WGA to picket Golden Globes!

Desperately struggling to maintain some semblance of the usually record ratings (not to mention millions of dollars in lost ad revenue) they garner each year from the Golden Globe telecast, NBC has officially reached rock bottom.

Details are still being worked out, but apparently the network is planning on airing a four-hour evening of Golden Globe “news” and clip segments culminating in a one-hour news conference at 6pm PST to announce the winners.

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I know…sounds riveting, doesn’t it? The crazy thing is that all this insanity could have been easily avoided had the AMPTP simply returned to the bargaining table and even attempted to negotiate with us in good faith. I mean, come on, NBC, you’d rather cripple one of the highlights of your broadcasting year than even begin to talk to us about new media? Madness…

Anyway, this evening of stellar television will be written and produced by NBC’s news division. Which means they can call the nominated film clips “news” and use whatever they like while having their “news” writers (who are not on strike) draft up some witty banter for the Hollywood Foreign Press’ “news conference” announcing the winners. Aha, what a clever little Peacock you are!

But the bad news (pun intended) for NBC is that many of the planned post-Globe parties that they had been hoping to cover that night have been scrapped. So, that red carpet that NBC was still hoping to roll out to greet the nominees (if they even showed up) as they arrived for the after-parties looks like it might go the way of the rest of the show.

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And the best news of all is that no matter what kind of weak-ass “news” event NBC attempts to cobble together on Sunday night, striking writers will be there in force! Because earlier tonight, the WGA announced that we will, in fact, be picketing outside the Golden Globes from 3-7pm on Sunday evening. Yeah!

And while I don’t predict any of the bloodshed depicted on the otherwise totally unrelated Duran Duran album cover above, I loved the title and couldn’t resist posting these rocking pics. And in case anyone was wondering…I hear from reliable “Duranies” that the new songs aren’t nearly as good as the cover art, but wow, what cover art! Go union!

The Ron Paul Revolution…

On Monday, firebrand Republican Presidential Candidate, Ron Paul made his way across the WGA picket line for a pre-New Hampshire primary sit-down with “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno. And though I missed Paul’s dramatic arrival at NBC’s back gate, I did get to meet boatloads of his fervent supporters out front after the show, and man alive, do these folks love Ron Paul.

I don’t know too much about Paul’s politics, and even though his crossing a picket line to appear on Jay’s currently writer-less show calls to mind a certain Huckabee that I hate, I must say that anyone that engenders that much fanatical support from their followers has gotta be doing something right.

I’m not kidding, these guys were impassioned! And as soon as the “Tonight Show” taping ended, they hurried over to our Strike Captains on the picket line to explain exactly why Paul had crossed the line.

According to them, Paul was angry after being completely shut out of the last couple of televised Republican debates, so when the offer came (apparently from Jay himself) to appear on “The Tonight Show”, he took it.

I don’t know if I exactly buy Paul’s excuse, but either way, that dude got his message out! Big time! Watching the show later, I was stunned by how totally rational Paul sounded. Especially for someone who said his favorite Democratic candidate is Dennis Kucinich. I mean, hell, I love Kucinich myself, but wow, aligning yourself with a little stoner like “Tiny K” takes guts!

So, even if I didn’t see eye to eye with Paul (or his fiery supporters) on everything I still gotta give the guy credit for maintaining such an intelligent, well-spoken and insanely loyal following.

And though that charming older woman in the red shirt (above) scared me a bit — Christine said you can see the fear in my eyes — I’m still proud to live in a country where people like Paul and Kucinich can run for the highest elected office in the land…even if they have no chance in hell of winning.

Rock on, America!