The media would have us believe that California’s whole economy is dependent on the entertainment industry. Without the TV Writers we will be forced to watch reruns. Aren’t most of the shows already reruns? Most of them are multiple reruns as far as I can tell. In fact we are watching reruns of reruns in many cases.

Has the strike changed my life? No my wife still bosses me around and my cat still ignores me. My friends and associates treat me with the same disdain as before. My income or expenses have not changed either. None of the people that I know who are actually working for a living have been affected either.

The news media however is all a twitter about the “mass unemployment” in the entertainment business. They are leading us to believe that Los Angeles is about to become a depressed area. In reality there is somewhat of an impact in the entertainment business. But then by definition it is entertainment as opposed to producing food for instance. The fact that the sitcoms and drama shows are in reruns may be slightly irritating but not really an inconvenience either. The writing for these shows has not been all that good of late. The sitcoms are so predictable that you can recite the lines before the actor speaks them. The dramas are no better the characters are politically correct stereotypes that you can easily predict the outcome.

There are some fairly decent writers in the business who generate good shows. A sitcom or drama will get good ratings and then like magic several other very similar will appear. Law & Order and CSI come to mind, ditto for reality shows. From this point forward all creativity ceases to exist. At this point it is all copy and markup from prior scripts. The irony of this is that these people would have you believe they are artists. The most creative script writers are creating commercials. These people are true writers who must get your attention and sell a product within thirty seconds.

What is the strike about? The writers want a bigger piece of the sales receipts. They are currently not getting revenue from the DVD sales of the shows they write for. It isn’t that they are starving and can’t send their kids to school. It is about whether they can buy a Rolls-Royce instead of a Mercedes. It is much reminiscent of the baseball strike, millionaires versus billionaires.

In spite of Governor Schwarzegger’s concerns the strike is not impacting the average American. California’s economy will not go in the tank. There will not be mass unemployment. Homes will not be repossessed because of the strike. Children will not go hungry. Cars will not be repossessed. No one outside of the entertainment business will even notice. It is a good thing many of these unimaginative writers may be forced to seek other work where they are qualified. Hamburger flippers are always in demand.