January 17, 2008 | Seahawk LIFE 7 Industry frets over its future FROM GLOVER PAGE 6 five month long student strike. In his late 20s, Glover quit his job as a as strike strangles TV season San Francisco city government bureaucrat to begin his life as an actor in Los Angeles. He enrolled in the Black Actors Workshop at San video-sharing Web site with a billowing audi- know, a lot of that is pure crap.” (“Of course,” GLENN GARVIN Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS ence: “Once they’ve seen us, will those people he added quickly, “I don’t include my own and moved on to receive training at Jean spend as much time watching TV? Not if we shows in that.”) Shelton’s Actors Lab also in San Francisco. do our jobs right, they’ll find some of our There may still be time to avert that, but In 1985 Glover demonstrated his ability to Like mutilated corpses on “CSI” or “Law shows addictive.” not much - especially since the writers and match up with some of Hollywood’s most tal- & Order,” the victims of a television writ- ABC’s fading news show “Nightline,” studios broke off negotiations a month ago and ented actors through appearances in "Witness" ers strike are starting to pile up: Last week’s competing only against reruns of late-night haven’t even sat at the same table since. And and "The Color Purple." Throughout his act- People’s Choice Awards. Sunday night’s talk shows, scored its best ratings in years the networks show little interest in resuming ing career Glover has achieved five Emmy Golden Globes ceremony. The rest of this TV and finished ahead of David Letterman’s last fall’s season, which generated mediocre nominations and is committed to articulating season - and very soon, Hollywood insiders “Late Show” in one key demographic group ratings without a single breakout hit. the black experience on-screen and on-stage. say, next season as well. in the quarterly Nielsens. Letterman promptly “I think the fall season is dead,” said In 1994, he helped create the Robey Theatre Although the increasingly bitter strike is in reached a side deal with the union that allowed Cynthia Cidre, creator of the CBS Cuban- Company of Los Angele and, in addition to its third month, a stockpile of completed shows him to go back to work with his writers American family drama “Cane,” which aired his Emmy nominations, Glover has won the kept it largely invisible to TV viewers until the (“I know what you’re thinking,” Letterman the last of its 13 completed episodes early last NAACP Image Award five times. replacement of Sunday’s glitzy Golden Globes cracked during his first monologue. “You’re month. “Nobody’s going to scramble around Glover has gained respect both inside and ceremony with a dry, celebrity-free press thinking: This crap is written?”), and Jay to make three or four new episodes of a show outside the United States, as he has served conference. (Things aren’t looking so hot for Leno and others returned to the air with that hasn’t aired since December.” as an ambassador for the United Nations the Globes’ big brother, the Oscars ceremony, makeshift shows. The pilot season may be salvageable if Development Program from 1998 to 2004. either.) Ratings also have surged for new reality there’s a quick settlement, but just barely. Particularly focusing on advocacy for eco- But the backlog of finished programs is shows, which are not affected by the strike Ordinarily, networks read scores of prospec- nomical justice and access to health care and about to run dry. And industry players say the because they are produced without scripts. tive scripts in December, order dozens of education programs in the United States and refusal of writers to produce scripts has made NBC, battered all season in the Nielsens, pilots in January, and spend March and April Africa, Glover is internationally recognized it impossible not only to resume this TV sea- racked up big numbers three times in a week winnowing them down to the five or six for his community activism and charitable son, but to plan the next one. this month with the debuts of “American they’ll present to advertisers in May as addi- efforts. The strike, they say, has quietly strangled Gladiator,” “The Biggest Loser 5” and “The tions to their fall lineups. Many agree that it is an honor to bring such the pilot season, when network executives Celebrity Apprentice.” a valuable voice to UNCW, as interim vice order sample episodes of proposed new shows “NBC has had a real hot streak with chancellor for institutional diversity Debra for next fall. Even if the work stoppage were our reality shows since the new year,” said Saunders-White said, Danny Glover “is help- to be resolved tomorrow - and nobody expects Tom Bierbaum, the network’s research boss. ing to keep Dr. King’s dream alive.” that - the TV networks would have trouble “Viewers are hungering for alternatives” to stitching together a fall season. the steadily increasing numbers of reruns on “I don’t think it’s going to end anytime network schedules, he added. soon,” one network official said. “I don’t know The worry among some writers is that FROM SERIES PAGE 6 what the worst-case scenario is, but none of viewers who immerse themselves in reality it’s good.” programs during the strike may decide to The strike has inflicted hundreds of mil- stick with them - and the networks, enchant- compiling films, press releases and promo- lions of dollars in damage, thrown thousands ed by the cheaper costs, would be only too The study guide will raise important issues tional advertisements, students helped out a of stage hands, technicians, teamsters and happy to accommodate them, putting more and include discussion questions and recom-lot more this year. production personnel out of work, and sent writers out of business. mended readings. “They talked about titles and came up with economic ripples through every segment of Their fears got chilling support from the “The Red Violin” will be shown the first a theme that would unify the whole thing,” he Hollywood, hurting everyone from caterers news that MyNetworkTV, the smallest of the night, focusing on the artistic subject of music said. to agents. broadcast networks, scored the highest rat- and featuring the question, “How can music “I have a deep love for art and the conversa- Because the backlog of original programs ings in its history last week with the debut of mirror narrative?” tions and controversies it musters up,” Griffin kept network schedules relatively normal two reality shows, “Street Patrol” and “Jail.” Poetry will be the topic of Jan. 22 as “Rant: said. “I remember last year when there was through December, and Nielsen ratings typi- Both are co-produced by John Langley, who Who Says Words with My Mouth” and “Verso a film series on and I was deeply moved by a cally dip during the Christmas season any- invented TV’s reality genre with his Fox Negro” will be shown. couple of the movies I saw.” way, there is no evidence yet of a massive show “Cops,” which debuted during the pre- “Running Fence” and “Light Site-Ings” DiNome was surprised by the turnout of desertion by the TV audience. But there are vious TV writers strike in 1989. will both offer a look inside the subject of pub-last year’s films and stated that around 85 peo- signs that viewers are restless: “ 'Cops’ didn’t come about because of lic art on Jan. 29, which includes the outdoors ple showed up for the first event and more than The Internet video site YouTube’s audience the strike - it was in the works long before and public places. The topic question of the 100 attended the second. has jumped 18 percent in the past two months. it started - but our timing was very good,” night will be “How does place influence pro- “Hopefully the students who come will Crackle.com, a Web site that offers short Langley said. “The networks were looking cess?” take what they experienced and tell their scripted shows, more than doubled its hits in for strike-proof entertainment, and `Cops’ “How long must art exist?” titles the last friends and start entirely new and different November and December. had no writers and no scripts. There’s no session as the award-winning documentary discussions later that night, week, month and “If the television viewing experience is question that the strike lubricated the sale “Rivers & Tides: Andrew Goldsworthy Work-year,” said Griffin. “I think the movies chosen altered negatively by the strike, it makes sense environment.” ing with Time” will be played. will leave such lasting impressions.” that people are going to try another platform,” Anyone who finds that a worrisome por- While DiNome does most of the work of said Josh Felser, the former Fox executive who tent of things to come, he said bluntly, is founded Crackle. Adds Jim Louderback, chief absolutely right: “I expect a plethora of bad executive officer at Revision3.com, another reality series on the air next fall ... As we all