By
Graig Uhlin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
All of America is waiting in anticipation for Super Bowl Sunday. The reason is not, of course, the football game. I don't even know who's playing.
The real attraction - the real fight to the death - comes after the game, when "Survivor 2" debuts. And people are anxious, not because they desperately want to know who will be the next Richard Hatch, but because if "Survivor" is not all it was the first time around - if there are no Susan Hawks, no rat entrees, no drama, in other words - then Americans will mourn the fate of television programming for the next year.
Why? Because if the threat of strikes by all the major guilds of Hollywood - the Writers Guild of America, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild - become a reality, all of the talent in Tinseltown will not be working. With no writers, no actors and no directors, there will be no creative output. That means, no new movies, no "Friends," no nothing.
Watching television will become the equivalent of watching a test pattern.
OK, the situation is not as bad as that, but it's still pretty damn bad. Producers and excecutives, in a rush to complete projects before the strikes are scheduled to begin in the summer - unless, by a slim chance, the talks are successful in hatching out a deal - are gobbling up all the A-list talents in a whirlwind of new endeavors.
Furthermore, they are looking to other forms of entertainment as alternatives to the traditional way of doing business - namely, reality programming for television and digital filmmaking for movies.
Reality programming has become the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for television executives. It's cheap. There are no actors. And, best of all, it's a ratings cash cow. That's why so much is riding on the debut of "Survivor 2." Viewers might just be looking at the future of television.
Unfortunately, depending on one's opinion, this doesn't do much for the quality of television, but that's another column. America might just be heading into a cultural vacuum as shows like "Temptation Island" become the norm on the airwaves.
And in the arena of film, executives will be turning to undiscovered talent for new scripts and film projects. Young upstarts will have an unprecedented opportunity to break into the entertainment business. And in what medium will these young upstarts be working? Digital filmmaking.
It's cheaper. Actors can be made out of pixels. And, in terms of the profit margins, it's the same cash cow that reality programming is for television.
Basically, if this strike happens, television will descend to depths it has never seen before, yet, film is going to get a major boost in the transition from traditional filmmaking into a digital future - more so than even George Lucas managed to muster.
Hollywood will go on. Movies will still get made, as will television. But for a time, America's stronghold over the entertainment industry throughout the world will be weakened. Theaters, backlashing from a shortage of studio films, will need to turn toward independent and foreign films. Finally, the diversity of voices that lack in a world where seven companies own all the media outlets will have a chance to thrive.
So, although I want to see the wedding of Chandler and Monica, maybe this strike is not the worst thing for the future of Hollywood.
