Pajiba

I'm with you Seth. I will be watching those steaming piles of reality stink as well.

Y'all let me know how all that goes. I do hate me some Donald. I might watch a Celebrity Death Match between him and Simon Cowell.

I'm sorry to hear that about the 4400. It was a pretty good show until this last season, then it sucked. Dead Zone, I could take it or leave it. They were good shows against network reruns and reality shows in the summertime.

I have never watched an entire episode of AI or Apprentice. I don't really have to, since they generate all kinds of press coverage and water cooler conversation.

I love The 4400! That stupid heroes show kinda ripped it off anyway. Damnit!

We get stupid crap like Celebrity Apprentice and all the good shows are taken off the air. I haven't felt this ticked since they took Homicide off the air.

It is posts like this that meake me even happier I got my watch in self-loathing shows (Betty and Greys) out of my system this year - ripped the succkers off like a bandaid, haven't watched a bit this year. Never got hooked on Idol of apprentice - kids shreaking for their inner Whitney and The Donald just wasn't for me.

El Stupido! - Yesterday, I was scrolling through the channels and I happened upon the Sleuth Channel (all mysteries TV), which was showing Homicide reruns. Watched for 2 hours, then realized I should just be watching the Box Set, so I enede watching about 5 hours of it yesterday. Homicide is shown every weekday apparently. The channel is an NBC Universal cable channel. I don't know which providers carry it besides Direct TV (which I have)

Homicide is the only reason to even have Sleuth Network. If they stop showing the repeats I will by the boxed set. It is only the best crime drama ever on televesion and Andre Braugher should be revered as a God.

I'm sorry if that sounded blashphemous. Please continue with your post holiday leftover bingeing.

thank you

Boo hiss to the shoddy treatment of The 4400. That show was brilliant.

And yes, damn Heroes and it's prettier actors and better production making it far more widely watched and not immediately dismissed by the public as "sci-fi crap". Damn it straight to hell.

I want my random future people/alien cult/really empathetic homeland security officers back!

Homicide is on everyday on either WGA or USA. I have been asking for the boxed set for ages. One of my all-time favourite shows but seeing some of the final season lately makes me realize that they went off the air at the right time. It was going wayyyy downhill. It's really disappointing that Andre Braugher didn't get more quality parts when that show wrapped.

As for the rest - I don't have Comedy Network and I don't watch ANY reality t.v. (unless it's on VH1, of course) so I could care less. I do think the juggling back and forth between dates is hilarious. It's even funnier because both shows are TERRIBLE.

I was a fan of "The 4400" even though this past season was a bit below par. My heart's not broken or anything (like it was over "Drive"), but I'm going to miss those 4400 freaks.

Andre Braugher is at the very least a demigod. I will watch anything he is in. He should get more work.

I have not watched any reality TV since the second season of "The Real World," which I believe was in 1992 or '93. Yes, really. This is because reality TV sucks. Yes, all of it.

I have never heard of the Sleuth network before! How...intriguing.

I actually have the Homicide boxed set and I love it. Hallsyhatesyou, you are probably right about it going off the air at the right time, but even Homicide's worst episodes are better than 75% of the crap on t.v. today. Celebrity Apprentice? Dancing with the Stars? Flavor of Love? C'mon, those are sh!t and should be taken off the air immediately.

I thought Jon Stewart was one of the writers on his own show?

Going unscripted could bring some freshness to TDS at least. As frequently noted 'round these here parts, the show has lost some of its edge in recent years, and I'm wondering if some improv or loosey-goosey additions wouldn't be a shot in the arm.

Both Stewart and Colbert have decent clout in terms of getting strong guests that don't need much writing and can do a 15-minute interview with no problem, e.g. Bill Clinton's repeated visits to TDS. He always gets two segments anyway, as do other notables. If TDS goes to two-segment interviews with strong guests, Stewart can do a news update at the beginning, have a short segment with Demetri Martin or John Hodgman, then do the interview. Colbert could do something similar.

I don't know how non-WGA writers like Stewart, Colbert, Martin et al. will feel about performing struck work -- if they're writing the shows without their writers, they're "scabbing" the work. While my sympathies are with the WGA, if I'm Colbert, I don't let my show crash into the ocean as my audience slowly dribbles away over a period of six months or a year with no new shows. It's one thing to risk one's own well-being so garment workers don't have to work in firetraps for $2 an hour; giving up a once-in-a-lifetime chance with a hit show over some internet revenue is a bit different.

El Stupido 308 on your DirectTV dial

Kiwi readers! Chur.

I have to disagree with socalledonlycousins. There is no doubt in my mind that the big corporations that own TV networks nowadays are trying to break the Union by forcing big shows back on the air with scabs. Preserving show biz unions may not be important to audience members, but they are extremely important to those people in production. Actually I'm sort of disappointed to see that Stewart and Colbert are returning. They have certainly lost some of their Liberal street cred.

Just because the writers decided to strike doesn't mean they get to make that decision for the rest of the people in the industry. They misplayed their hand by striking rather than waiting for the actors contract to come up and then they could all strike at the same time. The writers could have worked for the next six months under the old contract and continued to negotiate in good faith. Its like the baseball umpires who went on strike a few years ago without the baseball players union behind them. Didn't turn out to well for them either.

JP, the writers had to strike first because their contract was up first. They couldn't wait for SAG or DGA because their contracts are generally based on the WGA agreement - since it's written earlier. So if they had agreed to a crappy contract they wouldn't have been able to go on strike if SAG and DGA had chosen to do so.

Plus, agreeing to the crappy contract would undermine SAG and DGA in their negotiations. A no-win for everyone involved. That's why the big companies are playing divide-and-conquer.

It's been tough not watching TV eps online and refraining from buying TV on DVD during the holiday season but all of those awesome shows that get cancelled too soon? The ones we LOVE to pieces? Live on via new media. If you truly love your shows, support the writers that make them happen.

I'll be interested to see if the strike shifts the tenor of what we watch. The popularity of certian types of shows come in waves. What happens when a brick wall hits the wave? Stay tuned!

hoorah-- just because their contract is up doesn't mean they have to strike. The studios would have to honor the existing contract while negotiations continued. Otherwise they would be in violation of NLRB laws/regs.

While not as good as the previous seasons, i still loved the 4400 and will lament its passing. Unlike most people seem to, i found the last season's storyline reasonably engrossing and was looking forwards to its return.

Lemme check mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, NOPE still don't give rat's ass about the strike.

They can close down all of Hollywood and improve our lives, significantly. Everything worth doing has already been done folks.

"I actually have the Homicide boxed set and I love it. Hallsyhatesyou, you are probably right about it going off the air at the right time, but even Homicide's worst episodes are better than 75% of the crap on t.v. today."

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I agree for the most part. I still watched the last season religiously every Friday night (I was a huge nerd in high school). But when I see those episodes now, I realize it was not very good. The Luthor Mahoney (one of the best characters ever) storyline had been wrapped up, but they tried to stretch it out forever, they decided to make Bayliss gay (!), and the new characters that they dumped on the show didn't work. Especially Jon Seda; man, that guy is a bad actor. I cringe whenever he interrogates someone...

What the frick?! I JUST started watching The 4400 this past summer, and was finally caught up to season 3 and eagerly awaiting the season 4 DVDs' arrival.

And to think I was just starting to get over my rage over Journeyman's cancellation.

Right, JP, a common union tactic is to allow the contract to expire, then drag out negotiations while waiting for a sister union's agreement to expire -- you see this frequently in hospitals, where a nurses' union will wait for the technical workers (x-ray techs etc.) to expire, then they both strike. Both unions have more clout because the impact of the strike is magnified. In the meantime, the employer is obligated to maintain the status quo of the expired agreement, including compensation -- no unilateral changes allowed. This is especially effective where it's impossible to hire permanent replacements for the strikers.

And knomeofzurich, I feel you. I'm rooting for the writers. I'm just sayin' . . . if I'm Colbert, it's tough to flush away a potential one-time shot at stardom over a writer's strike. It's one thing for David Letterman to take six months off; quite another for someone who's been on the air for a year or two.

i watched the 4400. the last season wasn't the best, but i'll still miss it. i guess i'm not really that surprised, but it still makes me sad.

i'm still sad about journeyman too. i need to stop liking sci-fi shows cause they don't last.

How'd that going on strike thing work out for the air traffic controllers????