Writers Guild of America Votes to Strike

In a move that may potentially have a significant impact on scripted television shows, 90% of Writers Guild of America voters authorized a strike if they can’t come to an agreement on a new contract. The current contract expires Wednesday October 31, 2007. Should it occur, this would mark the first strike since a five month strike in 1988. Though this vote would allow the union to strike immediately after the contract expires, they may wait for some time after that while they continue negotiating.

A strike now would not have an immediate impact, but it would create a big problem come early next year when the new seasons begin. One genre that would not have trouble going forward would be reality TV, which is not unionized. In the event of a lengthy strike, we would see a lot more reality TV in the spring than we normally do. Beyond that, we could expect to see a lot more reruns than usual, and news and sports shows also would be able to continue without interruption.

Fox looks pretty good. Because of the completion time of animated series being far more in advance than most shows, its Sunday night lineup is safe. Its biggest show, American Idol, also debuts early next year, and they could easily fill 2-3 nights with that. Additionally, there are several other reality shows that make up Fox’s lineup currently that could easily be used to fill the gaps. Only having to run two hours of programming a night should make it a lot easier on them than CBS, ABC, and NBC as well.

The CW has returning shows in its lineup such as America’s Next Top Model, Beauty and the Geek, Pussycat Dolls, and WWE Smackdown and is preparing new reality shows in the event of a strike. On Sunday nights, The CW’s as good as dead currently, so that should be easy enough to fill.

NBC’s heavy dependence on Deal or No Deal may not be such a bad thing after all, and they’ve also got The Apprentice and The Biggest Loser looking to make returns. On the news magazine front, NBC has Dateline. Beyond that, NBC is looking abroad, considering airing the UK version of The Office.

CBS, with its 432 procedural dramas, would definitely be in for some hurt. However, reruns of shows like CSI do quite well. Survivor remains one of the biggest shows on TV, and The Amazing Race will be making its return. A strike could actually help revive those two shows to their former glory. 60 Minutes, already running 90 minutes long, could easily be stretched to 2 hours.

ABC has Extreme Makeover, Dancing with the Stars, The Bachelor, and 20/20. Of these, Dancing with the Stars will be the most useful, as it’s got the potential to fill in 2 hours a night for 2-3 nights and achieve top ratings doing so.

Celebrity Apprentice Cast Revealed?

Update: the list below was only a partial leaked list. The full official Celebrity Apprentice Cast has now been posted.

Another list of Celebrity Apprentice Cast members have been revealed, this time by TMZ. The previous list turned out to be wishful thinking.

The list, which may or may not be partially accurate, this time is:

Omarosa (The Apprentice 1)
Lennox Lewis (Boxer)
Gene Simmons (KISS Singer)
Tito Ortiz (Mixed Martial Artist)
Stephen Baldwin (Actor, Flinstones movie, both Celebrity Moles)
Carol Alt (Ex-Model)
Vinny Pastore (Actor, The Sopranos)
John Cena (Wrestler)
Marilu Henner (Actress, Taxi)

Yeah, I had to look half of them up. With a cast like this, it’s almost like doing a non-celebrity version.

CSI: Season 8, Episode 4 – : The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp

Last week’s episode, “Go To Hell” was a chilling story as the CSI team faced a 12-year old girl supposedly possessed by the devil. As it turns out, she was completely normal and she was the one who planned and killed her parents and sister. This week, the CSI team investigates two crime scene – one at Sam’s (Catherine’s dead father) casino site and the other at a lake where a boy was hanged.

The victim, Bryan Towne had lacerations on his chest, which appeared to have swollen mammary glands. Although the vic was stabbed, the cause of death was suffocation from hanging. Evidence found were beer bottles, which may have been used to stab the victim.

In the meantime, Catherine and her mom talked on a site where Sam’s casino used to stand. Lily was talking about how she met Sam and how she fell for him. As a way to move on, Lily threw the 5-dollar chip (that Sam gave during their first meeting). A few minutes later, police came to the site and Catherine rushes to find out that a body was found on the site. Due to conflict of interest, Sara and the new CSI Ronnie was assigned to the case.

Warrick investigates Bryan Towne’s room and finds a stash of cash, gun kept under his bed and water samples in a dozen small tubes. The victim’s mom, who is a surviving cancer patient, visits her son at Dr. Robbin’s office.

Sara and Ronnie checks out the casino site and sees an Indian necklace, which may indicate the site could be a Native American burial ground.

A man named Paul Sides called Bryan Towne several times before he died. Catherine and Brass asks about his relationship with the victim. As it turns out, Sides and the victim was working on a project and Towne became the project himself.

At the lab, Stokes found finger prints from the beer bottles that led to Larry Ludwig, a man who worked in the same water company as Bryan. Since he had rope burns, he was immediately taken to the station. He told Stokes and Warrick during his interogation that he and a friend brought 2 girls along with them to the lake, where they saw Bryan hanging out. He admitted that the girls wanted to play so he placed the rope around the tree so they could swing to the lake. When it was Bryan’s turn to jump, the girls and Larry made fun of him when they saw him “man-boobs” through his wet shirt.

Dr. Al and Sara discusses the bones found on the casino site, but Greg (who was planning to write a book on Las Vegas murders and dead bodies unknown to the press) had more insights about the case. He helped Ronnie and Sara as they went back to the site to measure the bones.

However, it was Hodgens who helped Sara determine the last location where the John Doe lived. Greg finds a roll of film from the rubbles and sees one picture that may be the clue to the John Doe’s death – Sam’s financials where the feds, state and a certain “Fergus” had their fare share during the 1960’s casino development.

While Catherine and Brass’ believed Paul Sides was in the hiding, he was found dead on his apartment, wherein they found a ripped paper stating an offer to buy his house from Bryan Towne’s boss, Jonah Quin. They went over Sides’ paperwork and experiments, where they found a freezer filled with carps.

Sara visits Grissom at his bee farm, where Grissom casually proposes to Sara and where she casually agrees to marry him.

As it turns out, the John Doe last lived in South East Asia, particularly in Vietname, but was of Indian backgrounds. As Greg was talking to Lily (Catherine’s mom) about the people found on the other pictures, she remembered a journalist who attended that party, Lee Jordan who wore an Indian costume. Greg and Sara assumed that after taking a picture of Sam’s financial statements, his bodyguard may have caught him and caused his fall down to the ground floor. Was he pushed or did he fall while running? Sara, Greg and the team may never know.

Back at the lab, Grissom becomes interested when Catherine gives him the freezer filled with fish. With the help of Hodgens, Grissom determined that the water used in Paul Sides’ experiments were endangering the lives of both humans and other living things exposed to it. Sides discovered that Quin’s water company was using the dirty water from the lake, which may have caused Bryan Towne’s high levels of estrogen.

Warrick and Stokes ruled out murder in Bryan Towne’s case because evidences pointed out to suicide. It was definitely a hate crime, but Bryan Towne was the one who hated himself. Unfortunately, his mom thought Sides killed her son, so she shot him using the gun found on his son’s bedroom. It was only until Catherine explained to her that Paul Sides was helping his son that she understood what really happened.

At the office, Catherine and Grissom was talking to the district attorney about the water problem and Jonah Quin’s case. Unfortunately, the company has plans of counter-attacking all witnesses and evidences that the water is really dangerous. About Mrs. Towne, the DA says she will not put the cancer patient and widow who has just lost her only son into court.. so she goes free.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of CSI: Las Vegas Season 8 episode 5, which airs Thursday at 9pm on CBS.

Watch CSI Online

The Bachelor 11 Episode 4

In The Bachelor 11 Episode 3, Brad wanted to give his twin brother some prime camera time, so he had him trick the girls into thinking he was Brad and pretended the results of this test actually mattered. Also, Hillary went on a one-on-one date with Brad (and got over the top emotional), we found out McCarten and DeAnna were heartless, and three more women were sent home (Solisa, Lindsey, and Sarah, the last two largely, if not entirely, because of the twin twist).

This week there will be three dates: a one-on-one date, a group date, and a two-on-one date where only one person will return.

Jenni gets the one-on-one date. Brad arrives in a helicopter. Brad and Jenni have dinner on top of a building overlooking the city. Back at the house, DeAnna and McCarten continue to be mean to people. Jade gets really pissed off at them. Jenni, who was the first to kiss Brad (really kiss him anyway) kisses him again, then she gets a rose.

Sheena, McCarten, Hillary, Bettina, Kristy, and Stephy will go on the group date, leaving Jade and DeAnna to go on the two-on-one date. Brad chooses to have the group date do an improv comedy show because apparently making people do improv comedy proves they’re not shy and reserved. Bettina screams that she loves Brad and gets embarassed because she meant it. Kristy says she’s not comfortable being put on the spot and doing something she feels ridiculous doing, then she starts crying. Everybody else seems to feel reasonably comfortable. Brad says Hillary steals the show, but he gives the rose to Bettina because he felt she did a lot more than he’d expected.

Jade and DeAnna pack their bags and go on a two-on-one date. They hate each other, and the tension between them gets played up by the producers. Granted, everybody hates DeAnna except McCarten, so they could have taken this angle regardless. The date turns into a competition. Whatever Jade says, DeAnna responds similarly. Brad tells Jade she doesn’t give herself enough credit, and DeAnna tells him she’s looking for love. He gives the rose to DeAnna. Not a particularly big surprise since we’ve seen so little of Jade this season. She’s probably more upset that DeAnna stayed than having to leave. After she leaves, Brad gets into the hottub with DeAnna and kisses her.

At the house, the girls are discussing marriage. A couple of them say they’d say yes if he asks. Bettina, who’s already told Brad she loves him after like three dates, is telling the girls they’re naive for saying that stuff. She then breaks the news to them that she’s divorced.

Brad’s concerned Kristy’s too refined for her. Sheena gets emotional and says she wants to stay there for all the right reasons. McCarten tells Brad she’s afraid of being hurt again.

Four of the girls ask who was Brad’s first kiss, and he says Jenni. They all hate her. They then talk to her and twist her words to try to make her look bad. She refuses to get wrapped up in the catfight.

Roses
Bettina (received earlier)
Jenni (received earlier)
DeAnna (received earlier)
Kristy
Sheena
Hillary

McCarten and Stephy get sent home, following in the footsteps of Jade.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Bachelor 11 episode 5, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Watch The Bachelor 11 Online

Survivor: China Episode 5

In Survivor: China Episode 2, I said Zhan Hu should get rid of Dave, or they’ll regret it. Of course, they refused to do that and kept him around. So then in Survivor: China episode 4, they woke up and realized they should have done that, and decided to vote him out. Unfortunately, what made sense in episode 2 no longer made sense in episode 4. I really can’t figure out what Sherea, one of the laziest contestants on the show this year, contributes to the team, and her excuse that she’s saving up her energy for challenges doesn’t cut it because it’s not like she’s good at them or anything. With decisions like these, it’s no wonder they’ve been to tribal council three out of four times.

Erik and Jaime start flirting. He says he’s a virgin, which she says makes him more trustworthy than she thought before. In Survivor, a showmance should work pretty well.

James and Denise are getting along well because of their work ethic. He’s definitely a good person to coast under.

The tribes receive a message saying they must pick two warriors. Fei Long picks Frosti and… Sherea. Huh? As Simon Cowell would say, what the bloody hell was that? Zhan Hu picks James and Aaron. Maybe this tribe is less dumb than the other. Or maybe they’re both just dumb in their own ways. Anyway, this does even things up, as Fei Long was becoming way too strong (largely because Zhan Hu kept sucking worse and worse).

Both tribes are talking about voting off new members, but in terms of winning challenges, this doesn’t make sense. If this were a normal tribe shuffle, it definitely would, but when you get the strongest members, you don’t just vote them off. That’s just stupid unless you want to lose. With that said, Sherea’s completely expendable.

Sherea’s talking about stepping up her work now that she’s on the other tribe. I’m not betting on it. Frosti’s happy to find out nobody likes Jean-Robert because it improves his position. Jean-Robert’s asking people to help him out politely as far as I can tell, yet everybody takes offense to it. They’re just looking for an excuse to hate on the guy who’s now their strongest member. If they lose him, they’ll suck as bad as the other tribe used to.

Aaron already starts talking about James being a threat longer term. Dude, it’s episode 5. Granted, better James than himself.

Peih-Gee is the only person I’ve seen smart enough to discuss taking advantage of having a post-shuffle majority. Most people try their hardest to make sure they win immunity, thereby ensuring that their teammates on the other side who are in the minority go home. She realizes this problem and contemplates whether it’s a good idea. This is potentially problematic for her in this case (again going back to the picks based on strength) because if they get rid of the strongest players, that runs the risk of losing more immunities, which may be a problem if the couple decide to take her out.

Tribes must head out to a raft and dive under the water to retrieve sticks. They must get as many sticks in one breath as possible. When they get all the sticks out, puzzle pieces will be released. Amanda and Courtney sit out for Fei Long. Zhan Hu gets back to shore first. Fei Long’s a bit behind but not too far. Jaime and Peih Gee are completely unconcerned about the challenge, and since they’re two of the three puzzle solvers, this is enough to make sure they lost big.

James hopes the guys unite, which would make for a very strong tribe. Erik’s not going to turn on Jaime yet, but he would turn on Peih-Gee. Would have made more sense to clue Erik in on the decision beforehand and gotten his feedback. They do, however, tell him after the fact, and he’s willing to work with them just because he doesn’t see a viable alternative. James tells them to just send him home if they’re not getting rid of one of the girls. He would have been safe at least one more time, but probably not much more at this rate.

Jaime admits at tribal council that she threw the challenge. James is going nuts listening to this conversation and wants to leave because he just can’t sit around and watch what they’re doing.

Votes:
Peih-Gee
James
Aaron
Aaron
Aaron

Aaron has been voted off the island. James is quite upset, but they got rid of the person who’s a smoother talker.

I’ve got to give credit to Peih-Gee for one of the better strategic plays I’ve seen in quite some time. This is how you deal with a shuffle.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 6 That’s Love Baby! It Makes You Strong!, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Watch Survivor: China Online

The Next Great American Band Premieres Tomorrow

From the folks that brought us American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance comes the newest music-focused creation, The Next Great American Band. It’s in a rather iffy time slot of 8PM on Fridays, so I wouldn’t expect too much from it in terms of ratings, but it may perform well enough to move to a real night.

“You just have to cross your fingers,” said Mike Darnell, Fox’s president for alternative entertainment. He added that American Idol’s success “doesn’t necessarily translate to the band show. … You can’t compare anything to American Idol.”

Nigel Lythgoe’s not afraid to poke fun of American Idol in the process of promoting this new show. “I can pick out five bands that I can go, ‘Wow, these guys are tremendous.’ You can’t do that with the top 12 Idols,” Lythgoe said.

One of the judges, the Goo Goo Dolls’ Johnny Rzeznik, told The Associated Press, “People are tired of seeing really manufactured artists, who are very beautiful and can sing but don’t have their own body of work… This is a cool process, not put together by a marketing team, a record company.”

The producers accepted 60 videos from online submissions and will narrow that down to the final 12 on the first night. So they will get rid of one of Idol’s biggest criticisms (yet also its biggest draw): the excessive really bad auditions. Two bands will be voted off each week.