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01/19/2008: Even Worse Than Jumping the Shark


Mailbag! Thanks to Gentle Reader Joe in San Jose, who enclosed a letter of strike support. Adam in West Hollywood wants to know what's on my Tivo -- right now, a lot of Keith Olbermann and Project Runway, actually. Did you see the dress made out of candy? Fantastic. I want food-clothes! Peggy writes in to inform me about a script-writing event called scriptfrenzy, but it seems it was in November. Oops. Mea Culpa all over that one. Can you write me about it again next year, Peggy, and I'll check it out? Oh, and how lovely -- I have a letter here from Patricia Fass Palmer, who was our producer on Gilmore Girls and now counts herself as a "Gentle Reader" -- whoo! That makes me incredibly happy. Thanks, Patricia!

Strike Update: I'm sure some of you are wondering about my reaction to the DGA deal. The answer is that I have none. I haven't heard enough yet to make up my mind about whether or not this deal will form the basis for a good deal for the writers. I don't really think any of us has had the time yet -- or access to enough well-informed analyses -- to state with certainty that the deal is overwhelmingly good or bad. And this is a decision we certainly do not want to make with haste, not after we've invested this much time. So, please, be skeptical of anyone who is stating anything with absolute certainty this early.

Do you know that juries who do an immediate straw poll after they adjourn to the jury room are less likely to ultimately reach a verdict? That's because once people have expressed an opinion, no matter how tentative, they feel obligated to defend it, and they get entrenched. I think we need to keep that in mind for a little while, as we watch the analyses roll in. If we act like drowning people lunging for a raft, we could be fooled into reaching for the shark. Take a breath, think, research... then make up your mind.

Lunch: sushi at Echigo. They can substitute a tuna roll for that crab roll I don't like? Really? I had no idea.