Writers strike: Good for reading?

Hollywood writers are on strike for the fourth day today, and the horrific effects on the very fabric of American society are beginning to be felt.

Late-night talk shows are reduced to reruns since there are no available writers to feed punch lines to Leno or Letterman (You would think that for the millions of dollars these stars get paid, they could come up with two minutes of monologue and be able to ask their own questions of guests).

One after another, prime-time shows (eight at last count) have had to stop filming either because they're out of scripts or because actors won't cross picket lines. This means cameras are no longer rolling on shows ranging from "Desperate Housewives" to "The Office."

And soon the carnage will spread to everything from daytime dramas to Comedy Central. Eventually, the only original programming on television will be news and reality TV. We will know the end is near when "Desperate Housewives" is replaced by a reality show of the same name about married women who are competing for a chance to have an affair with "The Bachelor."

The strike began Monday after last-minute negotiations failed to produce a deal on how much writers are paid when shows are offered on DVDs and the Internet.

And while the writers have valid points about being reimbursed for work that gets widely disseminated in secondary markets, their absence raises the question about what American families are going to do to cope with a diminished TV landscape.

There are a few possibilities with retro flair:

Help your kids with homework. Dig out those ancient board games from the closet. Try a night or two of actual family communication unhindered by the omnipresent glow and sounds from the television.

Or try this one: Read a book. We know that reading isn't as easy as having your eyes glaze over in front of the television, but the rewards are greater, and once you start, you may just find yourself unable to stop.

Now, that's a happy ending that even a striking writer would have to be proud of.