Friday, December 14, 2007

ANTM Finale!

thank the lord.

1:00 - jenah is going home. we opened with her saying she didnt wannt to go home, shed go hom e if she was in final 2 with selesha, and she really didnt want to go home. she's so cooked. im reinstating her nicnkame - Goose. they tricked me last week, but its right back to the usual modus operandi this week (which by the way is admissible character evidence)

3:00 - its Jaslene. she's talking, but i cant understand what she's saying.

4:00 - i wish i predicted a selesha victory earlier in the season. im making an official selesha victory prediction now.

5:00 - caryn says the final 3 is too ahrd to predict. theyre all good, so you have to wait to see the challenge and who screws up.

6:00 - so far, its chantal. and jay just did a brutal parody that i enjoyed. and tehn she did good.

7:00 - they jsut did a jenah "Take 'x'" montage b/c there were so many takes. and now theyre making her use cue cards.

8:00 - more "jenah comes off bitchy" subplot from jay.

9:00 - Heather could have done better than these 3...

10:00 - selesha is breaking down on set!!! ohnoes for my 4:00.

11:00 - caryn echoes my thoughts that chantal did the best.

14:00 - we're doing the dumb questions segment. 1st, who do you think should win? yourself, really? i never would have guessed! 2nd, who is the worst? they ganged up on jenah, playing up the "jenah has attitude and a bitch" subplot. honestly, i *never* got this subplot. she doesnt seem bitchy. usual Top Model forcing dumb subplots on the show.

15:00 - i should be studying, but caryn is making me blog this atrocity. going to Lamarca and Juno tonite tho!

16:00 - caryn thinks selesha looekd stiff in her pic. i agree.

17:00 - i was also unimpressed with chantal. maybe b/c im not the target audience, but both those commercials sucked. i didnt like chantals pic either.

18:00 - music change for jenah. uh oh!

19:00 - they are ripping on jenah. igel is bullshitting like usual. i hate him. they're accusing her of insulting and being bitchy again.

20:00 - caryn and i both unanimous that jenah's commercial was the best. she totally was the most natural. she only laughed at the end after she bit the fruit, but otherwise she was totally the best.

21:00 - jenah is now ranting at the girls being bitchy. shes so cooked, but im indignant about it now too!

22:00 - i like her photo the best too. they are gonna eliminate her. but its bs. i enjoyed her rant against being all rainbows and sunshine and smiles.

23:00 - note: selesha ended the covergirl commercial they showed. thats bc she won imo.

24:00 - caryn fastforwarded thru the jaslene commercial, but did a "this is my life" impression.

25:00 - caryn thinks jenah might be saved by breaking through emotionally.

26:00 - caryn jsut said she tihnks chantal is out, and nigel called her amateur (like jenah did!).

27:00 - man, i wish i could walk in the Chi Gong Hi Fashion Show.

28:00 - chantal is hte first name called! so much for caryn's nut. itll be lost in the forest forever. caryn defends it by noting that she thought theyd keep jenah after she cried, since they did a 180 and were copmlimentary towards her at judges table.

29:00 - jenah's gone. nut for me. listen, last week was a TOTAL ABBHERATION. they always tip the hand early, and make up the contrived storyline to justify the boot.

30:00 - i liked jenah's pics. too bad this show is about as real as The Hills. i dont uderstand why the WGA strike isnt affecting it. its all scripted.

31:00 - im starving. cant wait for lamarca.

44:00 - there are no words for what im watching. tyra is walking down this crazy procession. jaslene looked walkig it.

45:00 - twiggy: "woooow, look at that". Tyra: "work it girl!". me: "i haveno clue whats going on. theyre just walking! for what its worth, selesha is walking hotter imo. my 4:00 is goldensauce. actually, make it lamarca bolognese sauce.

46:00 - chantal looks much stiffer to me.

47:00 - chantal just got screwed. the wind blew her dress over under a stilts-guy performers stilts and he BIT THE DUST! everyone was mortified. i thought it was hilarious.

48:00 - caryn correctly otes that chantal just looks defeated. Selesha will win. i really should called it months ago. i knew it.

49:00 - caryn agrees with me that selesha had a great walk. caryn thought seleshas walk had attitude, but chantals was more poised. frankly, i tihnk theres only 1 adj to describe seleshas' walk. it begins with F and ends with ierce.

51:00 - photo recap. i like chantals smoking one better, and chantals gargoyle better. wtf is with miss j's hair btw? i thought these great wall of china photos were dumb.

53:00 - the runway feedback: j says selesha "owned it". twiggy liked it. this is so in the bag. im such a great nutter. tyra notes the stiffness. who is good? i am. while ive railed against the "own it" babble all season, i will admit that selesha did, in fact, "own" that runway.

55:00 - tyra notes that this is our 9th Top Model. hopefully, for my sake, it doesnt hit doubledigits.

56:00 - miss j says chantal is mroe high fashion and less commercial.

57:00 - nigel sticks up for selesha. what the f is this high fashion versus commercial stuff? could they give us a tutorial to explain the difference to me? what blather this whole industry is, from proj runway to this show. Top Chef is totally the best, and i dont even get to taste the food!

58:00 - tyra thought these girls would go home early and not make it so far. guess she sux at judging talent. burn!

59:00 - the moment of truth. money is still on selesha. caryn is predicting selesha too.

60:00 - Selesha! me: "BAM!" see 4:00 and 23:00.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Strike Watch 2007!

WGA-AMPTP War Of Words: Who'll Blink First?

Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) President Patric M. Verrone and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) President Michael Winship today issued the following message regarding the AMPTP-WGA negotiations which appear to be breaking down. (For background, see my previous, Talks Day #7: AMPTP "Stalling Tactics"; Are The Moguls About To Quit The Talks?) The AMPTP immediately followed with a statement of its own (see below). Who's telling the truth? I think from these dueling statements the answer is quite clear:

Dear Fellow Members,
Before we head into negotiations this morning, we want to give you an update on where we stand. On Tuesday, after the companies had requested a four-day break so they could work on their proposals, we returned to the bargaining table. We presented a counter proposal to their streaming proposal of November 29. They presented no new proposals. On Wednesday, the AMPTP again had no new proposals, but they did have detailed questions about our streaming counter proposal and other aspects of our overall proposals – and from the give and take of those discussions, we felt that they might finally be ready to engage in serious bargaining. They told us they would have new proposals for us Thursday. On Thursday, we met at 10am, and they told us their new proposals would be ready shortly. At 5 PM, they told us their proposals still weren’t ready, that they would be working on them late into the night, and that we should come back this morning at 10am. The fact that we saw everyone from the AMPTP leave the building by 6:45pm is not a promising sign, but we will be at the table at 10 AM this morning, ready to receive their new proposal.

We’d like to address some of the disturbing rumors and back channel communications we’ve been hearing. For one, we’ve heard that one or more of the companies are prepared to throw away the spring and fall TV season, plus features, and prolong the strike. Aside from the devastating effect this would have on the unions, workers, and their families in this industry, it would certainly explain the AMPTP’s refusal to put any new proposals, even a bad one, on the table. Also, highly placed executives have been telling some of our writers that the companies are preparing to abruptly cut off negotiations. They say the companies plan to accuse the WGA of stalling and being unwilling to negotiate, and that the companies will use that as an excuse to walk out.

The Writers Guilds of America, West and East are going on record now that any such claims are absolutely untrue. We have been at the negotiating table every day, willing to bargain. Furthermore, we hereby challenge the AMPTP to negotiate in good faith, day and night, through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays – whatever is necessary – to get this done and get the town back to work. The Writers Guilds will remain at the table every day, for as long as it takes, to make a fair deal.

Thank you for your patience, support, and solidarity through these difficult times. Please come to the Freemantle rally today. We remain all in this together.
Patric M. Verrone
Writers Guild of America, West
&
Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East


And here is the AMPTP statement answering it:

The WGA's organizers sent a letter to WGA members today that contains a series of factual mistakes.

WGA Organizer Statement

"[T]he companies had requested a four-day break so they could work on their proposals."

The Facts

On Nov. 29, the WGA's organizers requested the four-day break after the producers presented their proposed New Economic Partnership.

WGA Organizer Statement

The producers "told us they would have new proposals."

The Facts

The producers did present a new proposal, the New Economic Partnership, which would increase the average working writer's salary to more than $230,000 a year. The WGA's organizers have yet to respond directly to that proposal, preferring instead to focus on jurisdictional issues in the areas of reality and animation television.

WGA Organizer Statement

"We have been at the negotiating table every day, willing to bargain."

The Facts

The WGA's organizers actually spend relatively little time at the negotiating table. The WGA's organizers sought a four-day break, and when they returned sessions that were supposed to begin at 10:00 am often did not start until after lunchtime. When they are at the negotiating site, WGA organizers typically spend as much time speaking among themselves as they do at the negotiating table.

WGA Organizer Statement

"We will remain at the table every day, for as long as it takes, to make a fair deal."

The Facts

The WGA's organizers refused repeated requests by the producers to begin negotiations much earlier, in the spring of 2007. Had negotiations begun when the producers wanted them to start, perhaps the industry would not now be in the midst of this strike.


Talks Day #7: AMPTP "Stalling Tactics"; Are The Moguls About To Quit The Talks?


EXCLUSIVE: I wish I had better news about the AMPTP-WGA contract negotiations, but I don't. To sum up, they suck. I took extra time reporting tonight, and some very surprising developments came to light. For instance, Peter Chernin is privately telling Hollywood that the producers plan to quit the talks any day now. That they have no intention of coming back with another streaming proposal "until we are close". And that they'll only give a better electronic sell-through formula "at the last minute" when a contract with the writers is virtually signed.


These quiet remarks by the Fox/News Corp No. 2 are the complete opposite of what the AMPTP is telling the WGA around the bargaining table.


I'm told Thursday's talks began at 10 AM, and both the WGA and AMPTP had a brief discussion about streaming, made-for-web content pay and jurisdiction, and electronic sell-through. Then one of the negotiators from the network and studio CEOs' side declared, "The DVD formula is good for you, and you should embrace it with open arms."


The AMPTP then claimed it had "a proposal coming" supposedly based on the writers' streaming counter-proposal from Tuesday and asked the WGA side to wait around. By 5 pm, it wasn't done. Then the producers claimed they would work on the proposal at the hotel straight through midnight or later and give it to the WGA at Friday's session.


But some of the WGA negotiators hung around the hotel and, to their surprise, watched the AMPTP contingent get in their cars at exactly 6 PM and individually drive off.


(This follows what happened on Wednesday when the AMPTP negotiators asked to break early to celebrate the first day of Chanukah -- yet their official statement later claimed it had been the writers side who didn't want to negotiate late into the evening...)


Chernin, CBS' Les Moonves, and some of the other Hollywood moguls this week keep kvetching about how "frustrating" the AMPTP-WGA talks have become and how "pessimistic" they are about a quick resolution. The bigwigs have even concocted this fiction that they wanted to solve the strike in three intense days of negotiations before Christmas but now they see that's impossible because of the level of mistrust and misunderstanding around the table. My sources tell me the CEOs seem to be looking for any excuse to blame WGA chief negotiator Dave Young specifically for "blowing it".


But the truth is this: the Hollywood moguls have not delivered on their promises. And Chernin's statements make clear they never had any intention of doing so right now. Days are passing, and the AMPTP still hasn't come back with a counter/counter-offer to the WGA's counter-offer to the AMPTP's offer on streaming. Days are passing, and the AMPTP still hasn't come back with the 2nd half of its New Media proposal presumably containing ESTs. Days are passing, and the AMPTP and WGA are still paralyzed on Internet issues, which is why they moved way down their list to the subject of Reality TV jurisdiction. Sure that angered the CEOs who own a network -- and I think it was a giant mistake by the writers' negotiating team to get off New Media and onto that. But it came up because of the AMPTP's stalling tactics, and the two sides had to jawbone about something.


In conclusion, I wouldn't be at all surprised if, as soon as Friday, the AMPTP walks out of the talks with a news release in hand that it's all the WGA's fault.


And I now predict the CEOs will make a big public show of deciding to open talks with the Directors Guild right away and thus try to screw the striking writers. (That's already begun -- today's Los Angeles Times virtually announces it in roundabout fashion by noting that 300 director-writers today begged their DGA to hold off...)


And I predict the AMPTP won't return to negotiations with the writers until February at the earliest after declaring force majeure. Please, oh please, prove me wrong.



Talks Day #6: WGA Presses On Reality TV


The talks will resume on Thursday. But I'm told by a mogul that the reason the second half of the AMPTP proposal -- which presumably contains an offer about electronic sell-through (ESTs) -- has not yet seen the light of day is because "no one is prepared to put anything new on the table until there's movement on other issues." Oh, c'mon!


So the AMPTP had an internal meeting today about the WGA's offer on streaming but didn't bring any counter/counter-offer on New Media to the table. The WGA in an end-of-day statement tonight said "we are still waiting for the AMPTP to respond to ... Internet streaming of theatrical and TV product and digital downloads." The producers' end-of-day statement tonight was generic, not detailed.


The largest part of today's negotiations were taken over by the WGA's small group discussion of jurisdiction for Reality TV and made-for-Web content as well as animation and cable. I've learned the WGA played hardball by demanding that network and studio CEOs no longer make deals with Reality TV producers like Mark Burnett Productions, Fremantle, Endemol etc unless those companies become signatories of the WGA. This is part of the WGA's continuing campaign to ensure that Reality TV writers -- often referred to as the story editors or story producers of the shows -- start to receive the same benefits and pay and protections as guild members. (Of course, further complicating matters is that some Reality TV shows have signed deals with IA, the editors guild.) It's also clear the WGA's demand today was timed to this Friday's big writers protest outside Fremantle Media headquarters.


Needless to say, network CEOs expressed disbelief and anger that the WGA would try to put Reality TV on the table today. I swear one mogul was going to have a coronary, sputtering as he charged that today's talks were "going backwards". (Did the producers not hear that Variety erroneously reported pre-strike that the WGA negotiators had dropped their nonscripted proposal? On the other hand, don't the writers consider New Media formulas a more pressing issue? Am I starting to lose the will to live?)


Interestingly, the WGA's demand that all made-for-web work be placed under the guild's full jurisdiction didn't seem to hit a nerve with either the AMPTP or its CEOs.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Gossip Girl 12/12/07

Caryn wants me to start blogging more again. im just gonna focus on nuts.

1:00 - debuttante season. i liked Samaire's Cotillion better.

3:00 - is this waht rory did that one time in Gilmore Girls?

4:00 - wuts little j got sunday?

5:00 - dan just called this cotillion. lol. ad hes buttering gramma up real good.

6:00 - chuck and b are still gettin it on. uh oh, n is over and c is upstairs. wut will b do?! shes gonna go to the ball with n, "as friends". c will be jealous. dunno yetwhat disastrous fight will happen.

7:00 - nutted little j having something to do on sunday. ouch little j. harsh to mom. turning into b!

8:00 - nutted that S's gramma was dying. and all she wants is to see S make a debut. lol, what a weird last dying wish.

12:00 - b totally just came from nutting c. and n is babbling while b texts c. lol.

14:00 - shoe shopping scene!

15:00 - ohnoes! little j caught with S's mom. she was gonna lie to her parents and go to the ball. and her mom caught them! the sad thing is that little j's mom was gonna buy her nice shoes after little j's earlier outburst. its really sad. :(

16:00 - is gramms setting S up with the bad gambler kid? yes, lol.

17:00 - d is gonna get upset over this. oy. hes 50-50 to leave this lil tea party in te middle of it.

18:00 - little j is like caryn. keeping the tags and returning lol. and now little j wants her mom to be gone. oh little j, you need a new name to reflect your new grownup attitude.

19:00 - gramma is bringing the pain to d right now. note the irony of carter being a gambling cheating bum.

20:00 - lol vm. cold war between d and g(ramma). good one! and her money's on brooklyn ftw! FTW!

27:00 - B is gonna lose her NYT story for going with N and not the P. maybe.

29:00 - lol g going to see r. and r's one liner. i just realized that this gramma is like a poor gramma Kelly Bishop. ooh, and now she's bribing him!!! lol r, shooting her down.

30:00 - omg, gramma made lily choose her inheritance over rufus all those years ago! great twist!!!!

31:00 - hilarious with rufus wanting dan to go to the ball now.

32:00 - i want to openly question now whether gramma is even dying of that lung thing or whether it is all fake.

33:00 - caryn is nutting that little j will be mad d could go but she couldnt.

34:00 - good ep so far, im expecting some climactic terrificness.

35:00 - chuck is gonna tell nate its carter. caryn nutted that.

36:00 - uh oh. d is goan tell s what gramma did. will s take it well? or accuse him of lying. i bet S gets mad at d.

37:00 - nut.

38:00 - major lol taht carter is gonn be with S at the ball and c and n are gonna get him there, making s look bad, which was exactly what gramma didnt want. OH THE IRONY! DOUBLE OR NOTHING ON THIS NUT!

43:00 - S has the right idea. who wouldnt want to bed a billionaire?!?!

44:00 - caryn uts jenny getting i even more trouble now.

45:00 - caryn thinks that b will think n is jealous of carter for being with serena b/c hes lookign at carter ad her. lol chuck.

46:00 - caryn: "nate would never make a scene, hes a gentlemen"

47:00 - lol at little j having to fix b's dress and miss her mom's thing.

48:00 - s is mad at her mom for manipulating and nont letting s be her, but its not moms fault! its grammas!!!! oh poor lily :(

49:00 - uh oh! carter and s have a history!!! and gramma called him!!!

50:00 - whoa, lily called to meet d. amazing confession! she's telling d to get s, and screw gramma. aww, lily is on hsi side now! how adorable! this ep is stealing my heart.

51:00 - lol at chuck's "my plan is falling into his place" look. ohnoes. b figured it out ><

52:00 - big g and s scene! s asks if g is ill. she's not! NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT. COME ON! BRING IT!!!

53:00 - way to come back d! i guess gramma is the ussr, and d is america!!!

54:00 - caryn predicted b and carter, not b and n. lol at the wink n gave c. good line vm!

56:00 - uh oh. r and lily!

57:00 - do you know what it is? right now? ill tell you. It's too late... TO POLOGIZE!!!!!! great song!!!!

58:00 - whoa, is gramma gonna kill herself!!!!?!?! her lies caught up to her! and b and n are finally gonna nut!

59:00 - chuck is running away!

Totally the best episode of the season. undoubtedly. very impressive. selina also tells me this was the cardozo sighting episode. gonna rewind and try to find it.

ANTM 12/5/07

It's almost over! thank the lord! Caryn made delicious latkes for dinner! yay chanukah.

2:00 - bianca's being mean about heather. lala. they havent tipped who gets eliminated yet.

3:00 - i take it back, Jena is going to be eliminated. caryn recognizes it too. hmm, now its chantal talking about her whole life leading up to this. They will be bottom 2. I predct Jenna is elimmed.

4:00 - i could do without miss j's chinese. or twiggy's recitation of chinese history. barf.

8:00 - L.O.L. at bianca lying to jenna about what was across the street. especially after bitzing about selesha not telling her where the Go-C was last week. hypocritical slutwhore says i. The best thing is that this obvious comparison has likely *not even occurred to her at all*

10:00 - what magazine are they going to be on the cover of? Seventeen?

11:00 - well they all did great jobs! i liked jenna's dress coming down the runway.

12:00 - jenna wins! caryn is ecstatic. she picks a friend. bet its not bianca!!!

13:00 - nut, it was chantal.

14:00 - jenna gets a 1on1 with miss j! ugh, mroe miss j chinese.

15:00 - caryn likes their special dresses. she should get one for herself!!!

16:00 - im pretty impressed that they knew you could see the Great Wall from outerspace.

17:00 uh oh, jenna is homesick. she's tearing on camera. she is so cooked. I'm going in with an official, not changing it no matter what, Jenna gets elimmed.

19:00 - cool photoshoot concept at least. ni-haooooooooooooooo. did tyra pronounce it right? somebody ask jchien.

21:00 - oh lord, jenna is going o agai about how she is depressed (and her name is apparently spelled 'jenah;)

22:00 - Tyra just "ni-haeo"'d teh actual chinese people, and they looked at her like she had 18 heads.

23:00 - chantal had a good shoot apparently. jenah is gona bomb now.

24:00 - nut. she is bombing. jay notes she was nervous with nigel and with tyra. will she be this nervous when she works?!?! she is so cooked. for the rest of the ep imma refer to her as "Goose".

32:00 - fell 8 minutes behind.

33:00 - caryn is pease that it looks like bianca is bombing to open.she finished good, bombed to start.

34:00 - ee, aa, soo - 1, 2, 3, - S.T.F.U. with the chinese tyra.

35:00 - selesha did really good.

36:00 - caryn echoes my thoughts on a Goose-bianca final 2. Selesha will win, chantal in 2nd. Goose elimmed. consider taht 4 nuts, ill count em off later.

37:00 - lol at the groupshot.

38:00 - more whiny Goose. they could not lay this on us any thicker. its like a vanilla shake, except too thick to suck through the straw.

42:00 - they think Goose's face is amazing in her pic. i hate it. they started by loving the pic. and now tyra is all "i didnt remember the shoot". and the other person was like "youre blending in" (my note: BECAUSE HER DRESS IS BROWN, AND EVERYONE ELSE IS IN BROWN). now Goose is telling her she's homesick. what is she thinking? the homesick people ALWAYS lose. so cooked. too bad i already ate dinner.

43:00 - mediocre review of bianca. she's getting hit pretty hard. caryn is hoping she gets elimmed. i say no chance.

44:00 - they like chantal's picture in the air. "she's like attacking and going across the wall" - nigel. yea, except that shes on top of it and jumping sideways with no weapons and i think it looks pretty silly.

45:00 - selesha's jumping picture owned chantal's, although i felt the face was mediocre, tho it impressed caryn. the judges adored it, winner for sure.

46:00 - caryn thought she saw Goose first. Twiggy icked Goose. Nigel picked chantal. Seventeen woman picked selesha. so did i. that was b/c she was in the middle. i saw her first, then Goose i think. caryn correctly notes that Goose had like a spotlight on her. i tihnk she benefied form being separated from the clump of 3 heads. Bianca didnt stand otu at all, tho Tyra threw her some compliments to end hte segment, which i believe was necessary since they're gonna elim Goose.

48:00 - panel beginning - nigel thinks Goose is problematic. Twiggy thinks Goose doesnt want it. and Tyra is talking abotu girls ot being able to handle it. so, so, so cooked. so, so, so manufactured. what a joke this show is. It's about as real as The Hills, except that's an insult to LC.

49:00 - refer to 36:00 for the nutlist.

50:00 - nuts 1 and 2 got mixed up. chantal somehow won. wtfx.

51:00 - nutted the bottom 2 at least, although it couldnt have been easier.

52:00 - caryn is officially in for a Goose elim, although she's hoping bianca gets the boot. I'd BET EVERYTHING YOU OWN ON THIS. LEVERAGE UP AND BET IT ALL.

54:00 - tyra is still babbling before making a decision, as if we all dont already know.

55:00 - i gotta call jchien. I need a bankruptcy lawyer.

56:00 - caryn, at 52:00, was whining at me for making it seem like she had just picked Goose, when in fact she had picked Goose since minnute 3 to get elimmed. THEN, after Goose was saved by Maverick, she is cheering "yes, yes, yes!" b/c she's been rooting for Goose, and THEN, she points to the 52:00 entry and wants credit for Goose surviving, even tho 2 minutes prior she wanted credit for nutting a Goose elim since minute 3!!! [while writing all that, she attacked me for explaining all this]
CB Note: All lies. I never *officially* said Jenah would go, in fact, a few times during the episode I mentioned how I thought it might be Bianca!

59:00 - loving these bianca tears.

60:00 - cant believe they saved the Goose. gotta be the first time all season they rope-a-doped us like that. maybe they realized how formulaic it was. well, i guess the whole plot was just set up to trick us. I still say The Hills is more real. only 2 more weeks! yay!

"Seventeen" counter (started at 10:00): 1, 2, 3, 4 (first 4 all came at 10:00), 5, 6.

Strike Watch 2007!

Alec Baldwin Plots to Rock the Strike Vote
071205alecbaldwin.jpg
Alec Baldwin by Mark Von Holden/WireImage.com
Opining that producers "have bigger egos than even the stars themselves, but without any sense of humor," Alec Baldwin — thoroughly disgruntled to see his revival-via-30 Rock compromised by the strike — has formulated a plot to strong-arm the AMPTP into compliance. "I want the WGA to set up a website [where] we can all post stories about every no-talent, idiotic, amoral producer and executive we have ever dealt with," Baldwin writes at TheHuffingtonPost.com. "Just like they [expose] us on shows like Extra and sites like TMZ... tell the entire world, via the Internet, your own anecdote about some of the witless boobs you have endured in Hollywood and beyond."

Were such a site to be created and scribes stepped forth with shocking-but-true tales of executive-level idiocy, Baldwin posits, "The strike will end in a week."

Now It's the Producers Pondering the Writers' Proposal As talks resumed Tuesday, the Writers Guild of America was expected to deliver its "counteroffer" to the New Economic Partnership that was proposed last week by the AMPTP, but swiftly dismissed by the scribes. Based on a statement issued late today by the AMPTP, that appears to be exactly what happened: "We will spend the evening studying what the WGA had to say today," says the group, "and we look forward to returning to the bargaining table tomorrow."

Sources tell Variety that Tuesday's talks were "encouraging and more productive" than previous sessions, with the writers detailing a tiered usage plan tied to Web streaming. Still, the $100 million question is whether the two sides can sort through a $100 million discrepancy over the AMPTP's original proposal. The producers claim writers would see a $130 million increase in compensation over three years, while the WGA argues it would closer to $32 million more.

TCA: The Show May Not Go On TV Guide was among the media outlets who received the following letter from a representative of the TCA (Television Critics Association). Twice annually (winter and summer), TCA organizes a conference (week-long in winter, two-weeks in summer) in which networks present upcoming television shows to media from throughout the country.

Because of the strike, there has been a lot of speculation on whether TCA will be held this January. NBC has already pulled out of TCA.

Hello TV Writers:

I wanted to pass along our latest news regarding the pending January TCA.

As you've likely heard, the status of January's TCA Tour is in considerable question due to the ongoing WGA strike, and many of you have contacted me to inquire about the status of cable network participation on the Tour.

Here's the latest: Based on feedback from both cable and broadcast networks, TCA has determined that the event cannot go on if the strike has not been settled by December 14. TCA has advised its members that should the strike continue as of next Friday, the January Tour will be cancelled.

CTAM, on behalf of cable, will support TCA's decision. We therefore ask your continued patience, and would advise against making any unrefundable travel plans until we have the definitive word at the end of next week.

Thanks very much — as always.

Sincerely,
Eric, for CTAM


Talks Day #5: "Questions & Haggling"

I've been able to glean a little from Tuesday's resumed WGA-AMPTP talks. Both sides sounded very matter-of-fact about today's negotiations focusing on the writers' counter-offer. (See my The Operative Word Tuesday Is "Haggle" from last night for background.) Now that the news blackout has been lifted, the AMPTP issued this public end-of-day statement: "We will spend the evening studying what the WGA had to say today, and we look forward to returning to the bargaining table tomorrow." Earlier in the day, WGA Negotiating Committee Chair John F. Bowman, on behalf of the Writers Guild of America, issued a message to members about the contract negotiations and presented a report-&-analysis.

Tonight, a WGA source says a "small group" talked about the WGA's counter-offer which Bowman had characterized as "a serious, reasonable, and affordable attempt to bridge the gap between us." Noted the WGA source, "Questions were exchanged. There was some haggling. This will continue tomorrow." Said another WGA insider, "Our negotiators have been played so often. But it's not bad. They're at least engaged." And a third party familiar with the talks emailed me, "The tone of 'haggle' is it. I'm encouraged today."


WGA Releases Analysis Of AMPTP Offer

The Writers Guild Of America just sent this email to members:

December 4, 2007
Fellow Guild Members:

Rumors, half-truths, and misinformation about what is actually happening at the bargaining table fly across the internet, are posted on blogs, passed across picket lines like a game of telephone, and appear in stories and advertisements in the trade papers.

So, to clarify exactly where we are, we have prepared a report and analysis, which you can read in its entirety [here].

In the meantime, here’s a brief summary:

The latest WGA proposal would cost the companies $151 million over three years. It is reasonable, serious, and easily affordable. For instance, it would cost Sony only $1.68 million per year. Paramount and CBS would each pay only $4.66 million per year. MGM would pay only $320,000 per year.

The AMPTP claims its proposal would give us $130 million over three years. Our analysis – and again, please visit the website to see for yourself – tells us their offer is worth only $32 million. But if you factor in the companies’ regressive proposal on “promotional use” (streaming TV shows and feature films in their entirety for free) writers could potentially lose $100 million in income over the course of this contract.

So while we don’t see how their proposal adds up to anywhere near $130 million, we greet their public willingness to make such an offer with real interest. If the AMPTP is serious about this figure, the WGA is confident we are closer to a deal than anyone has suggested, and we are hopeful that the companies will respond positively to our proposal, which is a serious, reasonable, and affordable attempt to bridge the gap between us.

Sincerely,

John F. Bowman
Chair, WGA Negotiating Committee



Carlton Cuse Not 'Lost' In Strike Confusion

cuse.jpgFor weeks since the strike started, tipsters have kept telling me that Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse, one of the WGA negotiators, had gone back to work and is a major chink in the resolve of the all-important TV showrunners. I kept trying and trying to find out if this was true, and even the WGA was incredibly cryptic about his whereabouts. In fact it's nearly impossible to ascertain which TV showrunners are performing their producing duties, and which aren't. Now Carlton Cuse himself distributed this email today to clear up the confusion about where he stands vis a vis his show and the strike:

To my fellow WGA Members,

I want to clear up any misunderstanding about where I stand.

On November 16, I, regretably, was quoted by a Wall Street Journal reporter saying I was going to perform some of my non-writing, post-production duties on episodes of LOST to protect the show for the fans. However, I'm sure to the delight of the AMPTP, my statement became the story and gave the false impression that there was disunity among showrunners over the issues of this negotiation.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Every showrunner I know, whether producing or not producing, stands in full support of the goals of our guild.

For the past two months I have been working seven days a week on these negotiations alongside my fellow negotiating committee members.

As a committee we did everything we could to get both parties back to the bargaining table this last week. We were fully prepared to enter into the kinds of back-and-forth discussions that are necessary to reach any sort of labor deal. I sincerely hoped this return to the table would lead to real progress.

I was wrong.

In fact, given the events of last Thursday -- and where things currently stand -- I can no longer in good conscience continue to work on my show in any capacity.

What I will be doing is continuing my work as a member of the committee for as long as it takes, contributing in any way I can, to get us the fair and just deal that we must have.

It's going to be an arduous fight.

But make no mistake -- we are united, we are resolute...

And we are indeed ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.

Yours,
Carlton Cuse

Monday, December 3, 2007

12/3/07 Heroes Finale!!

what a fantastical final nite of 2007! we played Clue, and mike was lucky to win. it was pretty exciting. then taboo was pretty good as well. as were various collegiate stories of glory.

1:00 - maya makes amazing chilequiles. they aint as good as Caryn's chili. it was a huge hit tonite!

2:00 - was is maya even in the finale? sylar has the virus! something we knew 2 months ago! maya realizes sylar is a bad guy. maaya u are so dumb. f i got creampuff all over me.

3:00 - ohno molly is gonna get the eyetears!!! its a good thing maya learned to control her abils. that was almost exciting, except that we were all rooting for everyone to die just to get rid of maya.

4:00 - is mama p gonna tell all? should be interesting. they believed adam at first and helped him! do what? what an odd way to decide to wipe the world clean, with all this virus stuff. to primatech paper we go! where is that again?

5:00 - cool mama p telling parkman to kill peter if he has to. caryn predicts that peter will not die. bold.

6:00 - ooh, the peter-hiro scene early. thats a nice change.

7:00 - ooh, nice electrocution peter. good scene. cool adam seeing hiro.

8:00 - consensus is beginning was good, minus first 2 maya minutes.

10:00 - claire is going public! the truth will set you free!!!

11:00 - rachel predicts that elle will turn on bob. id consider this a good prediction, except that we made it 2 weeks ago.... oh rachel...

12:00 - whyd they give hrg that rubber ball?

13:00 - ugh, niki-micah scene. why do they try to ruin my life? why! not only does this storyline suck, but the dialogue does too.

14:00 - rachel predicts niki dies. mike says niki micah and monica die too.

15:00 - the above predicitos are awful. theyre not killing ali larter. shes supposed to be the hot girl on the show. shes not dying. supernut.

16:00 - why doesnt eter just muck to the future now and get the girl? and mike wants to know why peter doesnt just mindwalk threw the door.

17:00 - some of the audience didnt know peter was using sylar's telekinesis power ot undo the locks. newblets.

18:00 - maya is mad at sylar. taht romance lasted what.... 23 minutes? lol.

19:00 - rachel thinks mohinder should give sylar the ability nullifying virus. i think eh shoudl just kill him, seeing as how he has no abils. stab him wif the needle!

20:00 - elle's boc is empty!!! security alert!!!

21:00 - oh no, elle is going to get sylar, to make daddy proud. mike immediately thinks she'll be dead. god i hope not. i will be soooooooo sad.

22:00 - monica captured by thugs. HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO ANY STORY!!!! get it off my teevee!!!

23:00 - micah is tracking monica via cell phone. how very.... ummm... veronicac mars of him!!!

24:00 - west came to stop claire! he will betray her! her first love! omg! could i care less! i could not! back to hiro parkman peter adam and nathan plz. i feel like ive become so negative about this show. its like im blogging prisonbreak or antm sometimes ><<<<<<

25:00 - mike thinks claire is a great actress, he cant tell if he is sad or angry. claire doesnt want mr muggles ot leave her. lawrence thinks muggles will.

26:00 - hrg is home! howd that happen?!?! probably elle.

27:00 - everyone nutted molly finding dead alejandro. oh maja!!! molly apparently had parkmen special effects now when she tries to use her powers.

28:00 - "alejandroooooooooooooooooo" - mike

29:00 - jesus christ. sylar just killed maya. and he didnt even get her power. she is dead.

30:00 - rachel is going on about how we suffered thru all that for nothing. all the maya nd alejandro and they had ZERO IMPACT on the story. we know that they made the show the season finale instead of just the first half, but was maya and alejandro always gona die like that. and if not, were they really so useless for the 2nd half that they could just kill her anyway? and if they could, why did they make such USELESS CHARACTERS!!!!

31:00 - uh oh, mohinder may save maya with claires blood.

32:00 - i wonder what deal hrg made.

33:00 - lawrence think nathan will convince peter that adam is bad.

34:00 - awesome parkman-peter conversation. we are all puzzled by how much peter believes in adam.

35:00 - lawrence nut incoming!!!

36:00 - adam's god complex is kind of cool fyi.

37:00 - interesting. hiro ports adam away and the virus is tumbling ot the ground while peter runs in, and commercial.

38:00 - prediction: mike - everyone dies. me - the virus will hit gorund and break, but peter will stop it some other way. nobody else had the stones to make any predictions. wussies.

39:00 - my bold the virus will break on ground did not come true. bust.

40:00 - rachel: "accio virus!". me: great one rach!!!

41:00 - wuts all the stuff in that room?

42:00 - peter nuked the firus in the parlm of his hand.

43:00 - rachel wantsto know where adam and hiro are. hold your horses! oh no, they want to take it public too!!! and they are seen on camera!

44:00 - oh shit, maya is healed. so, the happiness over her death is gone. tho at least the still have a plan for her.

45:00 - i hipe elle didnt get mucked so ez. YEA GO ELLE!!! take him down! dont dieeeee. plz live kristen. lol theres no more blood left for niki apparently.

46:00 - rachel wants nut credit on niki beign dead. i still say shes not dying.

47:00 - worst game of chicken ever.

48:00 - its like DL in the fire, only niki. and i still dont care!

49:00 - theyre so makig it look like nikki is gonna die, and especially with taht explosion. uh oh. it really looks like she did die. im still saying she lived. im taking rach's nut back when nikkie lives, with nut interest.

50:00 - mike: was taht a dynamite factory they set on fire to cause those explosions.

51:00 - hiro says adam can never hurt again. omg he buried him alive!!! and he wont die! AMAZING! hirooooo. good call by the creators too, bc it leaves the option for him to return. mike just echoed this thought.

52:00 - elle lived yay!

53:00 - nathan is going public! what a speech! speeeeeeeeeeeeeeech.

53:30 - hes not gonna finish this speech. osmething will happen. thats why they showed us the video in the locked room.

54:00 - everyone wants to know if nath was petrified.

55:00 - well i didnt think hed get shot! he might really be dead! mama petrelli what an awful person!!!who was she talking to! whats her ability! is their dad still alive! and thats the end? wtf really? thats it?

56:00 - Volume 3 Villains preview. sylar is on heroin or something.

57:00 - accio spinach! and thats it. sigh at that ending. really anticlimactic i think. would have wanted to see more imo. very diisappoiunting on the whole. the crowd agrees.

Strike Watch 2007!

WGA Ponders Offer from Producers; Talks Resume Tuesday
The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Thursday presented a "New Economic Partnership" to the WGA, which according to a statement from the AMPTP "includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels." Dollars- and cents-wise, the AMPTP says, "The entire value of the [deal] will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year."

The WGA has asked for time to study the proposals, and talks are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, December 4.

Says the AMPTP, "We continue to believe that there is common ground to be found between the two sides, and that our proposal for a New Economic Partnership offers the best chance to find it."

WGA Calls "New" Deal a "Bad Deal," Rejects Offer Well, that didn't take long. The WGA has swiftly dismissed the "New Economic Partnership" put forth by the AMPTP on Thursday, saying in a statement that "for the first three days of this week, the companies presented in essence their November 4 [pre-strike] package with not an iota of movement on any of the issues that matter to writers. Thursday morning, the first new proposal was finally presented to us. It dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback."

The WGA reports that with regards to Internet streaming, they were offered "a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun)." For made-for-Internet material, the AMPTP "continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction," "they made absolutely no move on the download formula" and "continue to assert that they can deem any reuse 'promotional' and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode, and even if they make money)."

Talks are scheduled to resume on Tuesday. Says the WGA, "We must fight on, returning to the lines... in force to make it clear that we will not back down, that we will not accept a bad deal, and that we are all in this together."


Thursday, November 29, 2007

Strike Watch 2007!

Once Strike Ends, the TV Season Could Take Weeks to Restart
Even if the WGA strike manages a "speedy" resolution — which is no guarantee, seeing as how little progress has been reported — it could still take many shows several weeks to get back on track. As detailed by the Los Angeles Times, sealing any actual deal will take a week or more of paperwork, at which point the traditional two-week holiday hiatus will hold up the biz. Though some scribes may blow off the break to get back to their keyboards, figure on three to five weeks for shows to restart production, as they wait for enough scripts to be in the hopper before firing up the machinery. "Resuming production isn't something that can happen overnight," warns CSI: NY exec producer Pam Veasey. "It doesn't take just one week to prepare 200 crew members to film a single episode."

Sitcoms that tape before a studio audience (such as Back to You) would be the first off the block, perhaps inside of a week and a half, while something like Pushing Daisies will require five weeks to bloom again.


Strike Leads DNC to Strike Presidential Debate Labor troubles have put a fork in plans to have CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric moderate a Dec. 10 presidential candidates' debate. The Democratic National Committee has decided to cancel its Los Angeles face-off rather than have a potential run-in with the Writers Guild of America. Writers and other CBS News employees represented by the union could walk off the job on the 10th and several major candidates, including front-runners Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have said they would not cross picket lines to participate. "Due to the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, the DNC has canceled the Dec. 10 debate in Los Angeles. There are no plans to reschedule," says DNC Communications director Karen Finney.


EXCLUSIVE: Conan O'Brien To Pay Staff

jayconan4.jpgI just learned that Conan O'Brien has made arrangements to pay his staff who will be laid off by NBC as of Friday. About 80 production people -- like talent bookers, producers, production assistants -- will be taken care of by the Late Night host who is supposed to move to The Tonight Show in 2009. Sources tell me this is on a week-to-week basis for the moment until or if Conan, who's a WGA member and got his start as a comedy writer, goes back to work. Obviously, NBC is dying for him to return to the air because its late night ratings for the repeats have tanked. None of the late night shows have been in production during the entire November sweeps and the networks have to give sponsors free spots or “give backs” at a cost of millions.

I'll say this: it's a great PR move by O'Brien as well as an incredibly nice thing to do. After all, he's the least paid of the Big Three (including Letterman and Leno), and unlike Dave's Worldwide Pants, which is generouslydoesn'tLate Night. NBC does. paying its employees through at least the end of the year, Conan's company Conaco own

And while I'm on the topic of NBC's late night hosts, I'm told that Carson Daly was probably going to lose his show if he didn't return to work. Oh, like that would have been a great loss to humanity, much less television. It's incredible the lousy publicity which Daly's decision to cross the picket line is creating. After the news broke that Carson was soliciting scab jokes, several websites have sprung up soliciting jokes about Daly, the nastier the better.

Meanwhile, where do things stand with Jay Leno who had been a ubiquitous figure handing out food to the WGA picketers? There are no plans at the present for him to pay his show's production people who will be laid off by NBC as of Friday. As for returning to work, "I don't see him running to cross the line. I get that," an insider at the network tells me. That's because Leno is still really furious at Jeff Zucker for handing over The Tonight Show to Conan and isn't exactly in the mood to do any favors for NBC Universal.


EXCLUSIVE: Talks Day #3 'Stalemated'

There's little more to say about Wednesday's talks other than that, unfortunately. "This is not heading in the right direction," a mogul quoted his labor exec as saying to him yesterday. Another source told me, "It's stalemated. Nothing's getting achieved."

I'm not sure people are aware that CAA partner Bryan Lourd all week has been at the hotel where the talks are being held. He's working both sides in a form of "footstep diplomacy" (as opposed to Henry Kissinger's old "shuttle diplomacy"). An insider told me, "He keeps asking what everybody needs. This is what Lew Wasserman used to do during these things. Wasserman would say, 'I want to know what you each need. I don't want to know what you want. Go in the other room and tell me what you need.' "

As I've reported previously, Lourd was designated as the Hollywood agencies' point person to assist these resumed negotiations, which I should stress do not have a stop date on them at the moment and will probably continue well past Thursday. Said an insider: "There's no arbitrary end to this. Everyone only leaves if Bryan gives up and goes home."


Wednesday, November 28, 2007

11/28/07 Pushing Daisies

My favorite show of the week, finally.

This guy is the Harry Potter audio book narrator i believe. im sure its amazing. caryn swears i wrote this already. i dont care. ill write it again. This guy is the Harry Potter audio book narrator i believe. and he owns!

1:00 - aww young ned and his friend. adorable! ohnoes! his friend left him :( stupid magic leaves.

2:00 - i want a Calendar of Obscure Holidays for hanukkah. get me one!
CB Note: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htm

3:00 - happy drug guy is back! is he up to no good? i cant remember. shoudl go check the blog for that episode. what if i made a nut?

4:00 - did you hear that guy say "amaaaaazing"? i hope selina watched this ep. i wonder if mike noticed this.

5:00 - lol at this girl and her italian accent. it's almost as good as Marisa Tomei's bronx accent in My Cousin Vinny.

8:00 - i think this guy is a good guy. he loves olive. but olive is hung up on ned!

9:00 - the truth aint like puppies! tell it to Bush and the Republicans.

11:00 - its molly shannon btw. "Lord of the Pies" lol.

12:00 - i love the whole "pie hole, as in shut your" thing.

13:00 - i shoudl fake stutter some time for fun.

14:00 - know what i havent had the opportunity to do in a bit? give up? an HIMYM Major salute.

15:00 - caryn bought healthy peanut butter that wasnt actually peanut butter yesterday at Associated. i cost 8 dollars. she just tried some in the kitchen and yelled out "omg this is disgusting" then she rolleed over and put it in my face. and i said i didnt want it. then she made me taste it. and hte first thing i noticed was that it even *smelled* disgusting. so i had a little taste, and it was awful. and she sad "what does it taste like?" and i answered "cardboard". *boot
CB Note: So much for my attempt at being healthy! I should make my own peanut butter in my food processor!

23:00 - "pie ho e" hehe

24:00 - Banya! health inspector! ohnoes! i bet hes in cahoots with the candy ppl!!!

25:00 - whats in that door? ohhh, the rotten food that ned revives! OHNOES! closed!!!

28:00 - prediction - they will use Ned's power to scare her!

29:00 - will ned stand up to her like little ned did with his book?!

33:00 - i like their black outfits. sexah!

34:00 - raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaats. omg it went into the candy vat. and a human head bubbled up?! lol "dont mess with the pie holes"

35:00 - nutted ned reviving that person in the candy. and the cops and molly rolled right in after...
CB Note: Wow, you nutted Ned reviving a dead person. Good job.

38:00 - early prediction: molly killed her bro to frame ned.

41:00 - uh oh, emerson let slip that they are "even". lol nancy shrew.

42:00 - lol being locked in a prison being worse than a metaphor for truth.

43:00 - ohnoes! the italian guy! lol they met carpooling.

44:00 - caryn notes that molly/dilly is wearing mittens. good catch babe!!!

45:00 - caryn likes chuck's outfit.

46:00 - lol candyy fingerprints.

47:00 - nutted molly/dilly doing something ot olive!

48:00- trick! molly has 10 fingers... stutter?

53:00 - Banya! shoulda kniwn. It's always Banya! Jerry would have known.

57:00 - caryn claims ot have nutted olive's bf coming thru the door, and then nutting it as a dream. she asks if i believe her. no. i dont. gotta write it down!!!
CB Note: I was just about to say "This is a dream" and then the dream ended! i am a very honest person!!

59:00 - molly killed the inspector!!

60:00 - he's gonna tell her!! ohnoes! there he did it! nut.

11/28/07 ANTM

I'm getting a later start but so far we know this: the episode started with some "heather had to have her lines read b/c of her disease" stuff, and now she keeps getting lost on her way to her Go-C's. this certainly is a set up for a heather dismissal, but perhaps she'll escape like 2 weeks ago.

on another note, did we miss last week's episode? who got eliminated? caryn says she didnt miss it and lisa got eliminated. but i think i saw lisa get eliminated, and i didnt watch last week. caryn tells me there was more heather and disease stuff. see, on the one hand they would eliminate her with all this talk, but on the other, they love this "plotline". this show is such a crock. its a crock-pot. without the good food. caryn agrees with my above sense that the standard cues are pointing towards a heather elim this week. who got eliminated 2 weeks ago if lisa got eliminated last week? caryn says ambreal. i think i saw this episode, but i totally dont remember. what was the task? oh, the desert shoot. ok, back to the show!

17:00 - dinner is rdy. caryn cooked again. next monday she'll be making her Super-Speial-Secret-Chili-Of-Ownage, or as i like to call it, SSSCOO.

18:00 - selesha got booked!!!

19:00 - jenna had a terrible walk. she looked like a model. huh? is this America's Next Top Something Else? am i watching the wrong channel?

20:00 - every time they say Go-C i wanna slap them. it sounds like a baby-word.

22:00 - heather rolled home 40 minutes late. on top of repeatedly getting lost. she is so toast.

23:00 - apparently there are only 5 girls left. thank god. that means theres only 3 more episodes after this!!!

24:00 - cool reward to the challenge at least.

25:00 - caryn fast forwarded thru the Jaslene commercial. shame. i love making fun of those.

29:00 - nigel is gonna shoot them! if we're lucky, they'll let me "shoot" him after...

33:00 - uh oh! jenna did not deliver today!!! if heather "owns" her shoot she may stay!

35:00 - well its up in the air. apparently, heather had greatness, but as ningel was shooting it, she would pull away from it. thanks jay, english plz now? what the f does that mean?!?

36:00 - its wide open, heather may be saved by a) jenna's poor performance, and b) jenna's "peanut gallery" moment. consensus bottom 2.

42:00 - i dont like chantals picture at all. silly judges.

43:00 - i dont like bianca's either.

44:00 - Jenna's up! they liekd her picture. "however", her sense of humor (sarcasm) comes off as arrogant, according to nigel.

45:00 - selesha's pic was my fav by far. now *that* is a good picture. awesome pose. she'll be challenge winner.

46:00 - caryn hopes heather goes home. "oohs" and "aahs" at heather being so late, and only making it to 1 Go-C. heather's walk is awful. they all like her picture mostly.

53:00 - official predictions pre panel prediction: the modus operandi says that heather is gone. However, i think they'll want to keep milking that "whatever its called disease" storyline. im predicting that jenna's goose is broiled. Caryn: Jenna eliminated, hoping its heather.

56:00 - official post panel prediction: jenna gone. Caryn: "i dont wanna!"

57:00 - temporary point - on all this personality complaints about jenna and her screwing it up with clients... what about heather's disease, lateness, eye contact, social awkwardness etc. i mean seriously, if this is really something that matters than stop being so ridiculous.

58:00 - nutted selesha's win. caryn is officially lobbing in a "heather gets eliminated prediction"

59:00 - nutted the final 2.0. caryn: ya know, carrie dee made an offensive joke to Nigel in her season and won. she said he had a stick up his butt!

60:00 - There's a nut hanging from a tree. who will grab it???

Caryn will. Her victory speech: "Never go against the editing." She's right, gotta stick with the "they tell you who gets elimmed in the first 5 min theory.

Strike Watch 2007!

CBS Writers Considering Dec 10th Strike To Disrupt Network's Presidential Debate

The WGA is saying that CBS news writers are ''strongly considering" a December 10th strike date. The timing appears to be an attempt by union leadership to disrupt CBS plans for a presidential debate the same day. That's because several Democratic White House candidates like Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton have all said they won't cross a picket line to participate in a debate. So far no exact date is set for a strike, which was authorized by the rank and file earlier this month. The writers working for both the CBS network newscasts and local news stations have been working without a contract for 2 1/2 years.

EXCLUSIVE: Talks Day #2 Still Friendly But Unproductive; "Game Of Chicken"

Tuesday was the day that the writers and the producers were supposed to start considering "new business" during their resumed contract negotiations. But, instead, they just kept focused on old business. Day #2 was supposed to be "when they really start advancing the ball forward" and "where the rubber can really meet the road," according to its advance billing. Instead, it was the same old same old.


Again, negotiators for the AMPTP presented that "very comprehensive proposal which laid out to all the entire roadmap to the deal" and, again, addressed every single issue. And, again, negotiators for the WGA listened and, again, kept getting up to caucus.


But where was the new stuff?


The reps for the studios and networks keep telling me about at least two improvements in their comprehensive proposal presented Monday compared to what was on the table back on Sunday November 4th when the talks broke off and the strike began. "But they also feel that the writers weren't paying attention and didn't absorb the proposal back then. So, basically, they presented back what they proposed on November 4th," an insider in that camp explains to me.


It took a couple of hours, I'm told, for the AMPTP to do this. "They went over the proposal point by point as though they were delivering a new proposal," a different source explained to me. "But it was the exact same proposal, though they restated their positions in a friendlier manner."


Yet I've been repeatedly told by people in a position to know that the networks and studios dostill hope that will be done sooner rather than later. But it's truly baffling to me exactly why the AMPTP is slowing down the process when, if anything, it should be speeded up especially with Christmas looming. On the other hand, this is a favorite negotiating tactic of AMPTP president Nick Counter: to repeatedly offer little new until the guilds are forced to negotiate against themselves by continually reducing their demands. (Which is one reason why the writers now are toying with a provocative new tactic of raising have new stuff to present, and the writers their demands at every bargaining session.)


My question is: have the Hollywood moguls authorized Counter to delay? (Which, if so, will give fuel to the fire that the studios and networks just agreed to these talks purely for their PR value and are instead adhering to their individual timetables to declare force majeure. If the moguls think they're badly losing the PR war now, which they are, just wait until that happens.) Or has Counter talked them into this strategy because he thinks it'll work now just as it has in the past?


But that was then, and this is now. I'm hearing phrases like "jaw-dropping", "mind-boggling" and "you can gape at the chutzpah" to describe Tuesday's session. But I also hear the writers are determined not to feel frustrated or angry. "You've got to admire the kabuki of it," a source told me. "You can look at this as some really sophisticated and interesting negotiating tactic, or as stonewalling. But it's also paralysis. It's one thing to go back but another to not move at all."


Still, an insider is convinced that what happened at Tuesday's session "is like two cars just sitting there getting ready for a game of chicken. Neither one wants to go first. Both sides will get past this. I don't know when, but they will."


I understand the writers will spend this AM caucusing to figure out their next move.


News from Tuesday:

More From Letterman's Late Show Writers

I find lateshowwritersonstrike.com consistently the funniest strike blog out there. Some recent gems you may have missed:


BILL SCHEFT'S STRIKE RELATED DAVE-TYPE MONOLOGUE JOKE OF THE DAY: The hookers in Times Square, God Bless 'em, are now offering their "Writers Strike Special." It's $29.95, but if you let them make a DVD, they'll give you back four cents.


THE AMPTP'S CONTRACT PROPOSAL ...BY JOE GROSSMAN... Today, the WGA and AMPTP resumed negotiations, and inside sources say the producers finally offered the writers a contract that would pay us using a simple, straightforward formula. Here's how it works.
-- The pay-per-letter contract: $0.00 for every use of the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.
-- .0125¢ for every Q and anything with an umlaut.


Negotiation Ground Rules ...BY STEVE YOUNG ... The WGA and the AMPTP have agreed that Monday's negotiations will be governed by the following rules:
-- Each side may bring one giant inflatable animal.
-- No hot-dogging or show-boating.
-- During the 15 minute break, there will be a musical performance by the National Labor Relations Board's "Rappin' Mediator."
-- The AMPTP must withdraw excessively unfavorable proposals if the WGA team chants "Hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go."
-- Each negotiating team member must bring a covered dish.
-- To determine the final internet residuals formula, the WGA will pick one of 26 silver briefcases held by models.
-- The session will begin with an attempt to resolve a minor negotiating issue: the WGA wants to be able to sit at the table, while the AMPTP is demanding 100% of the chairs for themselves.


WGA Scolds Carson Daly For Returning 'To Support Staff' And Seeking Scab Jokes

I should start this post by noting that everyone I know, young and old, doesn't get lunkhead NBC's Last Call host Carson Daly's appeal. Indeed, I've seen chimps with better TV charisma and good looks and interviewing skills. And yet NBC at the time was so delighted about hiring him just because he dated starlets and pop stars and smarmed MTV. So the network is more enthusiastic than ever now that Daly today announced that he is the first of the late night hosts returning to the air despite the ongoing writers walkout. He plans to resume taping Wednesday for new episodes that will begin airing next week. "He wanted to go back to support his staffers," the network spokeswoman said. NBC has informed the non-writing staff of Daly's show, as well as Jay Leno's and Conan O'Brien's, that they face layoffs at the end of this week unless the shows return to the airwaves. (Meanwhile, NBC is so desperate to get Leno back behind The Tonight Show desk that it's humiliating him with "vintage" episodes which should be destroyed, not aired.)


Tonight, the striking Writers Guild of America issued this statement of criticism: “We’re disappointed at Carson Daly’s decision to return to work. Mr. Daly is not a writer and not a member of the WGA, unlike other late-night hosts Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel, who have all resisted network pressure and honored our writers’ picket lines. We hope he’ll change his mind and follow the lead of the other late-night hosts.”


The late night shows have not been in production during the entire November sweeps. Since the repeats don’t generate the same ratings as original shows, the networks have to give sponsors free spots or “give backs” at a cost of millions. Ergo all the pressure from CBS and NBC and ABC on its late night hosts. So the fact that Dave, Jay, Conan, Craig and Jimmy -- all members of the WGA, which Carson is not -- have stayed out much longer than anyone thought would happen (especially in light of 1988) is a major concern to the networks and a major boon to the WGA.


But back to Daly. Today he's also accused of setting up a "joke hotline" as a strike breaking effort -- prompting the WGA to scold "We’re especially appalled at Mr. Daly’s call for non-Guild writers to provide him with jokes." The Smoking Gun published an email purportedly from Daly detailing how he asked a small group of contacts to call in "suggested jokes" to a telephone hotline, noting that he would "play some, most, or all of your jokes on the air." The bit, Daly stressed, was not meant to "make fun" of his striking writers. He added that his goal was to just "play a fun collage of random people trying to 'help me out.'" The bit's set-up, Daly wrote in his Sunday night e-mail was that "the devastating writers strike" led to "A TON of my friends and family...calling me, leaving messages, offering their help with jokes because they know that I don't have any writers working and hosting a late night show without them will be nearly impossible for me." It's all online, barf bag not included.




WGAE "Solidarity" Rally Reveals Celebfest

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wgaemarg.jpgToday's Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and Labor Community Solidarity Rally held in NYC's Washington Square Park was a major celebfest. Almost 1,000 members of the labor community were on hand, including striking writers from the WGAE and WGAW; and representatives from 15 unions including SAG (whose NY president, Sam Freed, is pictured at the podium above), AFTRA, DGA, SEIU, UNITE-HERE, AFT, the national and local AFL-CIOs and the New York City Central Labor Council. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards spoke to the crowd reaffirming his commitment not to cross WGA picket lines at ABC's The View and also the upcoming CBS-sponsored Democratic debate. (Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sent statements.) Actors, writers, and politicians gathered and The Huffington Post's Patrick Waldo capture them on video, including 30 Rock's Tina Fey and Jackwgaetim.jpg McBrayer, SNL's Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers, Sex and the City's Kristin Davis and Evan Handler, The Office's Rashida Jones, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, Gilbert Gottfried, Lost's Michael Emerson, David Chase, Tony Goldwyn, Edie Falco, Joe Pantoliano, B.J. Novak, Michael Nouri, Julianna Margulies, Anthony Edwards, Eric Begosian, Nancy Giles, John Slattery, Richard Belzer, David Proval, Colin Quinn, and Aasif Mandvi, Tom Fontana, Raven Metzner, Michael Rauch, Jack McBrayer, Frank Gilroy, Peter Hedges, and most of the staffs of The Late Show, SNL, Colbert, etc.

Tomorrow, the WGAE again pickets Time Warner Center from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Monday, November 26, 2007

11/26 Heroes

Mike and Selina are not here. something about finals. lamerz.

TIVO still fucking a ton. oy.

1:00 - caryn's prediction of vm utrning good is looking in good shape.

2:00 - HRG is shirtless. caryn rach and lawrence cheer.

3:00 - explain yourself mohinder!!!!!

4:00 - mohinder ur so naive. HRG confirms the company inventing the virus, like Adam said.

5:00 - i think its still open as to whether Adam or Bob and the Company are the real bad guys. Perhaps Adam wants hte virus to go off and the company wants to hide it was their fault and stop it. I bet the reason Hiro is show with his sword raised against Peter is b/c peter is with Adam.

6:00 - Micah!!! sweet! i missed his storyline!!! its nikki! fyi: has any hero gotten a worse storyline than her? its like, they realized her storyline sucked last year, and then set out to make it worse? only Sylar is more wasted beig stuck in mexico with the twin flops.

7:00 - why dont they juts get McAfee or Norton's???

7:30 - its tough to eat and blog at the same time. fekking chinese came late.

8:00 - "the virus kills her?" - rachel. no rach, it doesnt kill people. its harmless. 93% of the world's population died from something else!

9:00 - wtf is sylar and maya? wtf did the wine come from? wtf are they still alive?

10:00 - so it was that easy to control huh? she just had to try real hard? gee, that sure makes them even MORE compelling characters!!!

11:00 - hunting the trail of Kensei! looks like itll be cools.

12:00 - how did Adam know where she was? why was Mama Petrelli so keen to protect her from Parkman?

13:00 - Sweeney Todd!!!

20:00 - what's victoria pratt's power? lawrence says he has it nutted, but he wont tell us.

23:00 - ok, so Adam tried to release the virus once in the past. and rachel correctly points out that he will try to do it in the future.

24:00 - oooh, who helped Adam?!?!

25:00 - "the last time i saw my mother was a year from now" - gj writers!

26:00 - will peter realize that there was a reason victoria wanted to kill adam?

28:00 - rachel notes that it is not a good ide ato tell killers you know they are killers. i agree. now they will have to kill you!!!

29:00 - unfortunately, b/c the writers suck, we will not be fortunate enough to have him kill the twins right now.

30:00 - maya is such a fool. and this maya-sylar love thing is just ridiculous. and HOW ON EARTH are maya and sylar going to play a significant role in the outcome of the story? there are 1.5 episodes left. and they are still dillydayllinng there meaninglessly!

31:00 - i am concerned that the plan was to have the sylar-twins plot come to fruition or play a critical role in the *second* half of the season. this would mean a) they arent the new heroes that die, and b) we'll have gone thru all this awfulness for nothing. Remember, if he just kills the twins, it will have mean we spent countless scenes on the stupid twins only to have them killed by sylar without playing any useful role. if that happens, they could have been introduced like super-hearing lady, and just been in 1 ep.

32:00 - who is legend? I AM.

33:00 - i asked everyone what they thought of this ep. rachel: "eh.". lawrence: "too much twins." caryn: "there hasnt been 1 good twin episode" me: "they suck the life out of the show, like a doctor's 16th century leech"

34:00 - we still don't know victoria's power. ooh, she called peter's parents killers!

35:00 - lol violent micah.

36:00 - nutted that knock at hte door being alejandro. lawrence notes that all of a sudden he speaks english. fortunately for us, it was his first, and last, time.

37:00 - shirtless sylar. lawrence: "oh jesus."

39:00 - did not take long for that totally unconvincing ad super fast sylar and maya romance to come to fruition. WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO OUR SHOW!!! I've been supporting the writers in the strike up til now, but I am being pushed to the brink here people!!!!

41:00 - rachel is cutting this cheesecake like mike mellin. what a disaster.

43:00 - so this is the 2nd to last ep of the year. and it has 17minutes left to stop sucking nuts.

44:00 - caryn just nutted claire's monologue: "but this really hurts". The Haitian Chimes!!!

45:00 - more micah. why. WHY!

46:00 - lawrence notes the micah music playing in the background. caryn echoes my thoughts that monica really doesnt need to bring micah along.

47:00 - where is that Strain 138 again? Texas?

48:00 - we all wonder why monica doesnt go bruce lee or chuck norris on those punks? she's caught!

50:00 - lawrence: "how on earth are they gonna conclude this?" i agree. they have one ep. there's the virus, which is central, but then there is claire/hrg, ylar/maya, and now monica/nikki. what a disaster. some of this was meant as set up for next semester.

51:00 - lawrence wants to see the new National Treasure movie, but rachel thinks it looks pretty dumb.

53:00 - American Gladiators!!! It's. gonna. be. awesome.

56:00 - emotional claire and west scene. it. is. awful.

57:00 - Elle has arrived. this scene just got a lot better. Nut inc: elle is gonna tell her hrg is alive.

58:00 - well, no nut. i enjoyed the elle-claire showdown (it would be soooooo hot. you all know it).

59:00 - how did sylar get to molly? well, at least he's finally arrived into the storyline.

60:00 - caryn notes that weve been missing ando-hiro interactions.

61:00 - hiro and peter!!! and hte episode ends. f. this.

Finale next week, we'll have to hope its good. LAwrence is being pretty virulent about attendance next week, mike and selina...

Strike Watch 2007!

Dare We Hope A Deal Has Been Struck...?

As the WGA strike begins its 4th week, I've been told positive news about today's resumption of contract talks between the writers and the producers. So positive, in fact, that I'm almost fearful to post it. But here goes: a very reliable source tells me that there appears to be a deal seemingly in place between both sides.

"It's already done, basically," the insider describes. That's because of the weeks worth of groundwork by the Hollywood agents working the writers guild leadership on one side, and the studio and network moguls on the other. I was told not to expect an agreement this week. But my source thought it was possible that the strike could be settled before Christmas.

Look, I don't want to raise false hope here. But this source has been very accurate in the past. The negotiations starting today will have a news blackout, so don't expect any significant leaks. But consider the real possibility there's been a breakthrough. Still, I must caution that this is Hollywood -- where defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory nearly every time.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

11/21/07 Maternity Ward

should i watch this show? the verdit says no.

jaime's friends are over pregaming. i remember when they were 15-16 and innocent. now they are 22 and all hussied up to go out!

11/21/07 Pushing Daisies

2:00 - caryn wants to start makingmini pie-cakes. they looked so cute!

4:00 - who doesnt love scratch and sniffing!!

12:00 - ohnoes! chuck smells like death!!!!!

13:00 - who did it?! it wasnt smell guy. we havent met the actual killer yet i think.

15:00 - i wanna get caryn a big mermaid fin for her feet. shed be so cute!!!

16:00 - ohno. the story of charlotte's mother! will olive find out about the circumstances of her death eventually from the aunts? and then chuck will find out more?! and then...

17:00- mm, cup-pie!

18:00- i hate hiccups. i always hold my breath then swallow some water!

19:00 - omg pop-up pin-up book! i want one! caryn prolly wont let me have one :( popup guy is not the killer. could be the publisher. thats waht ill go with atm.

21:00 - howd the sock get in the sink?!? who knew they were on the case?! certainly makes it seem smell guy was not the killer. doe the publisher know they are on the case? or just popupguy? would be too dumb of popupguy to do it. still going with publisher.

25:00 - divergent olfactor theories!

26:00 - sure seeems like bad smell guy was the killer now. too easy. i dont buy it.

26:30 - Damn Reagan Administration!

27:00 - i love eyepatch aunt. she is so emo. i can relate!

27:30 - i wish i could bottle sunshine. unrelated, at daycamp, you didnt want to be in the lowest level pools with all the little kids, bc they peed in em! they were always the warmest.

29:00 - Follow the Yellow Thick Hose!!! i hope they find munchkins from the Lollypop Guild at teh end of it!

30:00 - ph33r the Chuds!!! sounds like enemies in my video games...

31:00 - well it sure looks like bad smell guy is the killer now.... :(

33:00 - presales of the book have skyrocketed!! The publisher is behind it after all maybe...

34:00 - good point chi, girls ARE slow!

35:00 - i TOTALLY want to get caryn olive's mermaid outfit. her rack looks great!

37:00 - with this good sales news, its still possible the publisher is behind it. perhaps even good smell guy himself. espsecially if one considers that hte book got bumped to bad release date (dumped in the words of popupguy). so goodsmell guy needed to do something to fix it. maybe he didnt mean for it to blow up and kill his assistant, but jsut to be an attempt on his life. but how does that explain the car? he was gonna die if he got in and didnt know what badsmell guy was doing. of course, he stopped and used the clicker, instead of getting right in.

38:00 - im sticking with publisher or goodsmell guy as the real killer.

39:00 - Mazda commercials, (zoom zoom), are SOOOOOOOO bad.

42:00 - AHA! badsmell guy is not the killer! hes investigating on his own!

43:00 - good use of the yellow thick hose.

44:00 - badsmell guy has never smelled anything like chuck! what does she smell like?!

45:00 - oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. badsmell guy has just espoused the "it was goodsmell guy so he could s(m)ell books" theory. WHAT. A. GREAT. NUT. what's that, mike? Rhymes with quarrel? yes, its me, Super Squirrel!!!!!

46:00 - why'd emo aunt really stop swimming?! was it the death of chuck's mom?

47:00 - lol spacing on the sock...

48:00 - ohnoes! i bet olive and chuck save them!!! ez nut there.

52:00 - NUT! good guy did not meaning to kill his student. well done, me.

54:00 - and there are the girls to save them. nut!

55:00 - lol, attacked by outside world smells.

56:00 - this singing aunt scene is a little weird...

57:00 - Phase II was a success! i thought it was gonna take til Phase III!

58:00 - cup-pies are on the menu! i bet caryn is tearing up right now...

59:00 - ooooooh. badsmell guy has the sweater! what does he smell!?! was it death also? or something else? i like it.... good twist.

previews: who is that actress in the candystore?

LOVE THIS SHOW!!!

Strike Watch 2007!

Stars Come Out for WGA Rally
Hollywood's Walk of Fame took on a new meaning Nov. 20 as Writers Guild of America members marched down Hollywood Boulevard holding signs of solidarity and shouting, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Who's gonna write your TV show?!" Before the march commenced, Alicia Keys revved up the crowd by performing her songs "Go Ahead" and "No One" from atop a flatbed truck. "Without words, there are no songs," she said. "Without words, there are no stories. I'm here for your cause." Holding a banner at the front of the 4,000-plus picket line was Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, with cast member Sandra Oh by her side. "We just want to get back to work," she told TV Guide. "I'm hopeful that they'll let us get back to work." Oh also took a turn at the microphone, announcing, "I'm here today, proudly, to lend my support to the WGA and to echo the message to the six media conglomerates who make up the AMPTP that this strike affects us all." Minutes later, she led the crowd in a war cry of "Share!" Her impassioned speech concluded with, "I wish the WGA negotiating team superpowers as they walk into the Nov. 26 talks. May the force be with you. A writer wrote that, and I wish to see you guys all at work soon." Among the masses was also Fox's Back to You cocreator Steve Levitan. "Their refusal to negotiate early on galvanized everybody," he said of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). "And now this is an incredible show of force that they're clearly feeling they finally have to deal with."Representatives of numerous unions attended the rally as a show of support for the WGA, including SAG members Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leland Orser and Frances Fisher. Actor and SAG president Alan Rosenberg championed the WGA's cause. "The writers' fight is our fight, too," he told TV Guide. "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as long as it takes."



Ausiello on Scrubs
Question: How will the writers' strike affect the final season of Scrubs!? — Brandon
Ausiello: In the worst way possible: If the work stoppage goes on much longer, we may never get our Scrubs series finale. "To finish this season, the strike would need to be over by mid-January/early February," Bill Lawrence told me after Saturday's event. "Once the strike ends, I'm going to do anything I can to do the finale of the show. And if that means trying to sell ABC Studios on the value of shooting those last episodes even if they were only for a special feature on the DVD, or airing them on ABC if NBC didn't want them, I will pursue every single road to make them." And that, my friends, is why we worship Bill Lawrence.