It's been quite a while since I've written anything. I spent a couple of heavenly weeks in Italy in October and I guess I'm being punished now for having experienced such pleasure.
Yes, the punishment that I'm referring to is the Writers Strike... This was probably the best fall TV season ever, but now it's going to be cut short because of the strike. Don't get me wrong, I support the writers and think that they deserve everything that they're asking for, but why now? Why? Now?
Besides the return of my beloved, must-see "Ugly Betty" and the other established shows that I usually watch and enjoy ("Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," "Brothers and Sisters"), I became instantly hooked on more new series in this one fall season than in any other premiere season that I can recall (and I've watched a LOT of TV in my 40 years). On Monday I've got the fun and intrigue of "Chuck," on Tuesday it's the devilishly delicious "Reaper," and on Wednesday it's the whimsically heart-warming "Pushing Daisies" and the cruel intentions of those kids on "Gossip Girl" (I also usually watch "Dirty Sexy Money," even if I'm not as hooked on it as the other shows I've mentioned). In case you're interested in knowing how I rank the newbies, my favorites are, in order:
1. "Pushing Daisies"
2. "Reaper"
3. "Chuck"
4. "Gossip Girl"
As of today's date, most of those shows only have a few episodes left before they run out. It would be nice if the networks would order more episodes after the strike is resolved, as sort of a winter or spring season, but it's doubtful that they'll do that, so we fans are going to be cheated out of ten to thirteen episodes of our favorite shows because the greedy studio executives don't want to give a fair share of the money they make with the people who actually make the money for them in the first place.
One big fear that I have is that the interruption of momentum will hurt some of these shows and they might not be able to recover, even if the networks renew them for the fall of 2008.
When the time comes, I bet those greedy studio "mother effers" will probably have the nerve to charge the same price for the DVDs of this truncated season that they would have charged for a full 22-episode season.
Oh, well, at least I've got "Nip/Tuck" and "Project Runway" to keep me entertained for a while.
