Could it be over?

Today, we could be seeing the end of the writers' strike. The WGA (and there are two branches by the way...) has tentatively agreed to the deal and that means many of your favorite shows will be coming back in a few weeks at the earliest.

Overall, given the largely liberal political views of Hollywood, I am giving my thumbs up to the writers because they are the ones behind many of the great punchlines that give us a reason to remember our favorite shows...for instance, the SNL digital short with Justin Timberlake in Christmas of '06...the various punchlines from many sitcoms ranging from those of Steve Carell in The Office to those of Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men...the tantalizing details of what goes at Seattle Grace in Grey's Anatomy or on Wisteria Lane in Desperate Housewives...and even all the cannon fodder late-night can stuff into the bag...after all, even hosts sometimes can't save the day.

Another reason for this is that while the writers are liberal in their views, the studio executives are not only unwilling to share the pie but they also largely contribute to liberals as well. For starters, ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner gave 59% to Democrats and 14% to Republicans (Notice the brighter colors; I am trying to make my musings more readable), Barry Diller (formerly of Fox and USA) gave over four-fifths (almost $360,000) to the Democrats (but at least gave to John McCain). The only major studio executive with strong GOP ties is Rupert Murdoch (59% to the GOP). Finally, to top it off, Haim Saban (who runs Saban Entertainment) is a staunch Democrat. He donated over $13.5 million to political causes, $13.4 million of which went to Democrats. And yes, many of the screenwriters who picketed were Democrats, but after all, it's the media moguls who have the money - and the power - to shape the nation, at least in their lexicon.

Finally, many Americans are just sick and tired of seeing their favorite shows being dumped one by one in favor of vastly overrated reality shows. The only such shows I would consider watching are Survivor and Big Brother (and to some extent The Amazing Race and The Biggest Loser) which have actual appeal, the rest are just full of idiotic scenarios many will eventually forget. I would not consider Extreme Makeover Home Edition to be reality because it is akin to the Habitat projects I did as a high school student. And I would not consider any of the game shows and competitions on the air right now (Deal or No Deal for instance) to be reality because those shows are just a whole another ballgame. In fact, my uncle has been making calls to his friends and our neighbor across the street in Sugar Land asking NBC to spare Friday Night Lights from what is going to be quite a mess for the networks to deal with at the cancellation block, especially at NBC, and already third-place KPRC/Channel 2 here in Houston has suffered even more in NBC's decline. Luckily many of the ABC dramas and the CBS CSI franchise will definitely be spared. Not too sure about Fox (which basically builds its schedule around American Idol with mediocre shows), the CW (which is well out of my league now), and MyNetworkTV (which is more deserving of the title "Used Parts Network" than its predecessor was, since it is a shame, and KTXH/Channel 20 is better off as an independent).

Starting as early as 3:00 this afternoon, we'll have some details when the dust settles. As I said, it will take a couple of weeks to get back in the groove, though.

P.S. we have the Beltway Primary today in D.C. and its suburbs (and Baltimore, Richmond, Roanoke and the Hampton Roads, too)...so don't spoil the fun!