Courtesy: Anne Cusack, LA Times
It's almost hilariously apparent that the Big Bad Studios could care less about public opinion during the on-going writers strike, so badly have they mangled their public relations campaign.
But now comes word that their anti-efforts - let's call them - are actually yielding results. According to a remarkable USA Today/Gallup poll released today, no fewer than sixty percent of Americans "say they favor the writers in the dispute," according to a Gary Levin story in today's editions. It goes on: Fourteen percent favor the studios.
What's really amazing about the survey - conducted last weekend among 1,011 adults - is that 14 percent figure. Now I ask you - who out there is in favor of the Big Bad Studios? If you are, please write in and explain yourself. What could possibly be a factor in their defense? They have dissembled repeatedly - see deadlinehollywood.com, for proof. They have fired hundreds of employees. They are stiffing thousands of writers out of Internet residuals (because they know everyone will be watching TV, or at least repeats of shows, via the Web by the middle of the next century, if not much sooner...) They are about to foist an ungodly amount of "unscripted" fare on the American public. Finally, they have shortened - maybe even eliminated - "24's" run next season, while cutting back "Lost;" meanwhile, everything from "Daily Show" to "Late Show" remain in a deep freeze. For all of this and much more, that special corner in Showbiz hell is awaiting them.
Here's a final interesting stat: Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they'd watch less TV because of the strike.
What a surprise.