particularly good.

My guess is they’re just taking advantage of this tremendous opportunity, and the quality is going to plummet.

Your best bet in reality show programming would be to tune into Bravo’s Project Runway which boasts fascinating contestants, high fashion and unique challenges.

MTV, which has shifted from music videos to reality shows, offers its latest edition of The Real World-Road Rules Challenge: the Gauntlet III, which will please fans of prior editions. You can also view reruns of many of MTV’s nauseating shows including Life of Ryan, Making the Band and Randy Jackson’s new show, America’s Best Dance Crew.

The End is Near?

I’d like to wrap this up on a hopeful note, however. Recently it has been rumored that negotiations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is progressing.

There may be a tentative agreement that would allow shows to begin airing new episodes as early as March.

Again, this is uncertain, but major news networks are reporting that most of the obstacles barring negotiations, such as Internet revenue, have been overcome–so we really may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.