Post-Golden Globe musings

It's time for the writers to get back to work.

Tonight the Writers Guild of America strike took its toll on the annual Golden Globes awards presentation. All kinds of hard working hourly staff and small mom-and-pop businesses like florists and caterers lost millions of dollars because with the strike, there were no stars, and with no stars, there were no parties or even a real award show this year. All this after other colleagues in collateral areas of Hollywood such as actors, makeup artists, carpenters, electricians, and other crew, have suffered through the holidays with no or extremely limited income.

It's hard to be sympathetic to wealthy strikers in safe—if not luxurious—workplaces like the writers. Yeah, they claim they've got a low average income, but the writers' guild, much like the actors' guild, is a combination of what I'll call full-time workers (the minority) and a bunch of people who were required to join the union but who may write only on a very, very part-time basis if at all (the majority), so if you take out the part-timers, you'll see a bunch of rich writers who are striking for a bigger cut of those elusive internet profits. It's all about greed.

So, writers, you've had your fun, but you're hurting too many of your colleagues and your industry's support service businesses, so stop this nonsense and get back to work.

Meanwhile, the strike has revealed some interesting things.

1) I actually liked the abbreviated "news conference" format of the Golden Globes award announcements tonight much better than the long, drawn-out, self-aggrandizing, normal show. It wasn't as boring.

2) What, exactly, do David Letterman's writers do? Now, I usually watch Letterman in preference to Leno, but this month, when I look at the two shows, Leno is doing just as good if not better than Letterman. Maybe Letterman needs to trim that big writers staff if they can't churn out any better work than what they're doing now. Leno's fine without writers. Conan sucks, but he does that with or without writers. Ellen (which Ryan tapes every day when he's at work) never went off the air during the strike, and I think her show has been great, if not actually stronger, without writers.

3) Several people I know in the D.C. area who belong to WGA and SAG have told me they don't agree with their unions and wouldn't belong if their dues weren't automatically taken out of their checks. They all say they wish California and New York had Right to Work laws so they didn't have to belong to the union.