WGA Strike: Could Oscars Face the Effects?

Let us face it, folks: Hollywood's awards season is on the brink of an upset... and it may be about to take Hollywood's biggest night of the year down with it.

Yet neither the death of Heath Ledger earlier this week, nor is it the actor's faults in the matter, are at fault for any of this. The writers, however, should take the brunt of the blame for this one.

That is because of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which has yet to be resolved. The WGA picketing has continued for so long now that everything in Hollywood is pretty much a tossup at this point.

The ongoing, 12+ week strike has thrown pretty much everything in Tinseltown into the proverbial tornado. Delayed series, increased reliance open unscripted reality, faltering series teetering on the brink for an entirely different reason than usual have all resulted, or will result, from this mess. There is no telling what is going to happen next, just as there is none when viewing a good Hollywood thriller - and just the same as one of those gripping plot-heavy dramas, this uprising needs its own good Hollywood ending - and quickly - before things get any more out of hand than they already are!

Let us see the evidence, now shall we? First, the ongoing trouble resulted in a much-diminished Golden Globes event. Reduced to a news conference format due to the strike, the Globes failed to impress anyone this year, resulting in the lowest ratings since, well, a good spell or two. Meanwhile, the Grammys - despite a no-picket call by the WGA - are sill 50/50 because there is still no decision on whether that includes allowing members to attend. Probably the only thing not affected is the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which to my knowledge may have come out virtually unscathed.

Nevertheless, the Academy Awards are still the biggest of them all, and even that is stuck in the mud right now. Alas, the show must go on - even if it means opting for plan B as the Globes' organizers did because of the WGA strike. Then again, we know now what happened with that - and it was not very good, either. Could the same thing happen twice? Are the rest of Hollywood's awards season lost beyond hope? Is this the end of Hollywood as we know it (if just for one year)? Nobody knows yet - and we may not know until after the fact.

By then, however, it may be too late.