Rick Kushman: Are actors next to go on strike?

The friendly folks who brought us the 100-day Hollywood writers strike are working their special magic again, so by the end of June, we could have an actors strike.

The Screen Actors Guild, the major union that represents actors, had been negotiating with the conglomerate of media companies and studios until last week. Then, just like with the writers, the studios walked away from the talks.

SAG issued a statement saying it would "negotiate around the clock if necessary," but the studios blew them off. This is exactly – almost to the verb – what happened during the writers strike.

The issues are similar: The fights are over how people will get paid from the digital world of DVDs, of streaming and downloads, and of whatever Next Big Thing is around the corner. And the behavior of the studios is the same.

To make things worse, there are two actors unions and they seem to be feuding. Besides SAG, there is the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG represents most of the people you know, except for soap stars).

Without bogging you down in the egos and pettiness, the studios seem to be trying to leverage the two unions against each other. Both their contracts expire June 30.

But let's be clear on the cause – and about the biggest egos and pettiness – the studios are the ones pushing the limits, again, just as with the writers. Studio negotiators have almost dared the actors to strike, and they're the ones who quit negotiating.

There are lots of smart people in Hollywood – smart enough to stay off the record, by the way – who say the big studios were happy with the writers strike, because it gave them a chance to clean house and reduce payrolls. And if the actors do strike, some studio people figure the public, and the rest of the workers in Hollywood, will blame the actors, whose faces they know.

The new contracts the studios negotiated this spring with the writers and directors only got worked out when the professional, hardline negotiators moved aside, and top bosses like Disney's Robert Iger and Fox's Peter Chernin got involved. The simplest way out of this mess would be for Iger, Chernin and others to step in again.

On the other hand, it's naïve to think the studio negotiators aren't speaking for their bosses, or that the studios don't see this as a chance to weaken all the unions by forcing the actors either to capitulate or lose support by striking.

But the sense among many actors seems to be that they're ready to strike if necessary. And despite all the suffering already endured in Hollywood, strikes are a bit like wars. Once you've been through one, the possibility doesn't seem so unimaginable anymore.

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So, after those cheery thoughts, let's get to Stuff to Watch (or Not).

The pick of the week is "Frontline: Storm Over Everest" (at 9 Tuesday on Channel 6), a two-hour special that revisits the deadliest day ever on the world's highest mountain.

On May 11, 1996, a fast, fierce storm swept across Everest and killed eight people. Filmmaker and world-class climber David Breashears was on the mountain with a crew shooting an Imax movie. He was friends with some of the climbers who died, and was a part of efforts that rescued others.

It was a day that changed the world's ideas about mountain climbing – for good and bad – because of Jon Krakauer's book, "Into Thin Air," and it changed Breashears, too.

For "Frontline," Breashears, who summited Everest five times, talks with some of the survivors and goes back to the mountain. The film is both intimate in the personal stories, and spectacular with stunning footage of Everest and with re-creations of the conditions during the blizzard.

As for the rest of the week, here's a list of season finales:

Tonight

• "Samantha Who?" (8 p.m. on Channel 10).

• "House" (9 p.m. on Channel 40): It starts a two-part finale that concludes May 19.

• "Medium" (10 p.m. on Channel 3).

Tuesday

• "Beauty and the Geek" (8 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "Law & Order: SVU" (10 p.m. on Channel 3).

• "Women's Murder Club" (10 p.m. on Channel 10).

Wednesday

• "America's Next Top Model" (8 p.m. on Channel 31).

• " 'Til Death" (8 p.m. on Channel 40).

• "Back to You" (8:30 p.m. on Channel 40).

Thursday

• "CSI" (8 p.m. on Channel 13).

• "My Name Is Earl" (8 p.m. on Channel 3): Earl wraps with an hourlong episode.

• "Smallville" (8 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "The Office" (9 p.m. on Channel 3): Another one-hour send-off.

• "Supernatural" (9 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "Without a Trace" (9 p.m. on Channel 13).

• "ER" (10 p.m. on Channel 3).

Friday

• "Ghost Whisperer" (7 p.m. on Channel 13).

• "Moonlight" (8 p.m. on Channel 13).

• "Numb3rs" (9 p.m. on Channel 13).

Saturday

• "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 p.m. on Channel 3): Steve Carell hosts, and Carell doing sketch comedy makes the world a better place.

Sunday

• "Everybody Hates Chris" (8 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "The Simpsons" (8 p.m. on Channel 40).

• "Aliens in America" (8:30 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "King of the Hill" (8:30 p.m. on Channel 40).

• "The Game" (9 p.m. on Channel 31).

• "Desperate Housewives" (9 p.m. on Channel 10): It's two hours and expect wild doings.

• "Family Guy" (9 p.m. on Channel 40).

• "American Dad" (9:30 p.m. on Channel 40).

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK) and 8:50 a.m. on Armstrong & Getty, Talk 650 KSTE.