If you missed the first season of his show Leverage, find it and watch it and then watch the next season as it comes out. It’s like the A-Team crossbred with Hustle and a dash of Burn Notice.

Don’t buy their content off of iTunes or Amazon or any other site.
Don’t watch their streamed movies or TV shows from Netflix, NBC Direct, Hulu, Joost, et al.

When anyone redistributes a movie without the studios getting a cut, they call it piracy.  When the studios do it, they call it promotional.

Boycott any studio produced content on new media. Don’t buy movies or shows off of iTunes or Amazon. Don’t watch streaming episodes or movies off network sites or Netflix or any other service.

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John Rogers, as always, has one of the best posts explaining the whole strike situation. It’s lengthy, but well worth a full read.

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Poor, poor Steve Carrell. Due to a bad case of enlarged balls, he is unable to do any filming for The Office.

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While eight episodes of the new Terminator series have been shot, only the pilot has been completed and show runner Josh Friedman is not crossing the picket line to do any work on it.

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Show runners Shonda Rhimes of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice along with Shawn Ryan of The Shield and The Unit are also not doing any work on their shows either. For Shawn Ryan that means missing out on the filming of the series finale of The Shield and, if the strike lasts long enough (which certainly looks to be the case), missing out on the wrap party.

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For regular updates, I suggest keeping up with United Hollywood, Ken Levine, and Mark Evanier.

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Oh, and it turns out I was wrong the other day. The average WGA writer does not make as much as a teacher. Average yearly pay is actually only $5,000.

The keys facts to know:
• Residuals are paid to cover the re-use of creative work, either in an ad-supported form (such as TV) or for pay (such as home video) and are not a bonus
• Right now writers receive 0.3% residual on home video sales thanks to a contract set up back in 1988
• Most writers only make about the same as a school teacher (or less)
• That amount was set as a concession to the studios who said they needed it due to home video being an uncertain new market
• Many or most films now make more money on home video than they do in the theater
• The studios don’t want to negotiate an increase in home video residuals and the WGA even pulled the request for an increase in the latest talks
• The WGA is presently asking for a 2.5% residual on electronic sales (meaning iTunes and Amazon downloads) and the same TV re-run residual rate for online streaming
• The studios only offers are no residuals for electronic media (the status quo) or the same 0.3% home video residual figure and refuse to negotiate unless the WGA accepts one of those

That final bit is the real sticking point, not DVDs as most media outlets report. The studios are helping that mis-information by admittedly using the term “DVD” to refer to DVDs and electronic distribution so when reference is made to DVDs, keep in mind that’s not really what they mean. So basically, the writers want to be sure that they don’t get stuck with a very low residual for 20 years for electronic distribution the way they did for home video.

Not being a member of the Guild, I can’t help by not writing. Not living in L.A. means I can’t go picketing. They already get residuals for movies and TV, so not going out or switching off my set won’t help. Then I realized I do have a way to show support and something everyone I know can do too. So I suggest the following and ask that you spread the word:

Boycott studio-produced content on new media. Don’t buy any TV shows or movies off of iTunes or Amazon. Don’t watch shows streamed off network websites (including the massive Daily Show archive) or Joost or the new Hulu site.

Why has no one thought of this before?! A few shapeshifters and we could eliminate the whole cast.

They decide the guy’s crazy and leave him. A few days later Flash sees the guy on the news being interviewed. A mysterious private investor has stepped up to fund Zarkov’s rocket. The investor, through an employee, wants to hire Flash as spokesman for the effort. Flash agrees and since it’s the off season spends a lot of time around Zarkov’s farm.

The asteroid accelerates and a second asteroid changes it’s orbit to head for earth. Zarkov’s crew is overseas or otherwise unavailable and he needs to launch immediately to deal with the first asteroid. Zarkov convinces Flash to join him and Dale.

When they arrive at the asteroid, they discover engines on it and, behind the asteroid, a ship. A ship which slices open their rocket, sending them into space. The ship quickly suctions them in.

Flash and Zarkov are tortured and questioned while Dale is whisked off in a shuttle to a larger ship out in the asteroid belt where more asteroids are being fitted with engines to be used to attack Earth. There she meets Ming, who, though he controls many worlds, is personally overseeing this operation.

Back on the first ship, Flash is freed by a woman who says she is secretly working for the underground resistance against Ming. They free Zarkov, the crew member is killed, but not before cluing Zarkov into how to change the course of the asteroid. He also delivers a clue as to why Earth is being attacked.

Dale is freed by a mysterious woman who helps her get to a shuttle. They escape Ming’s ship and head for the asteroid control craft.

Flash is holding off the crew while Zarkov alters the course of the asteroid, aiming it toward the second asteroid.

Dale and mystery lady arrive dock with the control ship and make it to the bridge just as Flash is shot and Zarkov sends the asteroid off on it’s new course. The woman brings Flash back to life. Ming then appears in a transmission, revealing that she is his daughter and that he has activated the destruct mechanism of the craft.

The four of them make it to a shuttle and leave just as the ship explodes. The asteroid is out of control now, but it is too late for Ming to stop it destroying the second one.

The group returns to Earth where they are welcomed as heroes. They also finally meet the investor. Unseen by nearly everyone, Ming’s daughter and the investor trade a look suggesting that they in fact know each other. Later Ming’s daughter makes contact with Ming. Flash reunites with his fiance and we see a bit of awkwardness between him, her, and Dale.