The Freedom Clock, started over a thousand days ago, indicates that we are exactly one year away from the end of George The Worst’s reign. At which point one hopes that the country will rise, blinking, as if shaking off an extended and hideous dream, and return to the land of the living.
Long national nightmare indeed.
PAD
I had a feeling the AMPTP was stonewalling the WGA for the simple reason that they saw no point in bargaining with the WGA. Instead they were waiting for talks with the Directors Guild. Why? Because, in my opinion, what the AMPTP *really* wants to avoid is the WGA unionizing animation writers, reality show writers, etc. So the reasoning was simple: Refuse to talk to the WGA. Wait instead for the DGA’s contract negotiations to start. Come across as completely reasonable on the very points that they were stonewalling the WGA on. And once the DGA ratifies the agreement, then the pressure is suddenly on the WGA to accept the terms and go back to work.
My guess? The plan will work.
PAD
So yes, because Ariel loves it so, I’ve been watching the opening episodes of “American Idol.” And boy oh boy, fans of “Star Wars” must have been cringing.
First there was a guy who showed up in–swear to God–Princess Leia’s slave outfit. Nowadays Carrie Fisher wouldn’t look good in it, but this guy, easily seventy, eighty pounds overweight and fairly hirstute, was just achingly awful to look upon. Paula Abdul suggested that he get his chest hair removed and, if he did, promised he’d have the chance to audition that his ensemble was precluding. To her subsequent shock, he returned after having his entire torso waxed. Did he then launch into a surprisingly, achingly heartfelt love ballad and turn the tide? Of course not. He started gyrating while singing a Spice Girls number which Simon mercifully cut short after less than two bars. Actually Cowell was probably tempted to hit a couple of bars just to blur the memory.
So who showed up later? A self-proclaimed geek who was wearing her hair in the Princess Leia buns. She didn’t make the cut either, which she promptly blamed on the fact that she was, in fact, a geek, and therefore that was the reason she was turned down. Well, no, the truth was that her voice was marginal at best, and her deportment merely served to be the final straw. But she set herself up to lose so she could blame the world for her own shortcomings. I think we all know plenty of people like this.
Don’t fans have enough of a reputation as fools and freaks without stuff like this contributing to it?
At least the creepy guy who advanced on Abdul while singing a song about stalking her (her body language–arms folded, legs crossed–conveyed just how freaked she was by him, and I can’t blame her) wasn’t wearing a Darth Vader outfit.
PAD
The entry for “Tigerheart
PAD
We took Ariel and Caroline to see the newly opened “Little Mermaid,” the musical that’s been crucified by just about every NY critic. It seems there’s no element of the show that they haven’t found bìŧçh-wørŧhÿ.
We loved it.
Personally, I think that for a show like this, critics should be required to take a small child with them so they can see it through their eyes.
Caroline was literally on the edge of her seat, goggle-eyed at the splendor of it all. Ariel (my daughter, not the mermaid) was likewise entranced. I thought it was a lot of fun.
The theater was packed beyond all belief. I’m hoping that people vote with their feet and wallets.
PAD
Actually, less walking this time. There were so many writers turning out to picket the Viacom building yesterday that there was a good deal of standing around.
More memebers of the Screen Actors Guild have started showing up to join in the march. Met Michael Badalucco, who played Jimmy the Grunt on “The Practice,” who was always one of my favorite characters on that series. Sweet guy; introduced himself to me as “Mike.” Came across much like his TV persona.
Probably the high point was that I spent a good deal of time in the line standing behind Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He used to write “Weekend Update,” and he was spending most of his time talking shop and trading stories with the writer for SNL who is *currently* writing Update for SNL. There was literally a generation of time between the two writers, but I was fascinated by all the common ground between the two of them. And when I asked them (I apologized for overhearing, explaining that I had only done so because I was intentionally eavesdropping) they agreed that, yeah, Doctor Evil really does sound like Lorne Michaels.
It’s been a fascinating experience thus far. I just hope/wish we’re accomplishing something.
PAD
The AMPTP appears to be displaying increasing desperation as the WGA’s presenting itself as a reasonable bargaining partner is showing dividends. Having brokered the deal with Worldwide Pants that brought Late Night back with writers, WGA has now cut a deal with UA and is reportedly on the brink of a similar achievement with the Weinsteins. The AMPTP’s response on their website:
One-off deals do nothing to bring the WGA closer to a permanent solution for working writers. These interim agreements are sideshows and mean only that some writers will be employed at the same time other writers will be picketing. In the end, until the people in charge at WGA decide to focus on the main event rather than these sideshows, the economic harm being caused by the strike will continue.
Curiously the AMPTP ignores that the deals don’t “mean only that some writers will be employed;” the deals also put hundreds of non-writing employees back to work. Crew people and such who were out of work because the writers had gone on strike. Yet amazingly the AMPTP doesn’t hesitate to invoke the hardship those bystanders face whenever they’re trying to slag the striking writers.
Behind the scenes they must be ballistic about the producers who are voting with their feet and their wallets by bargaining individually because it underscores what the WGA has been saying all along: The demands are not unreasonable. The AMPTP is unreasonable.
PAD
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