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Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Jon Stewart.Stewart, whose "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" returned to the air yesterday, has been supportive of the striking writers. Nonetheless, he apparently is annoyed with the Writers Guild of America. During his show, Stewart mentioned that his production company tried to reach the same deal with the guild that David Letterman's Worldwide Pants received and was turned down.
Apparently, the guild wants to present a united front against the media conglomerates, including Comedy Central's corporate parent Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), Walt Disney Co.(NYSE: DIS)'s ABC, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)'s NBC and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). That's why Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are being forced to appear as guests on each other's programs and why the Golden Globes were canceled by NBC.
Ironically, Leno is still beating Letterman in the ratings, and early reports indicate that Stewart and Stephen Colbert are holding up fine without their writers. The earth continues to revolve around the sun without new episodes of television programs and the American public will somehow cope without yet another show where groups of celebrities extol the wonderfulness of other celebrities.
Though American culture may benefit from the strike, the bottom lines of the networks will not be unscathed. If people stop tuning into television, ratings will go down and advertisers will demand refunds since their marketing messages aren't reaching the numbers of viewers that were promised to them.
Advertisers, though, may wind up forcing the two sides to reach a settlement. They still count on television to convince people to buy products they don't need at prices they can't afford. Networks and the union better be careful or they might wind up killing the electronic goose that lays the golden eggs.
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