Is there a joke here?

Really the thought balloon coming from the balding white guy's foot probably should have read "they're not affected by writers' strikes." Then it would have made sense.

So for those who don't have a knee-jerk unions=bad reaction to any strike news, what's at stake? The writers think that they deserve a little more than $.04 per DVD given how much money is being made on the DVD market (which is far bigger than would have been predicted back in 1988 when almost nobody ever bought VHS cassettes... they just taped movies off of HBO).

But the big issue is how much money the writers should get for online sales of TV shows and movies. The writers would like to get more than $.04/download. The producers think that the writers should get nothing.

Which brings us full-circle back to the strip. College football where millions are made and the players get, well, nothing. Yet another thing for a right-wing ideologue to like about college football.

Be a glutton for punishment: Read the strip

I like my family more than Bruce does

I've always been a bit mystified by the hostility that so many people seem to express towards their families, particularly at the holidays. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I enjoy spending time with my family (I even enjoy spending time with my wife's family). As Bruce reveals, when he returns to attempting to mine humor from the writers strike after a curiously-timed joke about Sarkozy, he apparently doesn't much care for his. I guess the difference is that I have my own place and Bruce perhaps lives in his parents' basement?

As for Thanksgiving TV, I've not paid that much attention, but as I recall Thanksgiving TV is generally composed of football, reruns and a very special episode of Friends, none of which would be impacted by the writers' strike. In fact, I caught a promo last night for an all new episode of Gray's Anatomy to be shown tonight, so it looks like the duck's prediction isn't going to happen.

Let me close with a happy Thanksgiving to all. If you're estranged from your family, hey give 'em a chance. Forget about whatever it was that upset you. Don't bring it up, don't let them bring it up, just focus on the present and the future. Hey, if I can get along fine with my republican brothers, you can make it through an afternoon with your drunken uncle Bruce who lives in Grandma's basement.

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Solidarity? Yes, please.

You know Bruce, most of the time, strips written by panels of writers are painfully bad (q.v., Archie, B.C., Dennis the Menace), but frankly, in your case it would be an improvement. In the meantime, I would whole-heartedly support blank Mallard Fillmores for the duration of the strike.

Oh by the way Duck, keep this in mind: First they exploited the TV writers but I didn't care because I wasn't a TV writer. Then they exploited the movie writers but I didn't care because I wasn't a movie writer. And then they
exploited the purveyors of conservative schlock and I was left to suffer because all the striking Hollywood folks were too overcome with laughter to save me from the evil exploiting corporation.

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Because what's the duck without a little mindless union-bashing?

There's something appropriate about the duck talking about Stephen Colbert. After all Colbert is funny and pretends to be conservative. The duck is conservative and pretends to be funny. It's a beautiful symmetry, don't you think?

As for the "substance" of the strip, it's worth noting that (a) Colbert is, in fact, a WGA member himself, (2) he would be unlikely to cross the picket lines if he weren't and (iii) he probably remembers Funny People, NBC's attempt at putting on a TV show without writers back in the last writer's strike. This show, hosted by Rita Rudner, Leeza Gibbons and Blake Clark was an astonishing disaster. I remember in particular an episode in which the hosts attempted to interview John Cleese who demonstrated to them that if you're going to ad lib a show, you need to be able to think on your feet. Another episode had Clark ad lib some anti-semitic comment leaving his co-hosts too dumbfounded to respond. Not surprisingly, almost all traces of the show have been wiped from the face of the earth.

Be a glutton for punishment: Read the strip