Discovery

If shows that are shown only once a week and have around 22 episodes a year are affected by the strike, then the soaps, which have new shows five days a week, 52 weeks a year must be even more affected, right Right

For some reason, not yet. The shows haven’t divulged how many scripts they have stockpiled and how long they will last, but the soaps haven’t gone into reruns, “classic episodes” or other programming yet. Most soaps have anywhere from six to a dozen a writers or more, and most of those writers are on the picket line. A few writers (though not all) on four of the soaps, CBS’ The Young and the Restless and ABC’s All My Children, One Life To Live, and General Hospital, have crossed the picket lines and returned to work on the show because of something called “financial core,” which means financial need, another example of how I don’t quite understand what’s going on with this strike.

The writers on the picket line wonder how the shows are getting by with either no writers or only a few. They say it can’t be done. But the 1988 strike might hold a clue to what’s going on. During that strike, non-union staff members were actually asked to come on board as writers or be fired. This was cool for the secretaries, who had their pay bumped from $150 to $2500 a week (!), but if I was a writer on a show I’d be pretty pissed that a show would think that just anyone could do what I do.

This is nothing against secretaries - such as Marge, the secretary who practically runs things around the TV Squad offices - we love you Marge!