A WGA VALENTINE

You might think that the WGA strike was resolved due to the Oscars. But the behind-the-scenes story goes much deeper than that.



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WWW

By special arrangement with the WGA and The Late Show with David Letterman, we further interrupt our rerun schedule to bring you this fresh episode of WWW:

"A little OT since we’re talking about TV schedules – Bill Maher will be a guest on The Late Show this coming Thursday, 1/3/08. Letterman’s company (Worldwide Pants) has come to terms with the WGA, so Bill won’t be crossing any picket lines. I’m a little surprised that he’s agreed to return to his own show, however, as of January 11, 2008. I imagine that he wants to keep the other staff employed, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts out with some kind of ‘solidarity’ statement on the first broadcast!"—newsblooz at the AC 360° blog (January 1, 2008)




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WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

By special arrangement with the WGA, we interrupt out rerun schedule to bring you this fresh episode of WWW:

"I write this to you two nights before Christmas. It’s tough as hell to be on strike during the holiday season. Not only are we staging outdoor pickets and other events in the throes of winter’s cold, we’re without work and paychecks at a moment when gift giving and good times are very much on the minds of everyone around us, especially our friends and loved ones.

"Yet we know that what we’re fighting for is worth it, that we’re exchanging our temporary stress and discomfort for future gain and security, not only for ourselves but those who will follow us as wordsmiths and storytellers."—Michael Winship, President, Writers Guild of America, East (December 23, 2007)

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message from Woody Allen:



Source (1:19)


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message from Doris Lessing:

"What has happened to us is an amazing invention - computers and the internet and TV. It is a revolution. This is not the first revolution the human race has dealt with. The printing revolution, which did not take place in a matter of a few decades, but took much longer, transformed our minds and ways of thinking."

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WRITE-AID: THE FOLLOW-UP!

I had a good time last night at Write-Aid: A Comedy Benefit for (Striking) Writers. The fun began even before I got to Comix, as Andy Borowitz and I exited the subway around the same time. I'm so glad neither of us took a limo!

The show itself was most impressive to me in the variety of comic approaches. In addition to Borowitz, we heard routines from host Laurie Kilmartin, Bill Scheft, Jim Gaffigan, Nick Griffin, Brian Kiley, Robert Wuhl, and Alan Zweibel, plus group improv from Brian Stack, Andy Blitz, Miriam Tolan, Jason Mantzoukas, Michael (Conan) Komen, and Tami (30 Rock) Seger. There was dog humor, bacon humor, cookie comedy, parent humor, hammock humor, mineral humor, relationship humor, boy scout humor, classroom humor, Michael Vick humor, classic sperm bank jokes, and storytelling humor. And there were even some jokes about the strike!

Thanks to BAT friend Frank Santopadre for making it all possible!

WRITE-AID

What to do when television's top comedy writers are on strike? Put on a show, of course! Blog About Town friend Frank Santopadre is producing Write-Aid: A Comedy Benefit for (STRIKING) Writers at Comix at 9 pm on Tuesday night, December 11, 2007. Admission is $20 ($25 on the day of show) unless you have a WGA card, which is worth a $5.00 discount!

Featured performers include Andy Borowitz and Robert Wuhl as well as Brian "O'Brien" Kiley, Laurie "Craig Ferguson" Kilmartin, Bill "Letterman" Scheft, and Brian "O'Brien" Stack.

That thing in the illustration? It's a typewriter.

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message from Amy Sohn:

"Everyone knows the future of TV is the Internet and I see this move as an attempt to get us to get used to not being paid on the Internet so the next generation of writers, who are kids now, won’t expect to be when they’re in the position we’re in now."

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message from screenwriter Irving (Life of Riley) Brecher.



Source (1:38)


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and the following message (thanks to Dan Radosh for the lead).



Source (4:24)


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun and this link regarding the WGA and Broadway stagehand strikes.


WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

WWW

This week's installment of WWW has been pre-empted due to the WGA strike. Instead, we offer this rerun.

TV is completely changing, the way people are watching is completely changing, and we just want some structure in place to make sure the union is treated fairly. I hope this ends as soon as possible; I’d be more than happy to do SNL this Saturday.

As far as how long we’re willing to strike, the important thing for us to remember is that twenty years ago the writers went on strike for 22 weeks, and as a younger writer I’m a beneficiary of what they went through. But we would all much rather be working!"—Seth Meyers

WWW is a weekly series on Blog About Town. Click here to see other episodes.

Photos: David Marc Fischer