3? That's too many?

Here's what's within 9 miles of my neighborhood's zip code... (10th mile didn't even fit on screen)

That's a nice selection to choose from.

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I’m STILL waiting for the cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 2 to end!

That’s ridiculous. But I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities. Each suburb has its own major theater in this little cluster. It’s silly. I can drive to each one within 10 minutes or so. One theater could serve the whole area easily. I’ve never seen it busy enough to justify the multiple locations (except for Barbenheimer weekend).

Millie Bobby Brown was on GMA this morning promoting a new book she wrote. It was a really short interview as they were only book focused the entire time.

They didn't pry into her upcoming wedding to Bon Jovi's son?

Actually they did a little.

I didn't care one way or another about the strikes until I binged the two seasons of Ghosts over the last couple of days. Now I need my Ghost fix, get cracking on ending the strike.

Go have ChapGPT write it for you. That's the end goal of the studios anyway.

There's a strike?!? Again!?! I have such a huge backlog of TV shows and movies on disc that I never noticed - and wouldn't for 10+ years...

It's a really short book.

Yeah but in 10+ years all you'll have left to watch are reality shows and AI scripted shows...

I mean I get it, but it still seems weird to me to say "I really enjoy what these people put out, but screw them because I have a backlog of stuff that was already paid for so I'm good, thanks."

Yeah the last SAG strike was around 1980. I wasn’t aware of that as I was only 7 at the time.

I own enough TV series and movies to last over 20 years and not repeat a single thing (and there are dozens of products I *do* rewatch regularly). Should I still be on the planet at that point I can just go back and start over.

I do not enjoy the vast majority of what the current group of creators puts out - which is why I have a backlog of material with ~90% being product that came out before 2000. All they're doing is recycling what I've already seen - rehashing old scripts (and that's been done for decades so it's really nothing new) so I just watch the earlier versions. If they're not repeating old product it's something that's so "inclusive," or re-written as such, as to be bland/boring/meh. No one is "pushing the envelope" much these days and the studios have developed a huge case of franchiseitis which became quite boring many years ago. Many (most?) current TV shows are, at their core, nothing but bland soap operas (not much different than scripted reality TV) with a minimum of differences solely based on somewhat generic genres/tropes. And, yes, that's quite callous.

That said, I don't agree with the studios in this matter and hope the "little guys" screw the crap out of them. They deserve to get the "piece of the pie" they're typically denied. However, as long as they continue to work for the big studios they'll get dumped on in one way or another, even if they "win" this strike. The thing is, most of the buying public has little knowledge of what's going on and really don't care. They just know their favorite show *still* doesn't have new episodes and will get impatient and move on to something else. It's happened every time with these type of strikes. The ubiquity of streaming means that the public who could really get behind them and force things somewhat has mountains of material, something they didn't have with past strikes, and will consider this just a small bump in the road - if that. I "cut the cord" in favor of physical media years ago (I also rarely stream - only to check out the occasional new product for purchase consideration) and wouldn't have noticed this strike at all if it were not for this forum.

I kind of think the studios have shot themselves in the foot in regards to not having new content. They have conditioned people to expect new content all the time and not to be satisfied with old content: it's largely the reason why most streaming platforms don't just sit on their laurels and just have a back catalog, people get complacent and unsubscribe. They have a backlog that they are hopefully carefully managing but even that has to end some time. If it gets to that point the studios or rather the shareholders will be upset.

So while it's true that there's more content than ever to consume, this need to watch the latest and greatest means that the studios will certainly suffer a lot, it's just going to be a delayed effect.

Foreign productions will continue for the most part, so it's not like there'll be nothing to watch.
Sounds like many here need to expand their horizons.

AI will never create an Always Sunny or Arrested Development. But it will create a lot of passable "content" that pad the supply of entertainment.

You know what AI could replace with ease? Entire executive boards. To be an executive is basically to put yourself in front of a decision, which is really just a gamble. With access to financials and some statistics, I could spreadsheet a CEO's algorithm in a day or two. Give me a month and I could replace an entire executive board's "skills". It's literally just decision making, based on financials, statistics, risk tolerance. You could then assign a number to the decision being made, program which board members vote, and end up with a yes or no.

Agreed. Wait until late winter/spring when new content (beyond unscripted and foreign shows) has dried up. Predicting a mass exodus from monthly streaming subscribers.

I could add that executives are like diamonds. They have a lot of agreed-upon value, but little intrinsic use to match that value. Their value is more about the tradition and culture.

Though WWE is not a union operation, the performers there are indeed acting and playing out character roles.

Will there be any repercussions for Dwayne Johnson & John Cena due to their recent returns to the WWE? Cena has confirmed he's back for at least two months while Johnson's return length is up in the air.

As I said in the other thread, why? As long as they're not promoting other SAG productions I don't see this as a violation of anything, acting or not. SAG could have folded wrestlers into their union if they really pushed for it, and they didn't, so it would be hypocritical for them to now balk because they consider it acting.

it was simply a question. If I knew the answer, I wouldn't have asked. Thanks for the response.

Oh I didn't mean it to be a jab at you, apologies if it seemed that way.

I am kind of curious if a big name actor got bored and wanted to do, say, a soap opera, which is SAG but under a different contract, if there would be blowback. Or like Celebrity Jeopardy or something along those lines.