Matt Belloni at Puck News did specifically answer my question last night, and added another reason that this strike is different than the last one: social media has given the Unions a powerful tool for communicating its message and punishing those who get out of line (I follow actor Josh Malina, a strong Union guy, on Twitter and he has been aggressive in calling out those who cross the Union lines). While there was social media during last WGA strike, it was not as powerful as today.
Belloni suggested that Barrymore ought to have put out a statement like Conan and Kimmel did last strike (my thought as well): “Remember, network late night hosts returned without writers after just *six weeks* of the 2007-08 WGA strike. *Conan O’Brien*’s *statement <https://email.puck.news/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnVDJ4Z1lEQU9lN0FlYTdBUUdLcG9JR3dlSEpkRkhjMHlYUmNIaz0iLCJocmVmIjoiaHR0cDovL3d3dy50aGVmdXRvbmNyaXRpYy5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDA3LzEyLzE3L3N0YXRlbWVudC1mcm9tLWNvbmFuLW9icmllbi0yNjI0OC8yMDA3MTIxN25iYzAyLz91dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249V2hhdCtJJTI3bStIZWFyaW5nKy0rU1VCU0NSSUJFUlMrJTI4OSUyRjE3JTJGMjMlMjlcdTAwMjZ1dG1fY29udGVudD1XaGF0K0klMjdtK0hlYXJpbmcrLStTVUJTQ1JJQkVSUyslMjg5JTJGMTclMkYyMyUyOVx1MDAyNnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWxfYWN0aW9uXHUwMDI2dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1jdXN0b21lci5pb1x1MDAyNnV0bV90ZXJtPWY2YzYwNjAwZTZiYjAxZTdiYjAxIiwiaW50ZXJuYWwiOiJmNmM2MDYwMGU2YmIwMWU3YmIwMSIsImxpbmtfaWQiOjYxMzc4NX0/e4f0d4b4443574df6dfe4182ed5403562d944eba615b5951276883f908bb8c80>* at the end of 2007 is interesting to read through the lens of the current situation: “Unfortunately, now with the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision. Either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for fourteen years, to lose their jobs…. So, it is only after a great deal of thought that I have decided to go back on the air on January 2nd.” *Jimmy Kimmel* soon followed: “It is time to go back to work. I support my colleagues and friends in the WGA completely and hope this ends both fairly and soon.” Can you imagine Conan or Kimmel putting out those statements today? No way. Even if they wanted to, the current late-night hosts would get *destroyed* online. Instead, they’re hawking Casamigos and Pepsi on a podcast to help their staff members. Again, I’m not saying they want to go back; my point is, like Barrymore, they *can’t *go back—with the exception of *Bill Maher*, who gave the WGA a middle finger this week, but whose brand is pretty much to extend middle fingers to anything that negatively impacts him personally.” Sent from Gmail Mobile On Wed, 13 Sep 2023 at 7:29 AM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > I support labor, but I am struggling to understand the beef here. Didn’t > we see all the Kate night talk shows going back to work during the last > strike, without writers? I don’t recall them being criticized like this. Is > Barrymore using scab writers? Is it that she is crossing a Union picket > line (though as Tom points out often picket lines are not actually boycott > lines)? > > She is from one of the most honored acting families in history, she could > do shows on the history of Hollywood exploitation of actors and writers, > the importance of human actors and writers, etc. > > Aren’t we likely to see Colbert and the Jimmys back sans writers if the > strike goes more than another month now that summer is over? > > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > > On Tue, 12 Sep 2023 at 10:41 AM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > >> From what I understand from the article the WGA picket line consisted of >> Drew’s four writers and they weren’t trying to keep people from crossing >> the picket line. The two people who got stopped for their pins weren’t yet >> in the studio. The news story hadn’t yet broke. If you were Drew’s producer >> would you interrupt her preparing for a season premiere to tell her this >> happened? >> >> On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 12:15 PM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> >>> For the record, Drew claims she was not aware of any of this. I'll give >>> her the benefit of the doubt here, although I know that the response will >>> be that she's not aware of anything. But she does do the show for >>> you--take it with you. (I only know this catchphrase because I've been >>> hearing it many mornings when switching over to watch "The Price is Right." >>> When their season starts, I'll be hearing instead "the news continues now >>> on our CBS News Chicago channel on Pluto TV, we'll be back in an hour here >>> on CBS2--have a good day.") >>> On Monday, September 11, 2023 at 6:30:04 PM UTC-5 Kevin M. wrote: >>> >>>> Actors are gonna blacklist that show when the strike ends. It just >>>> looks bad. >>>> >>>> On Mon, Sep 11, 2023 at 11:04 AM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> The two NY students, who claim they were not aware of the strikes (!), >>>>> were handed the pins by picketers as they entered the CBS Broadcast Center >>>>> this morning--security told them to take them off--one did and one didn't, >>>>> the one who didn't was noted by a crew member and they were both tossed >>>>> out >>>>> of the studio--they then accepted WGA strike shirts and joined the >>>>> picketers: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/drew-barrymore-show-audience-kicked-out-1235587064/ >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/88318bb6-8b2a-43f5-9847-0b1ef825e5b1n%40googlegroups.com >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/88318bb6-8b2a-43f5-9847-0b1ef825e5b1n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/2eb7a694-562d-4dc2-818d-72b39f6c1081n%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/2eb7a694-562d-4dc2-818d-72b39f6c1081n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGdU80S0rkkVjVEk98Hzt2-VwQhECcK-mG3AL1JoHRrmQ%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGdU80S0rkkVjVEk98Hzt2-VwQhECcK-mG3AL1JoHRrmQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. 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