Strike shows life is changing

A prolonged strike by Hollywood writers would have had a huge impact on the television habits of Americans 40 years ago. But the walkout begun this week in Los Angeles won't keep people away from their television sets. Rather, it will highlight just how much the world of entertainment is changing.

In many ways, that's the point of the strike. The writers are demanding a greater share of profits from DVD sales of their work, as well as from Internet downloads. Those are terms that define part of an emerging new world, and this strike, if it lingers, may push that world along a little faster.

Forty years ago, television viewers had no alternative but to watch what was broadcast by a limited number of channels. Even 19 years ago, the last time the writers went on strike, the options had increased but still were limited compared with today's standards. People could rent movies on VHS tapes to watch on their VCRs.

Today, entire seasons of shows are available on DVD. In addition, the Internet is full of video offerings that can be downloaded, either for free or for a nominal fee. The popular site Youtube.com contains an endless supply of amateur and semi-professional productions. Beginning next week, the people who created the shows "My So-Called Life" and "Blood Diamond" are unveiling a new series called "Quarterlife." It will exist only on the Internet, where it can be downloaded for personal viewing. People with the right technical expertise will be able to transfer it to their televisions.

The strike mainly will impact late-night talk shows. A lot of other popular shows have a backlog of scripts that will last them awhile. But one popular genre, the so-called reality shows, don't depend much on writers and will continue as normal.

No one knows where the world of entertainment is headed, but the trend is clear. Audiences are becoming segmented, and viewers are gaining more choices all the time.

Some have called this the death of popular culture. Americans seldom share common cultural experiences on television any longer. Few shows attract enough viewers to have an impact.

What Americans do have are choices. What they choose to watch will be their business, but it will define them.