Remember the Hollywood writers strike? Pretty much stopped showbiz for three months, messed up TV and movies, hurt the state's economy, killed the Golden Globes show and almost the Oscars?
Actually, the Globes thing was a plus, but the point is, strike – bad. Over – good.
So, because I'm a fun guy, I bring you: the actors strike. Potential strike, really. And if I'm betting, I plunk cash on No Strike, but the possibility is out there, and I say let the worrying begin.
The short story is that the actors' contracts expire June 30, and they have the same core issue that the writers did – how to get paid from the wild and vast digital world of entertainment.
If I were the fretful type, I'd say one bad sign is that the two actors unions – the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television (SAG is bigger and represents most of the people you know) – are feuding. They've negotiated together for nearly three decades, but not this year.
You don't want to know the details, but this being Hollywood, be assured they are petty.
Still, the feel in the industry, despite the nervousness, is that the actors' talks with the studios and networks won't lead to the kind of ego-driven stubbornness from the studio bosses that brought the strike from the writers. Hollywood is still worn out from that strike, and lots of big-name players, including George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, are pushing for a quick agreement.
The other good thing is that both unions are starting negotiations with the studios this month and, because both the directors and writers have new contracts, there are two blueprints for working things out.
But as the sayings go, in Hollywood nobody knows anything, and ego-driven stubbornness is a way of life. * * *
For fans of BBC's "Top Gear," the cheeky, addicting car show for people who would never watch car shows, there was that good news/bad news recently that NBC is bringing the series to the United States.
The good news is that it's a great show. Think of it as "Car Talk" meets "Monty Python." The bad news? The style and the funny are uniquely British, and American TV has a pretty solid track record of ruining that.
Even Jay Leno is worried about the translation. He wrote a piece for Britain's Sunday Times and said NBC execs asked him to host the American version. Leno said no, because he's afraid NBC will make a mess of it.
It started, Leno wrote, with the basics. The NBC exec who asked him about hosting knew little about the show, or cars, or, probably, how to drive. Leno, who is too nice, didn't give the exec's name.
But Leno also wrote that pressure from advertising will "water down" the bluntly honest judgments of cars that make the British show so genuine and so witty. Leno's been through it before.
"I said on 'The Tonight Show' recently that the new Kia was available with a heated rear window," Leno wrote, "so if people needed to push it in winter, they could keep their hands warm. Boy, the phones did not stop ringing." * * *
Finally, some stuff from our Stuff to Watch Dept.
• One of the underrated new series this season, ABC's "Samantha Who?," returns with new episodes tonight (at 9:32 on Channel 10). Christina Applegate has deft comic chops, and the show breaks the usual sitcom patterns with a sometimes dry, sometimes slapstick wit.
• Yes, CBS is almost completely back from the writers strike with new episodes of nearly everything, including all its Monday shows. But not tonight. The NCAA men's basketball championship game starts at 6 p.m. (on Channel 13), so all the regular programming is pre-empted, even though the game will be over by 8:30 or 9.
That's because that'll be 11:30 or midnight on the East Coast. See, we have these things called times zones, and, I know you know, but people call.
• NBC does have some new shows tonight, including a "Medium" (at 10 on Channel 3) worth watching. "Medium," actually, is always fun, and tonight, Emmy-winning star Patricia Arquette is joined by her Emmy-nominated sister, Rosanna.
• And for the fans who keep asking and asking, ABC's "Boston Legal" returns Tuesday (at 10 p.m. on Channel 10). Let me repeat that for the hard of reading: "BOSTON LEGAL" RETURNS TUESDAY.
But, sorry, ABC has not said if it will be back next season.
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.
