The writers' strike continues to wreak more and more havoc.  Today, the WGA announced that they would not be granting waivers to guild members that would allow them to work on the various upcoming awards shows.  Awards shows like the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards use guild writers to pen the sometimes pithy, sometimes obnoxious dialogue spouted by presenters and hosts.  The upcoming awards season will now likely be without such writing.  The awards shows are still holding out hope that they can strike a deal with independent production companies that would bring in writers for the shows, but no deals have yet been reached.

Some are seeing this as an aggressive and unnecessary move by the writers' guild. I'm not sure that it it's all that big of a deal.  The back and forth between celebrity presenters at the awards shows are typically the worst parts of the respective shows and, for me at least, they will not be missed.  However, when it comes to the hosts, I'm still unsure of how it will work.  Jon Stewart, for instance, is signed on to host the Academy Awards.  Since he is a WGA member, is he not allowed to write his own material for the show?  I know when Stewart or Conan O'Brien host awards shows, they normally bring their writing staff in to pen all the comic bits of the program, from the opening to the segues between awards.  I have no idea how the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards will go down this year, however. 

Regardless of my indifference, I still find this a questionable move by the WGA.  Their guild members are going to be some of the ones celebrated by these shows, and it wouldn't hurt to call a momentary halt to all of the bitterness and anger surrounding the strike for just a night or two.  However, this can also be viewed as a precursor to a full-on boycott by the WGA of all awards shows this season.  If the WGA calls for a boycott or picketing of the Globes and the Oscars, then a significant amount of the actors will also fall in line, as will directors, and things could get ugly. 

But, again, it doesn't sit right with me.  A hard stance against the awards shows isn't going to hold much weight on the bargaining table.  Awards shows, by definition, are superfluous.  I suppose that Oscar winners always see a bump in ticket sales following the show, and the WGA is planning on using this to stick it to the studios, but the awards are going to be given out no matter what the WGA does, so I still think it's a case of the WGA taking a hard stance for the sake of taking a hard stance.

-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: TV Guide