Newsplaining The well’s running dry

By: 
Ethan Stoetzer

Growing up, my mom, my pediatrician, my school, my friends’ moms, my gym teacher — everyone, told me that watching too much TV would rot my brain.
I was never much of a “TV” person, for that matter, I wasn’t really someone that spent time in front of a screen unless I was playing the Play Station 1, which, due to my ineptitude at gaming, lasted a very short span of time in one sitting.
Today, TV is a cornerstone of my way of life. Wake up, watch clips-turned-internet-memes of my favorite shows, watch a segment of a show on my lunch break, come home and watch a couple episodes of TV while I tell myself I’m just unwinding when I really should be exercising.
Think about it: can we really continue asking people what their favorite “show” is? Shouldn’t we be asking, “what are you watching these days?”
What used to be the same question about books has become somehow replaced by TV and movies, in a matter of just about three years. I went to college in 2013 and barely used Netflix. When I graduated in 2016, I rarely went a meal without logging in and watching House of Cards, Trailer Park Boys, One Tree Hill, Chuck, etc.
In fact, somehow, we’ve reached the era known as “Peak TV,” according to John Landgraf, of the company FX, a coined phrase that basically means that due to the amount of channels offering quality television (HBO-Game of Thrones, Amazon-Man in the High Castle, NBC-Empire, CBS-Big Bang Theory and the Late Night tandem of Colbert and Corden, USA-Mr. Robot, and of course Netflix-every show you’ve ever watched). For reference, in 2015-16, there were 301 actively-scripted shows on air (or streaming), compared to just 262 in 2013-14, according to the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA).
That’s a lot of TV, and because of that, that’s a lot of TV that stands to get interrupted.
The WGA voted last Monday to call for an immediate strike, should negotiations on a new deal not be made by May 1.
As many of you probably witnessed, the last writers strike occurred in 2007, resulting in our favorite TV shows of the era to conclude on short seasons, like the Office and Scrubs, as well as Saturday Night Live. Network shows on CBS and FOX also experienced short show seasons.
In fact, that writer’s strike impacted the way we view television today. Streaming online was only in its beginning stages, and without the competition of on-network programing, Netflix was able to venture into the streaming of previously ran shows. Since no new writers were needed, Netflix stood to make an immense profit, and it has since. Streaming reruns is what most Americans now spend their time doing.
Also, are you annoyed with the amount of reality TV shows on air currently? Their big rise came form that 2007 era, as reality TV doesn’t require writers. Just put personalities on camera and let it go.
Since that strike in 2007, the advent of digital cable has meant more channels, meaning more places to watch TV, increasing the demand for TV shows, constantly. This has caused netowrks to produce less episodes of a show per season, to cut back costs in competitions. Such cut backs means that writers makes less money at the end of a season (they are paid per show) and do not make money off reruns (since you can stream them anywhere practically for free).
This has created a situation in which writers feel they are not being paid for their work and the result is a strike that could cut seasons short and impact the fall premieres of our favorites.
While writer’s practically run Hollywood and deserve every penny they get, one thing the impending strike has taught me is that I watch way too much TV. I should probably make use of my library card this summer, during the strike. What else would there be to do?

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