skippy the bush kangaroo: will the wga get gore'd?

Friday, December 07, 2007

will the wga get gore'd?

cookie jill alerts us to the lastest move by the producers in the writers' strike...and it's not condusive to a meeting of the minds. over at calitics, brian leubitz tells us:

guess who just hired chris lehane, the former gore aide and consultant on the official "fair election reform" (the stephen bing funded push against the dirty tricks initiative)? well, if you guessed the film and tv producers, you're right:

seeking to shore up its flagging public image, the alliance of motion picture and television producers has turned to veteran political advisors from both sides of the aisle to guide its public relations battle with hollywood's striking writers.

the alliance announced today that it had retained mark fabiani and chris lehane, who have served as senior aides and advisors to president clinton and vice president al gore and other democrats across the country. the group also said it hired steve schmidt, a close advisor to governor arnold schwarzenegger who served as his campaign manager in 2006. (la times 12.05.07)

it's generally agreed that the writers have won the pr game in the first few weeks of the strike, and we would posit that it's less because of slick meme-wrangling and more because it's pretty obvious to the general public that the studios are making big $$$ off the writers work, and the writers are asking for a mere pittance.

but if lehane and fabiani are going to work some magic, they'd better do it soon. variety reports that late night television, currently showing re-runs thanks to the strike, is experiencing a hemmorrhaging of viewers:

hardest hit: latenight leader "the tonight show with jay leno." according to nielsen data for the first full month of the strike (nov. 5-nov. 30), the nbc flagship -- while still the no. 1 show in the daypart -- suffered a stunning 40% decline among adults 18-49 vs. the same frame a year ago. it averaged a 1.2 rating/5 share in the key demo compared with a 2.0/8 last year.

nbc's "late night with conan o'brien" also saw its audience shrink. skein fell 36% from a 1.1/7 last year to a 0.7/4 last month.

variety goes on to report real numbers for comedy central's fake news, which are equally depressing, and cbs and abc as well. curiously, jimmy kimmel live suffered the least, losing only 16% of viewers, which begs the question, is anybody watching it in the first place?

Labels: hollywood, labor, television, writers strike