The Nexus does a pretty good job of being opinionated about everything that’s important to students. There are columnists covering sex, humor, politics, drinking and even the occasional weed induced trip to a strip club. But something’s always been missing, something that’s just as big a part of our lives as the rest. It’s what you watch after sex, it’s where you go for your humor and your politics, it’s what saves you when you’re hung over as shit on a Saturday morning, and it’s what you turn to when you’re too high to do anything else.
It’s the television, people. That magical little box that your parents warned you to stay away from, or in certain cases, told you to stay in front of while they hit the local bar in search of a little afternoon delight. Which brings you to me, your new source for everything important involving entertainment. What qualifies me? I don’t know. But I can’t think of anything that doesn’t qualify me either, so I guess no one can really complain.
Unfortunately, timing is everything in life, and if I’ve learned anything from my attempts to tear up the dance floor at Q’s… my timing sucks. How else could you explain the fact that right as I prepared to start writing opinion columns about TV, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. For those of you that don’t know, the strike started on Nov. 5th, after the Writers Guild’s previous contract expired on Oct. 31st. If it hasn’t already affected your favorite shows, it definitely will in the coming weeks. The main point of contention here is that the writers want an increased cut of DVD residuals and newfound money coming from sources like the Internet, iTunes and on-demand cable. The studios of course don’t want to give up a penny. Thus we have a strike, and possibly a prolonged one since the last time these two groups butted heads, it took 22 weeks to come to a resolution. But how does a tiff between multi-billion dollar companies and Top Ramen-eating writers affect you?
Well if you’re a fan of “The Office” – and realistically, who isn’t – it already has. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Agent Michael Scott and the gang have already aired their last original episode of the fall season. “The Office” has been hit harder than most shows because it doesn’t suck so it’s hard to write, and three of the main characters – Toby, Ryan and Kelly – are also writers for the show. Barring a quick resolution to the strike, “The Office” won’t be airing new episodes anytime soon, leaving the show’s fans hanging, as they wonder when the hell Michael is going to dump Jan and her intriguing fake breasts. Unfortunately for those of you liking that gentle sensation of laughter, virtually every comedy on TV is out of new episodes, and the late night shows have all gone dark. Conan, Stewart, Colbert and the rest refuse to work without their writers.
If you’re not in a sorority and thus your only source of drama is the TV, you’re probably going to want to make some adjustments as well. “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “House,” “Prison Break” and many more are all just a couple of episodes away from running out of new material. Even “24” has postponed its traditional “Post Super Bowl Two-Night-Four-Hour-Jack-Bauer-Asskicking Festival” because the show’s writers have only completed eight of 24 episodes.
Luckily for those of you with real taste, two of the best shows on television appear to be relatively unscathed by this whole strike thing. “Friday Night Lights” – which you absolutely should be watching if you’re not – is way ahead of schedule, as is the crown jewel of television these days: ABC’s “Lost.” The show had planned a February return all along, and with eight of 16 episodes already in the can, the season should be well under way by the time the strike ends. Now for even more good news: The two sides have already have resumed talks this week, so with a little luck, your TiVo list will be back to normal in no time.