TVSquad

The long Hollywood labor nightmare that began in November of last year officially ended yesterday when the Screen Actors Guild overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the studios.

Guild members voted 78% in favor of the new agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), despite calls by hard-line union members who urged actors to vote "no" and force continued negotiations.

It's clear that two huge factors in the SAG approval were general labor strife fatigue and the struggling economy.

It's been so long that we've heard anything about a possible actors strike that I kinda forgot all about it. Now it looks like we don't have to worry about it.

The Screen Actors Guild has made a tentative deal with producers and studios, so there will be no crazy interruption/chaos in our TV entertainment choices like we saw with the writers strike last year (remember that? Wasn't that fun?). The two major sticking points were compensation for new media (DVDs, online, etc) and when the contract would end. The two-year deal will be finalized this Sunday when the 71 member national board meets and votes on it. I'm sure a lot of members won't like the new contract but only half of the members have to vote for it to pass.

So if you've been worrying about a possible strike, you can exhale now. And get to work worrying about whether or not your favorite show will make it to the fall.

Once again I'm forced to ask the question, what the hell is going on here? Have we entered the bizarro world? Is up now down? Has black become white? Did years of lending money for home loans and unpaid credit card debt give the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman the magical power to turn the waning U.S. dollar into sweet, delicious candy?

The never-ending battle between SAG president Alan Rosenberg and his own organization has forced him to file an injunction against his own task force from starting their negotiations.

That means, in a weird, sordid, round-about way, Rosenberg is now fighting an uphill battle with himself. It's a wonder the actors didn't elect Britney Spears to run their union.

The big SAG strike news hitting the trades and the rest of the entertainment press today is ... that there isn't any news. A strike vote ballot still hasn't been sent to the members. But, boy, what's gone into the non-news is a hell of a lot of effort. Reports are that the decision to delay the ballot came after an epic 30-hour meeting, eight of which was spent on debating whether to end the meeting at 10 pm on Monday or 1 am on Tuesday. Fat lot of good that did; the meeting didn't break up until 6 am.

Apparently, there are two factions within the union; a larger Hollywood-based one that wants a strike, and a smaller New-York-and-elsewhere based one that doesn't want the walkout. The debates were more a result of the disagreement within the union than purposeful delay tactics; heck, they even tried to remove their lead negotiator.

If you were hoping the Screen Actors Guild would be able to rise above the fray and destroy the networks' heads with a mighty swipe of their superbly manicured hands, then keep hoping. Christmas is over and Santa has come and gone. Ask him next year.

The SAG's latest tactical move against the money grubbing networks is to oust their own negotiators.

If this were a military theater, we would be calling this a case of "friendly fire."

I was looking at my last two Festivus wish lists in an attempt to determine if any of my requests came true. Turns out, many of them did come to fruition -- something that I'm damn proud of. Sadly, a new sitcom for Dustin "Screech" Diamond did not materialize. Oh well, maybe that will occur sometime next season when, after coming out of a trance, the NBC executives realize they made a terrible mistake putting Jay Leno on at 10:00 pm and need something to fill the empty space.

Now, without further ado, let me put down the aluminum rod for a bit and talk about my Festivus wish list for the upcoming year.

Granted, this is nothing new. It's been actors vs. studios for decades if not centuries. This time Fox is using the tactic of going purely with AFTRA contacts and leaving the SAG union in the lurch.

I'm ambivalent about this. On one hand, actors should get their fair share of the products their image help make famous. On the other hand, I can understand why Fox would use this tactic as another strike would probably cripple television production.

This is not a good time for actors' unions to get divisive. There is a recession going on and the television landscape is still recovering from last year's writers' strike. There is not a single network that would want to go through the headache of figuring out which union contract terms work best for them (in previous years, they've been identical).

Fox has the upper hand at this moment. With so many people out of work, you have a lot of potential actors right there. They already have the unemployed part down pat.

Remember the good old days when dock workers, air traffic controllers, teachers, and strike placard makers went on strike? Good, hard-working people who didn't make much money but put their bodies and well-being on the line every day to improve themselves and their community. In exchange, they received measly little things like health insurance, safe work conditions, and a vending machine in the break room that didn't eat quarters, dollars or fingers.

Those Norma Rae days are long gone. Now the only strikes we hear about are ones like the latest looming threat of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild, according to Reuters.

It's not that I don't feel sorry for SAG members or that I'm against their plight. Just about every industry in America has greedy CEOs who take as much as they can from as many as they can, all under the guise of performance and production bonuses earned by not running the company into Hell. It just feels like it could not have come at a worse time.

How's this for happy holiday cheer? The Screen Actors Guild is gearing up to ask members to authorize a strike. Yes, that's right. The actors' union leadership -- headed up by Alan Rosenberg -- is talking tough and threatening another strike. It's been nearly a year since the Writer's Guild strike and the ramifications are still being felt throughout the TV business. An actors strike would be crippling.

Currently, SAG is working under a contract that expired on June 30. The WGA strike began on November 5, 2007 and was finally settled on February 12, 2008. Rosenberg and SAG knew how damaging the strike had been, and in the months before June 30, they tried for a settlement. They didn't get it done then, and they've been treading water ever since.

And now, another installment of 'David vs. Goliath'. In this case, David is The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), while the role of Goliath is portrayed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). For months, both unions have been negotiating with the studios for higher salaries for their lower-paid actors as well as more profits from DVD and new media sales. AFTRA, the smaller of the two actor unions, has been fairly quiet concerning these negotiations. SAG, on the other hand, has been quite boisterous concerning the poor negotiating tactics of the studios.

With the amount of muscle SAG has one would think they would have been able to get the better deal of the two unions. Yet, as in David's battle against Goliath, it looks like the little person got the better of the bigger one. On Tuesday, the 70,000 members of AFTRA ratified a new prime-time TV contract. According to AFTRA President Roberta Reardon, the new contract "contains substantial gains for every category of performer in both traditional and new media." This, despite a campaign by SAG members to persuade those who are members of both unions to vote "no" on the contract.

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. The SAG/studios mess. Sure, it looks like there isn't going to be a strike (not yet anyway), but both sides are still far apart and one could still happen.

2. The Moment of Truth summer finale. Lives are destroyed for cash. Yay! (Tuesday at 8 on FOX.)

3. The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I think pregnant teenagers are about to take over the world. (Tuesday at 8 on ABC Family.)

4. Hell's Kitchen. We're down to the final two contestants (Petrozza and Christina). Whoopi Goldberg guest stars ... for some reason. (Tuesday at 9 on FOX.)

5. It's Six Feet Under Week here at TV Squad. Come reminisce about your favorite deaths!

6. The Wimbledon Final. I think Federer or Nadal might be in the final. You think? (Sunday at 9am on NBC.)

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• The estate of the creator of Mr. Ed is suing MGM for royalties.
• Here's a complete guide to the (possible) strike and what we can expect on Monday.
• Jaime Weinman has some thoughts on CBS' sitcom strategy.
• There's a new cartoon coming, about John Oates' (of Hall and Oates) mustache, who play rock music and fight crime.
• Boy Meets World star Ben Savage is joining Chuck, playing Nicole Richie's husband.
• CNBC + a jar of mayonnaise = either a really gross rumor or a really stupid rumor.
• Did you know that there's a Rock Paper Scissors league, and Fox Sports will telecast the tournament in October?

Oh, if only the "reality-free" tag above meant something else when it comes to this.

Just when you thought you could sit back in your comfy chair and watch TV this fall, comes news that possible Screen Actor's Guild strike that has been talked about for weeks is very close to actually happening. The deadline is June 30, and while a lot of people in the industry thought that the contracts signed at the end of the writer's strike earlier this year (ah, remember those days?) could serve as a blueprint, that might not be the case.

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. The death of Tim Russert: He was young, he was the face of MSNBC's political coverage, this is an election year, and NBC needs to find a new host for Meet The Press. Expect people to be talking about this for a while.

2. Burn Notice on DVD: This is the show that seemed to come out of nowhere and instantly loved by many TV viewers is now on DVD. The new season starts on July 10!

3. Retro Squad - The Super Friends: This summer, we're doing another look back at classic TV shows. This time we're doing theme weeks, and this week you can read a bunch of posts about The Super Friends.

4. The possible strike: The Screen Actor's Guild contact ends on June 30. Let's hope this isn't a loooooong summer.

5. That Battlestar Galactica finale: What happens now? You'll have to wait until next year to find out.

6. America's Got Talent: Another season of the summer hit. Expect sword swallowers, dancers, magicians, singers, mimes, and everything in between. (Premieres Tuesday at 9pm on NBC.)

Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.

1. The Battlestar Galactica season finale. I hear Boxey and Muffitt are kidnapped! (Friday at 10 on Sci-Fi Channel.)

2. The Men in Trees series finale. Now all of you fans can send...um, trees or something to ABC to save the show. (Wednesday at 10 on ABC.)

3. The Celtics/Lakers finals. Basketball just shouldn't be played in the middle of baseball season. (On ABC this week.)

4. The first annual TV Squad Awards was last week. What do you think all of the winners?

5. The possibility of another strike. This isn't funny, SAG and AFTRA.

6. Nashville Star moves to NBC. Some of the people reading that sentence are saying "yay, another season!" The rest of you are thinking "what's Nashville Star?" (Starts tonight at 9 on NBC.)

7. Retro Squad starts with Arrested Develoment week.