Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Remains of the Day (05/31)




Wrestle Wednesday: I want one






HBO: "Being Mary Tyler Moore" is worth a watch. The documentary did a good job of finding the person who truly was neither Mary Richards nor Beth Jarrett -- the star's Oscar-nominated character in "Ordinary People" -- and charitably left out some of her late-in-life missteps. The rare photos and footage were a revelation -- I also want to be best friends with Beverly Sanders! -- although I'm still reeling at just how awful David Susskind was to her on his chat show back in the day. (WTF?) 

2 comments:

mwk said...

You noticed that too, about David Susskind? What a chauvinist pig the guy was. By all rights, she should have gotten up and left.

VRCooper said...

I have been loosely following the writer's strike. Jason Johnson-MSNBC-did a segment/block with one writer to relay what the writers are striking for. I ended up yelling at the television because the information relayed was too much in the weeds for the average viewer. What was needed were bullet points with just enough information to bring the bullet/information home. This was not a 60 Minutes piece. Who was the producer for this segment?

I sent the Washington Post link to Joy Reid and Dr. Johnson. Maybe they will do a follow-up piece.

Yes, the landscape of television has changed. The number of episodes per season has changed dramatically as well. Now a season averages around 22 episodes. Hell, back in the day Gunsmoke had 39 episodes and Bewitched 33-38 per season.

Streaming has certainly changed the landscape. Many seasons are less than 10 episodes. And Netflix and Amazon, and others, are not sharing their data so writers don't have any leverage to negotiate fair pay. As with anything corporate these days it is all amount GREED.

I have watched a lot of television in my time and I have listened to some really good writing. Let's pay our writers a living wage and a little more for a rainy day.