This is assignment #1 for me – the original post, with instructions, is at Outpost Mavarin (via Whatever, which I found via Pamie.com, which I knew of from my days hanging out over at TWoP…the internets are just a big ol’ chain). It won’t be wrapped up until Thursday 1/10, so you can still join in even if the weekend is winding down.
Weekend Assignment #197: Now that the WGA strike has had lots of time to affect the prime time television schedules, how is it affecting you as a viewer? What show do you miss most, aside from reruns? Do you miss your weekly appointment with that ill-behaved doctor, or your visits to Wisteria Lane? Does it bother you not to laugh at fresh jokes on your favorite sitcom? Or are you just as happy watching reality shows, or new episodes of shows that have been held back until now? We want to know!
Extra Credit: how are you spending the time instead?
While my sympathy and support are with the WGA writers in their efforts to be fairly compensated for all of their work, I felt the loss as a viewer pretty quickly, as The Office was one of the first of “my” shows to stop airing new episodes. My other Thursday-night comedies – My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock, and Scrubs – made it through the November “sweeps” and into December before they, too, dried up. On the other hand, the situation did prompt an unexpectedly early premiere for the current season of The Amazing Race, and I have no complaints about that; it also won’t affect the return of American Idol, and it’s sad how much I’m actually looking forward to that event. And of course, like so many other Americans, I have been woefully uninformed about the state of the world due to the absence of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, but I hear they’ll be back soon, even if it’s without their union writers…
The show I probably miss the most is Scrubs, and that’s partly because this is supposed to be its final season and I’m uncertain how the disruption of the strike will affect that. My husband and I had been eagerly looking forward to the return of Lost later this month, but unless the strike gets worked out pretty soon, apparently we’ll only get eight episodes and then get to miss it all over again.
We do almost all of our planned TV watching via our DVR, and as the strike has continued it has less and less new programming recorded for us (we don’t record reruns). My husband channel-surfs more than I do, and usually ends up on the Food Network or the Discovery Channel (hey, at least we still have Mythbusters!). I asked for, and received, several TV-on-DVD sets for Christmas, and they’re definitely helping fill the TV time. Some TV time has also become “former” TV time in the interim, and is being spent with books and online activities; it’s hard to say at this point whether the TV is going to get that back when all of this is over.
I admit that I barely notice that the strike is still on. It’s almost like the summer months when I watch nothing on TV other than movies or DVD’s. I can’t say I especially miss any show. I liked a few while I watched them, but I can wait until they come back. I’m excited about The Wire starting tonight though. That hasn’t been impacted by the strike, thank goodness. If it had though, I’d just have a little longer to wait and I could live with that.
Literary Feline – It is starting to have that summer-like feel, as far as spending time on other things, and I tend to agree with you that that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But since “our” shows are one way that Tall Paul and I unwind together, I am missing that aspect. 🙂 Thank goodness for DVDs.
I’ve been searching through the listings for Turner Movie Classic and AMC and recording old films I haven’t viewed in ages. That, and DVD’s of British shows.
And I’m making it a point to watch David Letterman.
Donna – I saw your list of movies you’ve recorded on your last post. We’re pretty big on old movies around here too, but we’ve been doing a lot of TV-on-DVD viewing lately.
David Letterman, his production company, and his new facial hair 🙂 deserve support for working out a deal with the WGA on their own.