It’s been a crazy past three months, huh? Without new TV programs to keep us occupied, Americans actually had to go out and do things, keep up with current events. A lot of us even voted.

I don’t know about you, but I was getting pretty nervous, what with all this activity and all. I even went walking this past Saturday. Not because I needed to get to work or whatever, but because I thought, “Boy, it sure is nice out. I should get my fat ass to the park.” Thankfully, the writers are back.

Even though the ink’s not dry on the new agreement forged between the WGA and the studios, CBS is already rushing to get new shows back on the air. Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory will all return March 14th. A whole bunch of other shows I don’t watch such as Numb3rs, The Ghost Whisperer and the entire gaggle of CSI programs will follow suit in the following weeks.

No offense to Meg Oliver, but I don’t watch anything on CBS (except Up to the Minute, of course), so I could really give a fuck about this announcement. My only hope is that other networks will follow suit, and NBC can get Heroes and The Office back ASAP. Thx.

Effective immediately, Joel Surnow, co-creator of Fox’s hit action series 24, has resigned from his position as the show’s executive producer. Though he served as executive producer on the first eight episodes of 24’s seventh season–delayed due to the writers strike–he will not work on the following 16.

Surnow’s contract with Fox was due to expire on April 30th, but he convinced the network to let him go early. The vehemently right-wing TV producer said he’d done some “soul searching” (I never realized republicans had souls…) during the writers strike and decided it was best to make a “clean break” with the show so that he could pursue other creative projects.

“After doing 24, I don’t know if I want to do a mainstream show again,” he said. “I like what’s going on in cable; there is an opportunity to stretch dramatically there, which is something I’m trying to do.”

Where Surnow will go now, and what he will do, are both up in the air. Whatever he does, I’m sure it’ll involve a lot of cell phone drama, super fast double closeups and plenty of yelling. The next season of 24, however, will debut (for reals this time) in January 2009.

The Writers Guild of America, both West and East chapters, are encouraging its members to ratify a tentative three-year agreement. According to NPR.org, “The proposal offers writers a share of digital media revenue, including compensation for television shows and movies delivered over the Internet.”

”When they get paid, we get paid,” Patric Verrone, president of WGA’s west chapter, said at the press conference in Los Angeles yesterday. ”Our stated goal was always to get a share of the future and we have that in this agreement.” [source]

WGA leaders are asking members to sign the agreement over the next 10 to 12 days, however, in the meantime, a vote will take place over the next 48 hours to decide whether or not the writers will return to work. If the vote passes, writers could return to work by Wednesday, Feb. 13th. The strike has lasted for over three months and has halted production on many movies and television shows and put 50,000 entertainment industry employees out of work.

Not being much of a TV watcher, and having no cable access, I must admit that the writer’s strike hasn’t really affected me. Still, I had to see what John Stewart and Steven Colbert had to say about the ordeal of them crossing the picket lines and returning to the air waves, sans writing staff. Seeing as I have no cable, I of course checked out the comedy central web site. This simple action cuts right down to what the strike is about. I watched their content, Comedy Central made their money by advertising a credit card, a new movie and a new [adult swim] video game , and the writers believe (justly, in my opinion) that they deserve a cut for their work on the content that I watched. As of 10:40 AM PST, the first clip from Jon Stewart’s temporarily retitled A Daily Show has accrued 64,496 views (and is currently growing at roughly 100 hits a minute).

Meanwhile, Daily Show writer (and Chico expat) Jason Ross’s YouTube video, which tells their side of the story (in a very Daily Show manner) has garnered over 500,000 hits. Check it out. Make Google some money.

Also, get a load of Letterman’s hippy beard. He’s growing it in support of the striking writers (while his own company has struck an independent deal with the Writers Guild of America).