Have a very good, real-life friend who studied labor relations at Cornell University. Like Frazer Crane in the titular 90s sitcom, he constantly invokes his degree whenever some organized worker group decides they don't like their jobs.
And like Frazer Crane, he can be annoying.
As can I.
Taking a time out from reviewing comedies (Apologies to Fred Tetzner, who has asked for a takedown of Idiocracy), to make personal comments CLEAR regarding the strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
I am advocating for a fair and equitable settlement between the unions and producers.
Will repeat that.
I am advocating for a fair and equitable settlement between the unions and producers.
What has been taken out of context by the various pro-union douchebags is a fact.
To whit,
There is a TON of available programming filling streaming services. A viewer could plant themselves in front of the TV 24/7 for DECADES, and not finish 10% of
what sits in the queue. As a follow up, that translates to a TON of leverage on the management side of the latest squabble, i.e., how do actors, directors, writers, etc. get compensated for content which might show in 2335 at the Tanya Roberts Memorial Film Festival? And, how do we cope with A.I.?
Merely raising this, ahem, annoying nugget has my (Mostly) Leftist friends clutching their strings of pearls and hitting the fainting couch like Hunter Biden slamming into unconsciousness at the end of a weekend bender.
And that's just the guys doing that.
Believe the Liberal Ladies are rending their garments; gnashing their dentures; and accusing Yours truly of actually attending church on Sundays.
Sorry to report, okay I'm not, there is a TON of programming idling in neutral on Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Apple TV, Tubi, Roku, MAX, and YouTube. A suggestion would be the rank-and-file of SAG/AFTRA and the WGA put a pit bull muzzle on Fran "The Harridan" Drescher and open talks with the studios. Acknowledge the plethora of existing lousy programming; promise to write and perform better lousy programming; and come to an agreement on a bump in pay for usage in streaming and the introduction of A.I., for anyone misguided enough to work in the film industry.
As a warning to anyone, especially, that certain Cornell grad, Harry Bridges, the brilliant labor leader of the Longshoremen, saw the Modernization and Mechanization movement of the 60s. He saw it. His membership ignored it. That dockworker union, to this day, sits in a state of paralysis, tying up American ports from coast to coast with arcane and archaic work rules. That action has cost more jobs than it has saved.
Harry would be the first to admit it, and did.
Don't let it happen to the entertainment industry. There is a way out, but the guilds and the unions are going to have to face reality.
That there is a LOT of lousy programming out there.
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