So, what’s going on? I just watched the new episodes of 3 series I follow, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory. They all sucked. The 30 Rock episode was so bad, it managed to make one of the most clever series look stupid.
Is this because they have new second-grade writers? Is this happening to all shows? Is it happening to House too? (I haven’t seen the last episode yet here in Denmark.) When will it end?
It may shock you to learn that most scripted television series are not aired the same week they are shot. You’ve got writing, casting, scouting, shooting, editing, looping, sound effects and all sorts of other jazz that needs to be done before it goes to air. At any given time, multiple episodes will be in different phases of production. Since writing is basically the first step in the production process, the production companies have a few weeks’ worth of scripts to work from before they’ll have to cancel or delay the rest of the season.
Personally, I thought last night’s 30 Rock was pretty good. Especially Tracy’s pep talk with the pigeon.
No. You just caught some bad episodes (although if that was the most recent 30 Rock, it was brilliant, so I don’t know what you’re talking about). All of the writers in the WGA have walked out, as well as some of the actors, but there’s still episodes unaired and scripts not yet shot (where possible, the Office has shut down because of striking actors, but Family Guy has replaced Seth Macfarlane’s voice work and is still filming). We won’t see scab writers on existing shows because writers are vetted and assembled as a creative team, much like the actors are. It just doesn’t make sense to try and replace them.
Instead, we’ll see more unscripted shows, and a few new non-union scripted shows, along with reruns.
Hmm, ok. Well, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been going downhill fast in this season. And I might have to give 30 Rock another chance, and watch the rest of the ep. But, I mean:
“He’s got maps all over his walls. Maps”
“Maps. You mean like that one?”
“That’s different. That’s… That’s an antique”
“I’ll have Jonathan bring over some other pants”
“No sir, this is my mistake. I will replace your pants.”
“They cost $2500”
“I will find your pants”
It’s a little more complicated than that, actually. There was a frenzy of activity over the last few months to get the script development pipeline frontloaded, in the event of just such an action; there’s lots of material finalized and waiting to be shot. In addition, during the 1988 writers strike, the studios hauled some old scripts out of the vaults (e.g. Mission Impossible), so that could be another option. More information here.
Eventually, when that material runs out, we’ll see an explosion in reality shows, cheap animation, and other stuff.
And you thought television was bad already…
I wonder if the networks could get so desperate that we’ll actually see TV shows that aren’t American :eek: . Not adaptations of foreign shows like the Kath & Kim project, but the actual foreign shows. Isn’t NBC considering airing the original British version of the Office?
I don’t understand this. How can Seth Macfarlane “the actor” walk out on the show? I understand that he can stop his writing duties per the writer’s strike, but shouldn’t his SAG contract require him to speak the lines he wrote before the strike?
No, last week’s episode was brilliant. This week’s episode was no more than time-filler.
It happens.
Of course, everybody is right about these episodes having been written and shot weeks or months ago.
At least South Park’s writers aren’t members of the WGA so it will continue.
–FCOD