It's OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The writer's strike is OVER!! They're going back to work and we are likely to get a decent deal when our turn comes up. That makes me VERY happy!!!

And as a viewer, I WANT NEW SHOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They say TV viewing is at its highest level in quite a while, but I have a hard time believing it.... there's NOTHING ON. They say some of the high-profile shows (the established ones) will be back by March, some others by April. Several of those had scripts and filming in various stages when the strike was called, so they can pick right back up. Some had NOTHING ready, so they are starting from scratch. And some shows won't be coming back, unfortunately, like Journeyman.

And casting will begin again... perhaps. It looks like another casualty of the strike may just be pilot season. The studios are beginning to wonder: 1) why they order 13 episodes at a time; 2) why they need to pay all that money for pilots to decide what they're going to order; and, 3) why they don't just do what they do with reality shows and what they do in the UK, which is to buy on spec, but buy fewer episodes.

A 'series' (season) of a show in the UK is 6 episodes. This allows a lot of actors to do film, stage and television, or several series simultaneously. Thus, they would be bringing on new series all through the year, and not just in the fall and possibly in January. Thus, no need for a 'pilot season' or 'pilots' at all.

Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. It's a great way to get seen, and it provides a lot of jobs.

AND, as a viewer, that was something that REALLY annoyed me when living in England, and even watching BBC America. A show would be on, and then suddenly, *poof* gone.. OR, you hear about a show and by the time you do, it's finished.

But, whatever happens, "who can say if it's been changed for the better, but.... it has been changed for good."

The landscape of television, I think, will never be the same.