Chuck Returns This Thursday

For all of you Chuck-fanatics out there, or just the average television audience dying for some new, entertaining scripted television, NBC has just the thing for you this Thursday, January 23rd. The peacock channel will be airing two brand new episodes of Chuck to lift you out of your reality TV doldrums. Unfortunately, the airing of these two episodes also marks the end of Chuck’s freshman season since no other episodes were produced before the start of the WGA strike.

For some reason the two episodes aren’t being run back to back though. That means set your DVRs so we’re not all subjected to watching an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. The first new episode of Chuck airs at 8/7 Central, then a one hour Apprentice: Celebrity Edition, and then the second episode of Chuck comes on at 10/9 Central. I know the second episode has a pretty substantial secondary story centering around Chuck’s sister’s boyfriend Devon (a.k.a. Captain Awesome), so I’m especially excited for that episode. After that it’s anybody’s guess whether or not new episodes will be produced for any scripted shows this year or if we’ll all have to wait until the start of next season to see what’s in store for Chuck, Casey, Sarah and the Buy More crew.


Also, don’t forget that this Saturday, January 26th marks the Season 2 premier of Torchwood on BBC America at 9/8 Central. The new season kicks off with a bang with special guest star James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Spike).

WGA Strike Nears Its End?

According to a few sources it looks like the WGA and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are going to start holding informal talks again today. This is great news and may save next season’s television season after all. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the WGA has agreed to drop their demand that Reality Show Writers and Animation Show Writers be unionized by the latest deal. (link) They have decided to try and organize those two groups of writers another way than including it in their collective bargaining agreement with the AMPTP.


What’s most shocking about this statement is the fact that both the WGA and AMPTP are both admitting that reality television has writers! Doesn’t this go against everything the term reality television stands for!?! I’m hoping this latest revelation will spark a movement to change the term from reality television to either: a partially scripted show, a quasi-reality show or a half-written show. These terms haven’t been perfected yet, so I’d be happy to take some suggestions for a new term for professionally written reality television shows.


There have been some other reports that because the AMPTP and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) agreed upon a new collective bargaining agreement last week that the argument between the WGA and the AMPTP has effectively been settled. I can’t even begin to try and explain why this is the case, so instead I’ll direct to you to a recent blog post on a great blog I read quite often, Notes From A Hack by Irwin Handleman. Irwin Handleman is a professional comedy writer and also a pen name, I think. If not then he just happens to share his name with a character from one of my favorite television shows of all time, Skippy from Family Ties. You can read his explanation for why the strike will end soon here.