BY ALEXANDRA ISRAEL

In print | Published February 21, 2008

TV fans, now is the time to rejoice! The Writers Guild of America strike has come to an end. After 100 days of picketing and months filled with reruns and reality shows, it’s time to settle back on the couch and reacquaint ourselves with Jim and Pam, Dr. House and the blandly photogenic interns of Seattle Grace (the latter only if you are, in fact, a fan of the disturbingly popular prime-time soap opera that is “Grey’s Anatomy”). We can rest secure in the knowledge that the Academy Awards will be broadcast, as promised, on Feb. 24 and take solace in the knowledge that Jon Stewart’s mocking take on Presidential Primary Madness will always be there to soothe our Ron Paul-rattled nerves.

However, not all is back to normal in the wonderful world of the boob tube. A strike that has gone on for as long as this one is bound to change the medium’s landscape at least a bit. Being forced to go without something – in this case, screenwriters – for so long has one of two effects: either you realize how desperately you need it, or you discover that you can, in fact, go on without it. The writers were banking on the former outcome, which is in many ways what happened. Had it not been for the industry’s reliance on writers, there would have been no resolution to the strike and primetime would be a wasteland filled with singing/dancing/stripping competitions and game shows in which a contestant is given 30 seconds to prove that he is smarter than Paris Hilton while being slowly lowered into a lake full of sharks and admitting to his family that he did, in fact, have a facelift last year.

The network executives, however, have also gained some new knowledge about their medium. Yes, the writers are needed, but maybe not as much as everyone thought. The most consistently popular show on television is an unscripted singing competition. The ravenous ratings beast that is “American Idol” has spawned a large number of imitators, many of which also draw substantial viewing audiences. As a result of this discovery, many networks are preparing to cut back on scripted television next season.

The addition of extra primetime hours of reality shows is nothing new. The major change that could result from the strike is a drastic cutback in the number of pilot episodes ordered at the beginning of each season, accompanied by lowered importance of fall and spring “upfront” presentations. The upfronts are basically gigantic news conferences held by the networks every year at which the new shows for the fall season are introduced to the press. Each year the networks start out with a large number of scripted series, as well as reality shows, which are incessantly hyped at the upfronts in an attempt to guarantee a large pilot audience. Most of these shows never make it to a full season, with some being cancelled after only one or two episodes. (Remember “Emily’s Reasons Why Not?” Neither does anyone else). Compounding this problem is the increasing expense of producing special effects laden pilots for shows like the fall flop “Bionic Woman” and the anger of audiences who get sucked into a new serialized drama (like the ill-fated “Kidnapped” from a few years back) only to have it cancelled after four episodes.

But cutting back on pilots, however much money it might save, is not a good move on the part of the network executives. For one thing, no one can predict which shows will succeed and which will fail; corporate suits in particular are wrong just as many times (or more) that they are right. Remember, these are the people who brought you a sitcom based on a series of car-insurance commercials about postmodern cavemen. They can’t always be trusted to have good taste.

The planned cutbacks in pilots also make it even harder for struggling writers to catch a break. The eagerness of executives to cancel a show within five episodes if it doesn’t have monstrous ratings has already created a cutthroat climate in the industry, to the point where many television veterans believe that a show like “Seinfeld” – one of the most popular series of all time – would not survive today. If pilot episodes are dispatched with altogether, this problem will become even more pronounced and will leave the networks with little recourse in the event that one of the new shows is not well received.

The current system used by networks to find new shows is inefficient and expensive and is in definite need of retooling. However, killing a script based simply on a network executive’s opinion of the script is unfair both to the writer whose script it was and the viewer whose favorite show it could have been. Rather, the networks should stop pouring money into flashy special effects and instead focus on scripts with intriguing characters and relationships. The networks have finally given the writers the money that they deserve for Internet content; refusing to afford those writers the opportunity to pursue their art would be a punishment not only for wordsmiths, but for fans as well.

Alexandra is a first-year. You can reach her at aisrael1@swarthmore.edu.

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