TV Bits: SAG Still Talking Strike; Rosie Gets New Gig
- The Screen Actors Guild recently had a shakeup in leadership when the previous alliance in charge, Membership First, was largely ousted during national SAG elections. Membership First is getting a little business done before they go, though.
On Wednesday, the union’s negotiating committee recommended in an 11-2 vote that the national board authorize a strike vote against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
However, the matter will go before the newly-configured national board on Oct. 12, and according to the Los Angeles Times, it’s highly unlikely that the board or even the membership after that would seriously pursue a strike against the studios in the current economic climate.
- Rosie O’Donnell has been working on getting her own variety show since before bowing out of The Rosie O’Donnell Show, but it never quite happened. She’s finally getting her wish though — “Rosie’s Variety Special” is now scheduled for NBC on the night before Thanksgiving.
According to TVBizWire, execs said the show might get a season pickup if it scores well in the ratings. A really good question is what direction she’ll be taking with the comedy, since that’s only weeks after the presidential election.
- Speaking of which Sandra Bernhard was cancelled from a women’s shelter benefit after she made a joke that put vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and gang rape in the same sentence. Great move, Sandra.
- Fox has granted a full-season pickup for “Fringe”, which has performed pretty well after “House” on Tuesdays. Since the pilot cost Fox around $10 million to make, I’m sure some execs are breathing easier.
But sci-fi fans should be elated — so far, the show’s not getting the “Firefly” treatment from the network, and since “Battlestar Galactica” will soon be ending, its prequel is still down the road, and “Heroes” is not doing so well at the moment, there’s a need for straight-up supernatural fantasy beyond the youth-leaning CW fare.
As character development continues, it may become as beloved to some as the British series “Torchwood”, which focused more on shock value its first series and then made viewers care about the characters themselves in the second. Speaking of which, a review is coming on its second-series DVD set.
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