Friday, September 01, 2023

Where Are My Stories

A lot of things going with the Hollywood strikes, but I also expect that the completely changed timetable of broadcast since the last big writers' strike has had an impact.

Way back in those dark ages there was something called a "new Fall TV season" and returning and new shows would all appear around October 1 with their 22 episode seasons. There was no easily accessible by choice back catalog, aside from DVD boxed sets.

Now a lot of stuff is released continuously with no real eye on the calendar. Seasons are short, with no promise of when the next one will arrive. Streaming services give people plenty of options to catch up on stuff they missed.

From the perspective of consumers - eh, who cares. Your favorite shows aren't being derailed any more than they might have been anyway, and there are plenty of other options.

I guess my point is that back in 2007 the strike seemed to disrupt normality, now it's just disrupting the studios.

Pulling a lot of high profile moves like "removing shows from streaming sites for a tax write-off" just before the strike hasn't helped their position much either.