Thu, January 17, 2008
There's Something About Seagrave—3:29 PM
Short of delaying my TiVo viewings of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (and wishing really really hard), the only thing I'm doing for the striking writers is reading their blog obsessively.
Yesterday, WGA member Ed Decter posted a savvy little recap of the bizarre bedfellows that make up the AMPTP. My favorite part:
[Fox CEO] Peter Chernin must be a lot smarter than the chairmen of the other conglomerates. He must have about a hundred IQ points on each of them. How did he convince Les Moonves to “hold the line” and do without new CSI episodes while handing Fox the biggest ratings win in history? How did Chernin spin Iger on shutting down the Grey’s Anatomy juggernaut so that WGA-less Idol could run free of any competition? What did he say to Jeff Zucker? Did he assure Zucker that Howie Mandel is every bit the ratings equal of Simon Cowell?
This has to be the second-most-confusing part of this whole situation. I'm wondering if it will finally be the reason the conglomerates break down and start negotiating one-on-one with the WGA. The Golden Globes didn't seem to do the trick, but American Idol might.
