SUNDAY RERUNS?

Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 182.

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.

Watching: Evening News

Listening to: "Animix-Full Project" (Anime music video)

Reading: Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell (ST-TOS)

TOPIC: SUPPORT THE WRITER STRIKE! (Week 1)

Use strike to realize what TV writers do

NEW YORK -- The writers strike only began Monday, and already you're falling behind.

Sure, the impact of the strike so far has been limited to late night, instantly banishing comedy-and-talk shows into rerun purgatory. But how are you supposed to know what's happening in the world without Jon Stewart and "The Daily Show" mocking current events?

The prospect of a strike was a wake-up call for viewers. Last Friday, "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien dispelled the popular belief "that I make the whole show up." Not true, viewers learned. "Believe it or not," he confided, "some of the show is scripted."

But that was then. On Monday, writers who once scripted "Late Night" and so many other shows were picketing outside NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters.

"Hey, hey, ho, ho, management can't write the show," they chanted, demonstrating that their own writing skills don't include poetry.

The dispute between Writers Guild of America members and the networks and studios that employ them centers on issues like Internet royalties for TV shows. But it's you caught in the middle. As a pitch for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" put it so vividly, "The more I Jimmy, the better I feel." With the strike going on, you just can't Jimmy like you used to.

And things could get worse. If the strike drags on (and the last one, in 1988, went for 22 weeks), the reservoir of new scripted shows could run dry.

Of course, the networks have ways of finessing this problem.

The networks are expected to augment the inevitable reruns with brand-new fare that doesn't need a script from anybody (at least, not a WGA writer). News programs will likely swell in number. Look for new game shows.

Is there a silver lining?

Well, in the short term, you'll be grateful for the chance to get through all the shows you've stockpiled on your TiVo.

Another plus? You'll be freed up to sample other programming you never saw before.

However, if the strike lasts too long, it will be very costly to the networks and studios, as well as the writers. And that would serve them right, you may find yourself seething.

Strike back if you must. But the absence of writers from TV right now might be a good time to take measure of what writers bring to television.

Consider: At the heart of nearly every complaint you've ever lodged against TV is what the writer did. What you really notice about a TV show, especially when you object to it, mostly boils down to how it's written. That's how fundamental the writers are.

It doesn't mean you should automatically support them in a strike that, already, is making TV less fun for you to watch. But to give yourself a fresh perspective on their value, picture those writers dropped into a MasterCard commercial:

Bottled water, candy bars and pencils for the Writers' Room: $37.

Average WGA writer's annual income (according to the studios and networks): About $200,000.

The script for a top-notch TV show that makes you laugh or cry and talk about it afterward for days: Priceless.