The Strike is On, and the Viewers Will Suffer

I am a devout optimist. I always believe in the best, and even when bad things happen, I often believe that they will be solved as soon as humanly possible, and all will be well. I had that optimism when the Writers' Guild of America went on strike a few months ago, and that was mainly because of their last strike about 15 years ago. I still remember the bits and pieces of that strike, and I figured that with this being a bit more of a modern time, this strike would be solved a bit quicker than the last one.

Then the actors got involved. Now they wanted to strike. The deadline for negotiations was set for June 30, but an extra two weeks (or close to it) was given to allow both sides more time. The sides were the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), and even after that extra time, nothing was settled. As a football fan, when nothing is settled after overtime, the game ends tied. The only negative is fans not knowing how to react to ties, but even then, nobody loses.

In the case of this deal, nothing was settled after overtime, and as a result, the strike is on. Sadly, there are losers in this: we, the viewers.

I never thought this would be as bad as it was 15 years ago, and it's not. It's worse. The reason why it's worse is simple: there are a lot more streaming channels than there were back in 2007-08, and that means a lot of original material. Back in 2007-08, it was basically just Netflix, and Hulu had just started. Now we have not only those two, we have Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+, Freevee, Apple TV, Tubi, and a lot more. Each of those platforms gives us a lot more original material to gaze and feast on, but with this strike now on, that will be put on hold for God knows how long.

A strike like this will result in original shows being held back for a good bit, resulting in condensed new seasons, or it could result in shows being canceled altogether. I still, to this day, say the last strike caused Reaper to be canceled. Reaper was a CW horror-comedy that starred Bret Harrison as Sam Oliver, who is stuck at a dead-end job when he later learns that his soul was sold to the Devil to save his father's life. The central premise has Sam and his friends, Ben and Sock, seek out escaped souls and return them back to Hell. Now, I recall the ratings being a bit iffy, but they weren't bad enough for cancellation. The strike killed this show.

The strike already affected the annual ESPY awards, which took place hours before the negotiations failed. For the first time ever, the ESPYs had no host. Past host for the ESPYs have included Kevin Hart, Stephen Curry, and even John Cena, but for this year, they went hostless and kicked off with Pat McAfee doing his hilarious bit before different celebs and athletes presented the awards.

I find myself worrying about a lot of my favorite shows because of this strike. Among them is the hit CBS series, Ghosts, which got picked up for a third season. The second season actually ended on a bit of a cliffhanger: one of the original ghosts ended up blasted out of the house, but the wait to find out who it is will be just a bit longer. Now the show's not in danger of cancellation, but something like this can't wait for longer than the summer break. Inquiring fans (myself included) need to know in September!

I'm a huge fan of The Rookie, which will enter Season Six, but the show I'm mainly concerned with is the spinoff, The Rookie: Feds. The show's first season has already been completed, but even as of this writing, it has not been renewed. That scares me. Mind you, the strike hadn't really loomed before this show was in the bubble, and now that it's vastly reached this level, I am immensely apprehensive. Shows that have completed their freshman or sophomore years are basically considered expendable when strikes are in the way, because they're seen as relatively new shows.

The Rookie: Feds is an amazing show, it's a Tuesday night delight that I really enjoyed watching while also looking into whatever hockey was playing during that season. This show needs to be renewed. The ratings are good enough to justify a second season.

I could mention a lot of shows that are impacted by this, but the point's there. Again, I was really hopeful that the writer's strike wouldn't be as bad as it was 15 years ago, but it's actually worse than the last strike. A tit for tat between two sides who could really afford to actually compromise, has now ballooned in to something very crippling. And as I said before, the only people who really suffer as a result: the viewers. In the immortal words of the iconic Carlos Santana, "This can't go on."