Strike Watch: Best Of The Blogs

Today WGA East picketers will be located at Sony Plaza, 56th and Madison from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

–From Salon’s Doug Gordon:

”As the Guild is quick to point out, at any time 50 percent of its members are unemployed. In New York, where union-sanctioned shows are limited to late-night comedy, soap operas, the news and the various ‘Law & Order’ series, it sometimes feels as if that number is higher. The fact is that most of the Guild’s members are not millionaire writers. Some of us are ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ writers.”

–From New York’s Ehren Gresehover:

”Hot on the heels of Saturday Night Live’s surprise off-camera performance at the same theater over the weekend, last night’s 30 Rock show was a bit more subdued. Instead of dance parties and too-hot-for-TV sketches, the full regular cast did a loose reading of an upcoming but already taped episode of the show (ensuring Tina Fey won’t wake up to an inflatable rat outside her apartment). The night was complete with improvised commercials (which pleased the UCB faithful) and a raffle of Sheinhardt Wig Company T-shirts signed by the cast.

”Another reason for all the goodwill from the audience was that all the proceeds from the ticket sales and the raffle will go into the pockets of the recently laid-off production assistants for the show, who presumably don’t have the advantage of superstar salaries to keep the Cristal flowing during the strike.”

–LateShowOnStrike tries to understand the relationship between the goals of the WGA strike and the inflatable rats and pigs with cigars that accompany the pickets.

–Finally: Just who is winning the PR cyber war in the Writers Guild strike? We nominate the WGA East YouTube channel.

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