Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: nytimes.com "The writers strike is finally over, our favorite shows are returning, the world is back to normal."

With the lack of shows on TV, many viewers have taken advantage of online videos, watching DVD's, and even taking the time to watch the news.

Two weeks ago The Paw Print wrote an article about the Writer's Strike and how it was possibly coming to an end. Are we psychic? Maybe.

The writer's strike started on Nov. 5, 2007 and with the new year, we can finally start from fresh and get new episodes of our favorite shows. The deal was settled on Feb. 10, and with the new contract comes new rules. All writers have agreed to end the strike. Only 283 voted against pulling the plug.

As many of you are aware, because of the writer's strike, no new episodes for any shows have been written. This may seem surprising, since new episodes of shows such as One Tree Hill, Lost, and Nip/Tuck have been airing, but these shows were written before the strike was presented.

At the moment, most television shows have absolutely no new episodes. Questions begin to rise, and some are wondering how long it will take to write a whole season. Television is behind, but since the strike is now over, why not be patient and wait for new episodes to be created. We have all gotten accustomed to the repeats every week, and some of us have actually gotten work done because we didn't have any shows to watch.

Unlike reality shows (The Gauntlet, Rock of Love) television shows need to have viewers, and now since viewing has gone down, how do the writers know which shows to keep writing and which to throw away?

With the new contract, animation and reality TV writers were dropped from the new deal. With that, we can guess that most animated shows will be cancelled because there are no writers on the new contract.

"This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years," said Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) west coast branch. Once the deal was settled, writers were expected to go straight back to work. The strike was about being acknowledged for their writing, so now that they got their point across, they can go back to writing plots for our favorite shows.

"For writers pushed out of contracts in force majeure situations, many will be hired back, but in a case-by-case scenario, in which the status of each show will affect the deals," reported TV Guide. Since writers are back at work, we can look forward to seeing new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and The Office.

The strike even affected awards shows, but since the strike is finally over, the Academy Awards will go on as scheduled on Feb. 24. Writers are already working on the lines for the show.

The writers see this strike as not only their biggest achievement, but as a victory. For many years, they have felt that they weren't being treated and acknowledged fairly for their work. With this strike, they took advantage of changing things.

The risk they took ended up having all the writers loose millions of dollars.

"There's a little bit of strike hangover we need to deal with," said an executive to the Washington Post, who didn't want to be named because of company policy.

"People need to know these shows are back up. When circulation was down like it was for the strike, it takes a while to wind the machine back up. Hopefully that's what some of these shows will help do."

With millions of dollars lost, the writers better hope that the return of these shoes brings in the money. Now with the new contract, the writers better prove to all of us what they fought for was worth everyone's time.

In the mean time, CBS will start its normal lineup of sitcoms on Mon. on March. 17. CBS has ordered nine episodes for the following shows, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.

NBC has also stated that they will begin airing their shows again in early April. They have even already arranged for five returning shows to broadcast on the same night.

New shows such as Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies and Private Practice will be re-launching next season.

Welcome back writers, please don't disappoint us, and write the best plots ever.

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