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WGA Strike Should Provide Time To Rethink Television Staples

by Len Neighbors
02/09/2008

I'll admit it. I find the various iterations of CSI entertaining, despite all they have going against them. In every episode, the killer is discovered, or the real killer separated from the other enticing suspects, through some deus ex machina bit of scientific magic that doesn't really hold up under anything approximating scrutiny.

A fluff of flamingo hair is found in the cuff of the victim's pants tells Horatio that the killer must be the guy who rents exotic fowl for parties in South Beach. Grissom discovers an hypatiaea putatia in larval stage, an exotic bug no one studies whose presence just happens to be mapped by the city of Las Vegas and can be cross references with old salt mines, phosphorous deposits, and places frequented by extreme mountain bikers. It was the mountain biker, in the desert, near the salt mine, with the semi-radioactive hunk of shale.

Do they really have a database of dog noseprints? If they do, their budget is way too large. No wonder the schools don't have textbooks.

This isn't really the fault of the writers. To work the formula for 100+ episodes, you have to do canine noseprints. There's no way around it.

All of these shows are either out of episodes, or about to be out of episodes. While this is a huge hole in their revenue stream (which is why the WGA strike matters to Hollywood), it is also an opportunity to rethink the big staple shows (CSI times three, Law & Order times three, etc.) Americans have an insatiable appetite for these crime dramas, but they could use a breath of fresh air.

This season is broken. And even if the rumors of an agreement on the strikers' demands are true, the major channels will still need to do something when the strike is resolved. There's too much money at stake. As an armchair writer, I have a few suggestions:

1. Write some serials. Not like Lost or the sterling HBO shows. BBC shows often run six episodes. The writing can be much tighter, the actors can really invest in a single story, and it avoids the problem of 22 episode serials. While many will never be in the same place every Wednesday for 22 weeks, they might for six. One of the most interesting things about CSI Vegas last season was the recurring model-making serial killer. It kept me interested, and I am not the only one who was riveted when the occasional episode turned out to be about this plot line. Make six of them in a row. A 24 episode season could easily be four arcs of six episodes each.

Since the way we watch television is changing (also at the heart of the WGA strike), there is less risk here. TIVO, downloading, online viewing, and DVD rentals all mean that fewer and fewer people will watch a show in the same time and place every week, but they will still watch it.

2. The Wire should be required watching for the writers of major crime drama. This show has been fascinating for four season, and the fifth is going well so far. The casting doesn't look like the roster at a modeling agency, there isn't explosive action or surprises in every episode, and it is very writing dependent. I am not suggesting that Law & Order be converted into a show where Logan sit on a rooftop and watches teenager deal drugs, but we could find out what McCoy's apartment looks like.

3. Order short run series. Something doesn't have to go five seasons to be great. Sure, Hollywood would love everything to be a franchise, but the season's out the window. Take a risk on some oddball half season series, or renew some marginal series that might get a second wind. One of the most exciting things on TV over the next couple months is the half season of Jericho, a show I loved but didn't quite do it for the people who decide to renew these things.

Some of the biggest series in TV history didn't do that well in their first seasons. Hollywood really has nothing to lose. By the time the strike is resolved, we'll be so tired of not watching American Gladiator that we might be willing to watch something off the beaten path.

Don't get me wrong. I am not deriding the abilities of striking writers. They're talented. They're inventive, within the profit system that employs them. What I am suggesting is that once the strike is resolved, Hollywood has the opportunity to turn the writers loose (creatively speaking) for six months. Personally, I would love to see what happens, even to the most established shows on television.