Actors on TV seem to make a lot of money. Some hit TV-shows actually their actors making hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode.
As the innocent television viewer, I often don’t think of all the hard work that the writers have to put in to make the television shows coherent and engaging. While the actors themselves have some impact on the popularity of a television show, it’s the story that really matters in determining how the show will do over several years.
For instance, this past week, how sick was Heroes? Just when we thought Takezo Kensei was done for, he comes back as Adam Monroe, the dude who’s going to turn the world upside down with a mutated Shanti virus. All this time we thought Hiro Nakamura was wasting his time in the past, when the writers actually planned for him to meet his eventual an arch-nemesis (Adam). No offense to the actors, but their popularity with the fans wouldn’t nearly be as great if the writers hadn’t created such a kick-ass story. The entire story on Heroes, actually, is a credit to the ability of the writers to create something novel and original for the viewers, not just a real life version of the X-men cartoons.
House MD is another show that has really been affected by the writers than the actors. Granted that the show would never have been the same if Hugh Laurie wasn’t casted for the role of House, but still, this past year with all the changes that happened on the show itself, creating an entirely new team for House, risking the alienation of the viewers (if new doctors weren’t brought in properly). Rather, the writers of House MD created a situation where the new characters were gradually brought into the eyes of the viewers. Gradually, the new team of Cutner (Kal Penn), ‘Thirteen’ (Olivia Wilde), Cole (‘Big Love’), and Taub (the plastic surgeon) have gained at least my own interest.
I’d hate to see that these amazing television shows, Heroes and House MD, turn bad because ‘Hollywood’ couldn’t give the writers what they deserve. I don’t blame the writers for walking out. I just hope they’ll get back to work as soon as possible.
