Too early for retrospection? Five good things to come out of the writers’ strike

BuddyTV is taking a look at the silver lining of the writers’ strike, and while I’m still wrapping my brain around the fact that it’s over (it’s over!), it’s nice to see that they give love to the best thing that happened during these cold dark months.

Five Good Things About the Writers’ Strike
February 12, 2008

Now that the writers’ strike is over, we can look to the future. Hopefully viewers will stick around for new episodes of 30 Rock and The Office as opposed to NBC’s current strategy of four or five hours of Deal or No Deal per week. But let’s try to focus on the positives, and yes, there were some good things that came out of the strike, and we’re not talking about Internet residuals.

We’re not about to claim the strike was a great thing, or even a good thing. We at BuddyTV miss the adventures of Ned the Piemaker and Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles. We wonder what made Tony Almeida so evil. And we’re still curious about when Marshall’s final two slaps will occur. Yet we can look beyond that to find the silver lining on the giant cloud that was the writers’ strike.

. . .

1. The Late Night Huckabee Fight

Everyone was unsure about how the late night comedians would do when they came back before the writers’ strike was over. It was often hit-or-miss, with lots of filler and non-celebrity guests. Then something magical happened: Governor Mike Huckabee won the Republican caucus in Iowa.

Fans of The Colbert Report know that Huckabee appeared on the show many times, offering his vice presidency to Stephen Colbert and getting “the Colbert Bump,” a boost in the polls thanks to his appearance. As such, Colbert took credit for creating Mike Huckabee’s winning campaign. Over on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the red-haired comedian had a different take. Due to the popularity of his Walker, Texas Ranger lever, Conan said he caused the revitalized career of Chuck Norris, who endorsed Huckabee, and as such, Conan was responsible for Huckabee winning the Iowa caucus.

On February 4, during The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert showed up to talk smack about Conan O’Brien. Conan showed up and challenged both Comedy Central hosts to a fight over who created Huckabee. The fight was postponed through The Colbert Report until Late Night, which is where it ended.

This was pure television genius, an entertaining way to fill empty time with a special three-show crossover event. The payoff was more than worth it, as the fight ended with a triple knockout, followed by a message from Mike Huckabee, who put an end to the debate by saying that America was responsible for creating Mike Huckabee.

If the strike never happened, these three shows would not have needed to fill the time, and it’s probable that we never would have seen this epic event. As such, we owe it to ourselves to see that the writers’ strike was not all bad. Necessity is the mother of invention, and out of the necessity to fill airtime, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart invented comedy gold.

The other four were: 5) Writer Recognition; 4) Big Brother 9; 3) Cable Shows on the Networks; and 2) The Celebrity Apprentice. So take this how you will. Either way, the writers are back!