dr_u

Special thanks to Vivid for posting and featuring Meow giving audio commentary.
Will write more later but have editing to do.
added the next day...
The writers and producers are fighting over us. With the strike imminent I'm saddened that all the late night shows will go into reruns. I understand what the work stoppage but without my daily dosage of Stewart and Colbert I'm liable to be even more of a pompous windbag than usual. How jacked up is it that Dave Letterman is off the air but Dr. Steve-O isn't? I support the writers since as my long lost agent reminded me Friday, I'm technically a member.
The two sides hit an impasse primarily over demands by writers for higher fees, or "residuals," derived from the sale of movies and TV programs on DVDs and the Internet. Last I checked, no one was making any real money off of the Internet broadcasting just yet (unless they sold their souls to corporate sponsorship) right now, so it's pretty much irrelevant, but they could one day turn a profit and each side wants as much of it should it ever happen. The producers are risking the present profits from the lost advertising revenue to have greater control of the future. A prolonged strike could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages for the Entertainment Industry. Worse still, Pilate's classes all over LA could be filled with even more out of work actresses by spring. These are truly dark days ahead.
Even though studios have stockpiled scripts in preparation for a strike, production of most sitcoms are going to shut down this week since writers will not be able to go on set and offer last-minute rewrites. The impact on movies is seen as less immediate since the major studios already have scripts for next year's projects. So the key will be whether television will be willing to tide itself over with news programs and reality shows and hope the writers continue to ignore the dirty secret that those are scripted as well.
The WGA said it withdrew its demand for a higher royalty payment on DVDs, a demand that the AMPTP had last week described as a "complete roadblock to any further progress." But it said the studios refused to budge on such issues as payment for Internet downloads and streaming video, which both sides realize will ultimately replace all the other distribution methods.
Union members have been told that picketing is compulsory, and to hand over unfinished work to the union to ensure that that there is no furtive writing. The Writer's Guild is actually one of the strongest unions left in the United States. Thanks to a strong alliance with the other craft guilds Hollywood is the most union friendly town left in the United States and that is what the underlying problem here is. This dispute could actually be the last great stand for unionized labor in America. The government has always been more business friendly and since the 80s it's been a downhill struggle for labor in America. It's funny that their last stand could be made by people who can rarely stay gainfully employed. I'd write more jokes but I don't want to cross the writer's union. They might shut off my supply of ellipses.