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The Writers Guild Of America said today: “Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they’ve come to expect. The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the AMPTP companies to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild.”

"We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

1. RIP, Kurt Vonnegut. I read Cats Cradle when I was far too young to truly understand his humor, but I loved it anyway and kept re-reading it over the years. Eventually I managed to read practically everything he'd written, and I appreciated every word.

2. derspatchelwrote an excellent post about Imus, of whom I would be pleased never to hear or read another word, as he's not remotely deserving of the attention, and will probably die bitter and alone.

3. Thanks, all, for your supportive comments to my last rant.... definitely made me feel better!
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I have a fever and a racking cough - I'm supposed to be in Arizona running the program that I've been killing myself to put together, but ironically, I ran myself down and am too sick to go.

Instead, I've been re-watching the first two seasons of Slings & Arrows - I'm eagerly awaiting the third season, which they're only just now starting to show on the Sundance Channel.

Slings & Arrows makes me ridiculously happy on so many levels. It's an intimate look at actors, theatre, life, love, language - everything that touches my soul in a way few things can. It makes me miss the theatre with a painful desperation. It makes me want to be a better person.

Watching Paul Gross, as Geoffrey Tennant, caress and adore the language of Shakespeare, is a beautiful thing to watch and to listen to. Gross has a background in Shakespeare, as does his real-life wife, Martha Burns, who plays the diva actress Ellen. You can tell, when they speak the words so effortlessly, so fluidly, and so meaningfully. They speak Shakespeare as if the thoughts came from their own heads. And when Geoffrey is directing Hamlet and Macbeth, his insights into the characters and depth of meaning are beautiful and wondrous to behold. Apparently Gross actually played Hamlet on stage to great acclaim, and I sincerely wish I could have seen that performance. I love watching him dissect both plays, and if it wasn't for the frequent use of the word "fuck", I'd say those scenes should be shown in high school and college Shakespeare courses.

The show has its share of slapstick moments, some of which I could do without. But they're far outweighed by the gorgeousness of the characters and language, and the love and respect given to Shakespeare's plays, and the complex world of the theatre - in front of and behind the scenes.

I've been a terrible patron of the arts over the last year or two, and I'm determined to change that. Husband is supportive of this plan. It's a matter of needing to be in town (which actually shouldn't be a problem for the next month - I keep getting pulled from other programs for being too busy, and then unable to run the ones I'm still on.) So to all my friends in the arts, I will try harder and be better with my attendance.

Did I mention the incredible performance by Paul Gross in this show? When I was in college I had a housemate we will affectionately - and accurately - refer to as Psycho Sarah. Psycho Sarah was obsessed with the show "Due South", but for some reason was loathe to let anyone in the universe actually know that. I did find out, and she reluctantly began to let me watch the show with her. For those unfamiliar, it was a Canadian show that starred Paul Gross as a Mountie working in Chicago (though filmed in Canada) with a hard nosed Chicago cop. It was charming and slightly subversive, in that subtle Canadian way that I adore. Watching Gross play Geoffrey Tennant is also a delight in part because Geoffrey is such the antithesis to his Constable Benton Fraser. (And Forever Knight fans take note - Geraint Wyn Davies plays an important part in the second season.)

I have to mention and credit the rest of the cast of Slings & Arrows - Rachel McAdams was wonderful in the first season, and so is everyone else - from the wonderful two old queens, Frank and Cyril, to the erudite Nigerian security guard.

It's immediately evident that by and large this is a cast of actors with stage experience - REAL acting, in other words. They know how to interact, they know how to work as an ensemble. They're helped by sharp writing (minus the fairly silly subplots involving Richard and his efforts to keep the theatre funded) and excellent directing. And because it's actually SET in Canada, the actors don't have to pretend not to have Canadian accents (although it would have been helpful if the actress playing the Texan bitch in the first season had tried to hide hers a little better...)

Thank goodness for the Sundance Channel and TiVo...