glad to see Dave back

skyvolt2000 - the AMPTP walked out of negotiations. the WGA wants to talk!

yeah for Dave for supporting his writers during the strike.

I don't really watch the Late night shows except for Conan O'Brien, but to me I enjoy it better without the writers. It show just seems more fun and is letting the host be more free with what he's doing.

Why do we in America feel that intellectual property is always free and should be readily accessible? We think music DL's should be free, videos should be free, pictures on the internet should be free, etc., etc., etc.... the list can get rather lengthy. The writers, annoyingly as they are for striking, are within their rights to demand that their intellectual property not only be recognized, but that they be remunerated for it; it is, after all, their property; they made it. Think of it like this: you DL a tune from napster illegally to your hard drive. Who made money from that transaction? Well, let me tell you: 1.) The Computer company that you purchased your computer from 2.) the electric company that you pay to run that computer 3.) the company that manufactures the hard drive that the song was DL'ed onto 4.) the company that makes the blank CD that you are going to burn it on 5.) the company that manufactured the plastic that the CD-R's came in 6.) the company that shipped the CD-R's 7.) the post office for shipping the product 8.) the company that manufactured your portable mp3 player that you are going to listen to it on 9.) the company that makes the foam for the ear-plugs that you use to listen to the music on 10.) get the picture? ... on infinitum... ABOUT THE ONLY PERSON THAT IS NOT GETTING ANY MONEY IS THE COMPOSER THAT YOU ARE ABUSING. Yes, you read that right, you are not only stealing his material, you are affecting his personal livelihood and abusing him as an individual by stealing his livelihood and affecting him financially for doing what he does best: create music, which by its very nature exists only temporally, and, without the use of media, if we were all living in the Classical Era, most of us here, if not all of us, would never ever hear any music other than the music we sang to ourselves. Think about a life without music for a moment, then tell me that the 8 cents per tune he is entitled too is too much? This issue is extremely complex and goes very deep into law and what I believe needs revision once again, the US Copyright laws, which are highly inadequate and antiquated. The writers are not thinking of their next job by holding fast, they are thinking, I made this, and now people are stealing it and using it for free! How is that fair? Steal a man's car, and you end up in prison, that’s the law. Steal his music, and you get lauded by ignorant activists who believe that it's all about greed and money, and that since it is not physical in nature (the existence of the product), then what's the big deal " it didn’t hurt anyone? Last point: have you ever had anything stolen, like a watch or worse yet, your wallet? I can imagine almost all of us have, as well as have I, both a watch and a wallet. Let me tell you that the sinking feelings when you get your wallet swiped are pretty awful. However, can you now compare that to a song you wrote, at home, copyrighted, and all of a sudden it's out in public being performed without your permission and all sorts of organizations are making very good off of your product, and to boot, you don't even get the simple recognition that you wrote the piece! Which one do you think feels worse? I can tell you, as I have had both happen. I'd rather loose my wallet 10 more times than have another piece of music ripped off and illegally performed. It is a violation that you can not understand until you have become a composer, editor, photographer, or any other type of creative person that effectively creates atypical products that have no substantive physical nature and are prone to all sorts of violations. That's why we have the (C) and (R) symbols; they are there not to annoy, but to protect and respect those individuals with these amazing talents. Respect the artists that create so that we may enjoy. We need to be more responsible as a nation and understand that we don't have as many 'rights' that we think we do, and that not everything we can't touch is free!

give the writers what they want you vampires >_

well it is a start

I am not for the writers. Why are they lettign thier reps sit at home and not try to meet to end this?
Because most of them will be out of work when the strike is over as thier shows will be axed. Also any DVD sales for this season are screwed up as most shows won't have complete seasons except Everybody Hates Chris.

I feel the same BeachfrontGlass, I fear that good shows will be cancelled, new shows that people and myself have become addicted to will get cancelled as well, and that returning shows may not get the viewership they once had back. It really stinks. I'm for the writers, but I'm starting to get frustrated with both the WGA and the AMPTP. I fear that nothing will get settled and that more people who work in the industry will struggle to make ends meet. Hopefully, with the recent deal Letterman made with the WGA, to bring his writers back to the show with him along with Ferguson's as well, will inspire things to work out among the AMPTP and WGA.

Now the interns are going to be doing triple duty scouring the e-mail accounts for new jokes sent in by viewers. As for picketing the shows, why make the camera people and the people who work behind the scenes feel like scabs? Why not picket the actual networks that they are feuding with 24-7 with massive crowds instead? The writers are really starting to lose sympathy with a lot of people. Good shows are being cancelled and those that come back won't be guaranteed their full viewership back. I spend a lot more nights at the bar watching sports now... I just rent tv series from Netflix now. They have a great assortment of Brittish shows which are better written than most of the US stuff anyway!

Yay!! Conan!!

well, I'm a huge Craig Ferguson fan, so I'm really happy he returns

nothing on SNL yet