Strike Not About Money: Are Hollywood Producers in the Pocket of the Far Right?

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/11093

Strike Not About Money: Are Hollywood Producers in the Pocket of the Far Right?
by Steve Young | Nov 18 2007

snip//

Apologies to Keith Olbermann, but Jon Stewart and his writers can deliver more political truth in the context of a one-liner than three hours a day with Bill O'Reilly.

Whether the Jonathan be Stewart or Swift, effective satire in the hands of the today's television best like Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher cuts to the quick, stripping the thin veneer of bullshit and exposing the absurdity that comes from those of supposed authority.

This isn't to say the Right doesn't provide grist for the satirical mill. It's just that their grist doesn't seem to grasp how to churn out the humor their own mill turns out. Think the Half-Hour Comedy Hour, but only for as long as you have to. Placing the Judith "Right Wing Books A Mundo" Regan in a war against Rupert Murdoch (who set her up with her own imprint at Harper Collins) and Fox, where we can find many of the right-wing authors she has published (Hannity, Gibson and frequent guest Boortz), would have a network with any sense of irony creaming over the possibilities. At Fox News we're left with Dennis Miller to find the funny. I said, Dennis Miller and funny. See, now that's ironic.

The Power of Satire (in caps to make it easier for my literary agent to sell the book...maybe to Judith Regan) in the hands of the Left is deadly ammunition in the war against the insanity of this White House. That isn't to say that the satirists have not targeted those to the left of Limbaugh. The powerful of either party are always in the satirist's cross-hairs. But it is in protecting the Right that most benefits from draining the ink from the WGA's pens. And for that matter, keeping them quiet for as long as possible.

Fact is, the strike has taken away The Daily Show, Real Time and The Colbert Report and left us with The Factor and Entertainment Tonight.

Tell me that isn't an attempt to dumb down the Folks™.

Question is, which is more credible, the Daily Show (even off the air) or Fox News (anywhair)?

You make the choice...

Daily Show


or Fox News


I realize that my contention may not be all that feasible to many, but you tell me that the result of what's been pulled off the air and what's been left doesn't make us all a little less capable of making smart decisions.

Don't be surprised if the strike lasts until the last voter is disenfranchised on November 4, 2008. How else would you keep a Republican in the White House?

DISCLAIMER: Of couse, I may be completely off base and the a prolonged strike is not a deliberate Right-wing criminal effort by the Producers, but keeping the voice of the dissenters quiet...that is a crime. And for that, the Producers should be ashamed.


Steve Young is an award-winning WGA TV writer, a Harper Collins published author and his weekly LA Daily News column appears in the same oped on as Bill O'Reilly's. He has also never been employed on staff at either The Daily Show or Real Time and isn't at all happy with their hiring practices.

[rocktivity]

1. If the strike isn't over before the January primares, I won't be surprised

What a perfect way for the Rethugs to take Stewart, Colbert, and Letterman off the table while still insisting that Hollywood is too liberal. Thank goodness for Olbermann.

:headbang:
rocknation

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. Reality TV and Bush

Somehow, I always had a nagging feeling that the rise of "Reality TV" and Bush were kind of connected. It's the "Circus" part of our failing empire.

[Me.]

3. It's About The Money

Used to be that the cost of making a film was 25% above the line, 75% below the line. Below the line are the worker bees on a film, sound, lighting, wardrobe, grips , electrics etc. Above were directors. producers actors etc. In the last couple of decades that equation has switched to 75% above the line and 25% below the line, and has become top heavy. The writers want a fair share of what their work generates especially in the new media.