Kassia Kroszer has a solid overview of the basic issues behind the WGA strike, pointing out how “promotional” material is being used to screw writers out of revenue and makes a concerted effort to see the scenario from the producers’ perspective. The upshot is that with production costs dramatically curtailed as the home video standard switched from VHS to DVD, it becomes less reasonable for writers and artists to be screwed out of monies that, quite frankly, could not have been generated were it not for their labor.

If, like me, you are something of a giddy nihilist about the great entertainment empire come crumbling down in a mere week, you might likewise be interested in this reporting. Apparently, the refusal of movie stars to cross picket lines has had intriguing results for the junket interviews. They will not chat about their latest movie on Good Morning America because this means a television writer researching and scribing the questions — putting the words in a telegenic beauty’s mouth.

What remains interesting is just how the television-watching public will respond to all these reruns. Will they see more movies? Will they read more books? Is television so fixated upon endless new content that the public will resist anything that resembles seeing the same thing twice?