I hate almost all reality television with a passion. The only one I have watched - with a passing interest at that - has been The Amazing Race.

I have over a hundered seasons on DVD and all the episodes of the new season recorded on my media center and that is what I have been watching.

I record the new episodes of new series that I like in case they get canceled in the first season or are never relased on DVD

If the studios put things up I want to watch, I will watch if not I will watch what I have.

As far as I am concerned the Writers are just a bunch of over paid greedy B@#$%%$ who want more money from an even bigger bunch of richer greedier B@#$%%$.

The only people this strike truly affects are all the workers on the series who put in just as much effort if not more then writers / directors / actors. They get NO cut of any other part of the distribution. It is those people I feel bad for.. SCREW the WRITERS -- SCREW the DIRECTORS -- SCREW the ACTORS.

Chris D

Americans DO care about scripted shows. It's just that they are afraid to commit to a TV show, fearing of the possibility of it being yanked off-air in the middle of the season. Every year, way too many TV shows has been abruptly pulled off-air and cancelled after a couple of episodes. Seriously, if a TV show isn't getting high ratings, TV networks need to suck it up and keep broadcasting it, while they find alternative ways, rather than just pull it off and cancel it. They could move the shows to a different time-slot. They could try and improve the show for the next season. If it continues to do poorly, just give it a proper wrap up, rather than leaving the viewers hanging in the air. Then perhaps the viewers could be a bit more trusting towards the TV networks.

Over here in the UK, we've been stuck with an all-reality diet for years (apart from American imports, which are great, but don't come on TV for ages - you'd think they'd have realised by now that in the internet age, we expect to see English-language programmes as soon as they're made...) Anyway, I've been waiting for ages for the reality fad to die out. It hasn't yet, but we've a few good dramas recently, so maybe the tides are turning...

Something else to keep in mind is that, except for shows that air daily like talk shows, scripted television hasn't really been affected that much yet. Most shows had enough episodes written by the time the strike occurred to last them into early December, and most shows go on hiatus from then until at least a couple months later. So far, the TV landscape still looks pretty much as you'd expect it to look at this time of year. It's when we get into Spring, when shows usually come back from hiatus, that we'll see what effect the strike will have on viewing habits.

I agree with other posters who have noted that scripted shows are usually in reruns until this week or so at this time of the year. Especially Grey's Anatomy, which was mentioned. They always have a long hiatus during the holidays. I know I can say I am disapointed with the lack of new epsiodes. Some of my favorites are still on, like FNL. But, when I get home from work, do some errands, yada yada yada, and then I want to watch something on TV for a while, I will just check out whatever is on sometimes. I am sure others do the same thing.

Are the ratings "good" in comparison to the other shows in that time slot, or are they comparable to what other scripted shows would be doing in that time slot, where there new espisodes? Just curious.

Also, that comment from Donald Trump is kinda silly. Is that from him in regards to this situation, or just something he said that was used for this article? If it is aimed at this situation, he looks like an idiot. By "hitting us with everything they had" does he mean reruns? Because I am pretty sure the Apprentice hasn't been at its best the last few seasons....

Ha! Take that writers!

Really, I don't get paid every time someone uses one of my photos, or one of my designs. I just get paid for doing the work. Suck it up.

Fads come and go in television. Remember when talk shows were all the rage (Ricki Lake, et al.)? They went away eventually. Reality TV as the #1 choice / least common denominator was only truly realized with AI and DWTS. It'll go away in a few years, and something new will come along to entertain America.

The readers of this blog are not typical TV viewers, and are more likely to enjoy and appreciate scripted TV over reality TV, in my opinion.

We'd watch more scripted stuff if the scripting wasn't dog shit quality.

Scripted or reality, it all depends on the quality. Personally I'd rather watch an episode of The Amazing Race or Survivor then some tedious crime-drama. The really good scripted stuff like Lost, etc. will always attract the viewers anyway.

I love how people who would rather passively watch a scripted TV show and can't apparently be bothered to read an actual book are insulting the people that can't be bothered to play an actual sport. Maybe, just maybe, people have different tastes than the chosen ones. Maybe they would would rather watch real people do stuff, no matter how engineered the situation, as opposed to made up characters do made up stuff. I like scifi and sports; I'm not calling people that watch soap operas and figure skating idiots. Simple cure for the writers strike; roll your own - http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how_to/4236496.html?series=45 . Seriously, be a participant rather than a watcher. The writer's strike is a gift.