People, we can take action. We can make a difference.
Here's the idea: Let's just boycott American network TV until the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers settles with the Writers Guild of America and the writers can get back to doing what they want to do - entertain us.
The U.S. networks probably won't pay the slightest bit of attention. But you can write them a letter and point out that, since several of the big network hits seem to be created or written by Canadians, you're boycotting the shows in solidarity. That might get their attention. A line in the sand is drawn. Use that phrase, by the way. They understand that kind of talk.
I am serious here. You know, just think about all those shows you love, with the interesting characters who have dilemmas, romantic ensnarements and crises in their professional lives. Guess what? The actors don't just dream them up on the spot. Meredith on Grey's Anatomy? She's not very interesting if she doesn't have something to say that's written for her.
And by the way - it wasn't a network exec or studio chief (the people with five homes, one in the Hollywood Hills, Malibu, Aspen, the Hamptons and Central Park West, according to a wonderful spoof on YouTube) who created Grey's Anatomy. It was a writer. Yes, a writer who then hired other writers to help tell stories for the characters that grip you every week. The writers, like you and me, have one home. The writing work on Grey's might not last forever, so it's the residuals that will pay for their kid's education, health care for their elderly parents and other expenses that will inevitably occur.
If you've seen photos of the picket lines in Los Angeles, hopefully you'll have seen the cast of Grey's Anatomy, in their hospital scrubs, picketing in solidarity with the writers. So, the next time you tune into Entertainment Tonight or e-Talk Daily because there's a juicy bit of gossip about your favourite actor on Grey's Anatomy, remember it was the writer who created the character in the first place and is responsible for the resulting charisma.
And yes, you can boycott network TV shows, because there are alternatives. On a Monday, you can watch Intelligence on CBC at 9 p.m. It's the finest drama on TV anywhere at the moment. Right now, it is building to an intriguing climax, as rogue Drug Enforcement Administration agents plan to grab a Canadian (okay, he's a major drug baron, but he's our drug baron) and vamoose with him to the United States. You can tape Corner Gas, which airs at 9:30 p.m. on CTV, and have a good laugh at the Canadian comedy that U.S. viewers are loving since it made its debut there in September. Tonight,you can watch the Rick Mercer Report (CBC, 8 p.m.), which is a repeat, but it's the one featuring a celebrity tip from Conrad Black and Mercer's practice session with the Toronto FC soccer team. More than a million people watch Mercer every week, so you don't have to feel weird about it. At 8:30 p.m., you can see This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In the absence of late-night U.S. shows featuring jokes about politicians you can't vote for, you can savour comedy about people you actually recognize and have reason to despise.
On Wednesday, you can see the fifth estate's follow-up story about more lottery shenanigans (CBC, 9 p.m.) and before that, if you like, see another Corner Gas on the Comedy Network at 8:30 p.m. On Thursday, check out The World's a Stage with John Neville (Bravo!, 8:30 p.m.), a wonderful documentary profiling the British-born actor, who became a major figure in Canadian culture. You'll learn a good deal about the acting that you watch TV to enjoy. On Friday, you really should take a look at Rabbit Fall (APTN, 7:30 p.m.), a funky new Canadian crime drama. It has Andrea Menard as a lady cop with a murky past who is sent to the small northern town of Rabbit Fall. There, things get very strange as the crimes she investigates clearly have little to do with Earth-bound forces.
For the weekend, I'll leave you to your own devices. You get the picture by now. Just get with the program. Boycott the U.S. network shows. How many writers do you want being mad at you?
Also airing tonight
Wal-Mart Nation (Newsworld, 10) is a terrific and, thankfully, humorous, look at the loathing inspired by the giant Wal-Mart chain.
It's really about what Wal-Mart stands for, and what it stands for is the meaning behind the slogans proclaiming ever-lower prices. That means ever-lower wages and worse working conditions - not just at Wal-Mart itself but in countless factories and companies around the world that supply the company. There is, by now, an intricate web of an international anti-Wal-Mart movement.
That movement contains many factions and oddballs, but the goal is the same: to expose Wal-Mart as a bad employer and a dangerous force in international retailing. Here, you'll find anti-globalization activists, a former Miss America, auto-industry unions and religious groups all with the same agenda.
As one person in Arkansas - where Wal-Mart is based - says, "We'd all be a lot better off if Wal-Mart just stopped being so greedy."
Check local listings.
*****
True colours of stars come out
The committed
Among the most conspicuously sincere last week: The Office's Steve Carell, who refused to show up to the taping of his NBC sitcom and was instead out marching with striking writers.
Carell is an occasional writer on The Office and was joined on the picket line by several Office cast members who have also contributed to episodes; co-star Rainn Wilson called in sick for the first show taping.
Also down for the cause last week: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who marched in Los Angeles alongside writers of her sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Grey's Anatomy stars Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight and Sandra Oh joined the writers' picket line circling the studio last Wednesday. Dirty Sexy Money regular William Baldwin did likewise outside Paramount Studios and served coffee.
There were also signs of support in New York, where 30 Rock star and executive producer Tina Fey, who also writes for the show, was out marching on the first day of the strike. Fey was joined on the line by several writer-performers from Saturday Night Live, her previous employer.
The fence-sitters
Although Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria handed out slices of pizza to striking writers, she was later criticized - by Louis-Dreyfus and others - for crossing the picket line of the popular prime-time soap in order to tape the final scripted show. Life on Wisteria Lane went on for one last episode.
Similarly, life went on at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for a few days last week. Leno was a high-profile presence on the first day of the strike - cruising the picket line on his vintage motorcycle, he handed out doughnuts to WGA members and spoke to reporters of supporting his show's writers. By Friday, however, NBC sent out an announcement that layoffs among non-writing staff could begin as early as this week.
In the same vein, Ellen DeGeneres paid homage to the striking writers of her daytime talk show last week by taking the first day off, and then showed up for work the next day. As told to her TV audience, Ellen's biggest concession involved skipping the show's opening monologue.
Andrew Ryan