I was staring at this picture the other day sent over to me by former Mickey Mouse Club writer Glenn Rabney and I couldn’t help but be reminded of those chilling final moments of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980’s horror classic The Shining as the camera slowly pans in on a wall of framed photographs located in the grand ballroom of the haunted Overlook Hotel. The camera focuses on a framed photo of a occupants in that very same ballroom from very long ago. Only, as the camera continues to pan further in closer, to our amazement it’s not really a ballroom after all. Leering even closer and upon further investigation…HEY, Wait a sec, is th- IS THAT The CBS Radford Studios stuck in a timeloop? And why are the people getting bigger – and – GASP! I think I know some of those very same people from my picketline. BUT it’s been so long ago –
Late 2007 to be exact… AND they must be
OW!
Ah jeez fucking Louise. I think I just broke the camera lens!! Have you ever had one of those days whenever you walk into a wall with a erection and you wind up breaking your nose instead?
Well, sometimes in my case that can be a daily occurrance and…
DING DONG!
Stay right there, I’m going to go get a band-aid. Besides, I hear people knocking at my blogging door.
Why it’s Jeff Zimmer (also a Mickey Mouse Club revival writer seen in photo petting some dog) Barry Rubinowitz (standing to his right) and Glenn Rabney (standing to Barry’s right leaning on the US mailbox) here to regale me with stories of that fateful struggle from fifteen years past. It’s almost like as if they were the original Watchmen back in the black and white days when they were called The Minutemen when it was all nothing but clean living picking from apple orchards in freshly pressed dungarees, the dinner bell chiming at 5 PM sharp, a woman’s dress went down to her ankles, and before a 24 hour sex shoppe ever opened in Sherman Oaks along Ventura Blvd. After a few pleasantries were exchanged and some light-hearted fun poked at the butterfly bandage draped across my nose, we all began to reflect:
Barry Rubinowitz of Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley alumni coincidentally just did me a solid: he provided me with a bullet pointed list, so the four of us can nitpick the picket that recently concluded in late September of 2023.
Here are some differences pointed out in the picketing itself in the days of yore and the days of now.
BARRY: 2008 was pleasantly in the Fall and Winter, 2023 was in the bowels of Hell in Summer.
GLENN: The weather was cooler in 2007/08, but what was really weird, and I spoke with others, none of us can remember rain durning that strike, and November -January was usually the rainy season.
JEFF: I respectfully disagree, Barry. I thought having the strike in the summer was much better than the 2008 strike. In 2008 it could be cold, rainy sometimes and the pickets did not seem real well organized.
I think the summer weather led to more friendliness, more just hanging around either in the shade or in the sun. For me it was way easier to bike to the picket.
BARRY: Speaking of Hell, the other side was far less obnoxious in 2008 – no tree trimming, no sidewalk blocking, and in our case, no Colfax.
JEFF: Having The Screen Actors Guild join us beefed up the picket lines. Sometimes in 2008 they seemed a bit thin. It also made it more fun.
BARRY: 2008 was more businesslike – we came and did our picketing, had some nice conversations and went home. 2023 included food and drinks, special theme days, food trucks, and music. I remember two theme days in 2008, one was Canada Day, the other was about a show – no big deal in either case.
GLENN: The biggest difference was after the 2007-08 strike was over, there wasn’t a lot of social media so the only people I ever really saw again, were those I knew before. This time, there has been, at least for me, a huge connection. We have The Radford Radicals list and I’ve now had coffee with about a dozen of my fellow strikers, and keep in contact, and probably most important, we’re reading and looking to help each other. In fact I was invited to participate in a TV comedy reading and 4 of us will have pilots read in January with industry people attending. So as opposed to 2007-08, not only did The Writers Guild of America get a new deal, but I’ve greatly increased my circle of friends and peers.
To piggyback on what Barry said, in 2007/08, we just walked and it was just mostly WGA, this time it didn’t feel as just a WGA strike BUT it had the feeling of something bigger and nation wide as if we were leading a charge. So many people from different avenues who joined and supported. This felt like a movement, the last just a strike.
ME: Yeah, I really need to interject here – this to me felt like history being made in front of us, that we were sort of resembling folk heroes, because we were fighting for higher stakes (increase in streaming residuals, streamer viewer data transparency and the looming threat of AI taking over your scripts). I mean, I even got recognized on television from several of my neighbors and friends locally. I’ve even gotten stopped on the street walking home from a Ralph’s one day, with a motorist giving me a thumbs up and even my local record retailer over at Freak Beat Records gave me an extra 10 percent off of a Jethro Tull boxset because he saw me zip tying signs together on a broadcast of Access Hollywood.
BARRY: There were fewer Captains in 2008 and they weren’t cheerleaders.
JEFF: In the beginning over at Colfax, the strike captains had to monitor traffic in and out, provided misters and cold water in the hot weather, and when we had an overflow of people, directed some to picket across the street.
ME: But as soon as we moved to Radford, some of their services were no longer required. In the beginning on Colfax, I used to assist Bill Odenkirk with pedestrian control at the gate ONLY because we had fewer captains and they were on shift when we were doing full days. When we made the switchover to Radford with fewer hours (from 7 hours down to 3), they were merged into one shift with like 10 captains assigned almost everyday. I admit, too many captains spoiled the broth – they only became necessary when we had needed crowd control at some of the overlapping theme days. Some I had to figure why they were even still there. For example, Captain Charlie Kelly, a writer on The Great North, great guy and all, nice to talk animation with, but it seemed everyday, he was simply there to keep his dog Paco company – and Paco wasn’t very nice to people. Wouldn’t bite you, but would growl if you came too near him. Didn’t really need that impending danger on the picketline.
BARRY: Nobody paid for us eating at Bob’s Big Boy in 2008.
GLENN: Drew Carey actually paid for food during 2007-08 too, but I never took part in that.
(Editor’s note:) Drew Carey owns Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake and also recently bought Swingers Diner in The Fairfax District nearby CBS Television City Studios where he used to host The Price is Right. For this past strike he comped all the writers and actors at that restaurant as well in addition to Bob’s Big Boy. Now that The Price is Right has moved out to Glendale, we wonder what restuarant he’s going to commandeer in that area for the next strike?
BARRY: In 2008, we were pretty much alone, in 2023, we were joined by other guilds and unions in our picket lines, as well as sharing the stage with SAG-AFTRA for the back half of the strike – I think just we considered this one existential, so did non-WGA people.
JEFF We definitely had more celebrities (at least it was easier to identify them since they weren’t all bundled up) and way more food and treats.
BARRY: We had a party after the strike was over in 2008.
GLENN: Not sure if it was location or what, but 2007/08 I basically spoke with writers, this time I was more connected having semi regular conversations with board members of The Writers Guild.
Finally, and this goes back to my first point… there just seemed to be so much more bonding and caring for one another and reaching out and making connections. Last time I was walking with a few friends that were part of a crowd – this time I felt like the entire crowd were my friends and many of them have continued to be so.
JEFF: I actually picketed at Fox, Paramount, Universal, WB and Disney as well. For my money Radford was the best organized and best place to picket.
The caps and sunscreen showed both thoughtfulness and some prior planning.
And I agree with the other guys that this felt like it was more than a strike. A lot of how our business goes forward was at stake.
I was glad to be a part of it and meet so many interesting people. Oddly enough probably NONE of the issues we were striking over will probably affect me as well as many older writers. But it was important for us to be there and to show support for our union and fellow union members both present and future.
As well as eat doughnuts.
Okay, so just as I thought we were going to wrap things and to thank them for sharing their insights into strikes past and present, I was preparing to kick them the fuck outta my bloghouse until Jeff Zimmer brought one more salient point:
JEFF: I think the signs were worse than in 2008. There were a lot of coarse signs with a lot of bad language or depth kid “jokes” that were an embarrassment to comedy writers and writers in general. Glenn blames these on the actors but it might be just a generational thing. Also there were a lot of long, verbose overwritten signs that desperately needed editing.
ME: Absolutely Jeff. I had to pull some of those signs out myself. I came across a few the other day in a storage room at HQ. and I was wondering where the heck were people going with this abortion angle on some of these signs? Thanks for pointing that out. Ok, gentlemen, I think I got plenty here to sort through. So everyone get up and get the f-
JEFF: Yes, several times early on other issues tried to hijack our strike.
And so, we took this interview and placed it firmly into the PPGuru time capsule located far beneath the bowels of Casa de La Coatney‘s easy access sewer system, along with some of Jeff’s broken bike tire spokes, Glenn’s Walkman with some warped cassette tapes of Britney Spears and Christine Aquilera, along with Barry’s acqusition of one of Henry Winkler’s old weather beaten Fonzi jackets with the words “Jump The Shark” emblazoned in big letters on it’s back and buried it all under 50 fifty feet of hard concrete (hey, who’s going to take care of this cement truck rental bill? GUYS?? GUYS!!)- and hopefully we’ll revisit all this sometime in the future whenever a entertainment union next goes on strike and click our sherry glasses and have ourselves a merry laugh.Also of note: no one really drove the Owlship back home drunk that night.
Harking back from where we left off last time – and this time I’m going to try my darnest to go download everything strike related off my laptop. Not all photos were taken by me this time, Glenn helped with the portraits from the past and fellow SAG-AFTRA colleague Cheryl Chapman-Teague helped out with bright shots that she had taken on “The Neighborhood” day.
In what I was predicting to be the last days of the strike around Labor Day were a tad bit premature as talks continued to break down between the union and the AMPTP – I was trying to sum up my personal frustration through the use of verses borrowed from King Crimson’s “Elephant Talk” – the opening song from 1981’s Discipline album, a favorite lp platter of mine from my 1981-1982 senior year of Parsippany High School in Parsippany, NJ – which is a song about breakdown in communication in any form. I had my fingers crossed that the strike was all going to be over by the time I got to the fifth and final verse. Fat chance.
Randall Park, world reknown actor and voice performer of the Human Resources animated series from Netflix, which was a spin-off from Big Mouth that lasted two seasons. Now picketing directly behind him is Gregory Curly Twiford, a member of the TV & Motion Pictures Animal Trainers Association. He’s quite a character – his dad trained all sorts of creatures and animals that were seen widely in Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and The Hound of Baskervilles movies and serials. His dad even trained the very first Lassie for the original “Timmy and Lassie” series shot in the 1950s’. However, his son Gregory Curly would try to make his presence known at all the major strike sites and some of his old man dirty jokes did not sit well with a couple of my female work colleagues stationed at those sites and was known to kicked out quite a few times or asked politely to leave. Even I had to scold him a few times, if he strayed off the topic of picketing.
Heeeeeerrrrrreeeee’s Jerrry. Jerry O’Connell back for the umpteenth time. More on him later on in the program.
Writers and producers of both Solar Opposites and Star Trek: Lower Decks guild covered animated series of which Jerry O’Connell is a lead voice actor on the latter. Jerry also had a guest appearance on a episode of Solar Opposites, but by the time I got around to seeing that episode on Hulu, I was pretty much pissed off at him. The gentlemen in the middle wearing the Mario Bros t-shirt is none other than Mike McMahan, the creator of ST:LD while he is also the co-creator of Solar Opposites, the other half creator being Justin Roiland, who has been exiled from adult animation completely altogether.
The chore of composing the daily whiteboard became easier and easier. Almost second nature to me.
Rick Overton signing in.
It was Captain Andra Whipple‘s birthday and I didn’t bake a cake and for some other odd reason, I didn’t take her picture either…
but I did get her hubby, Jonathan Werden and their little pet Corgi.
Samwise Aaron and Rick Overton turning a cone corner together.
Third verse.
Voice actor and comedian Sam Kwasman.
Captain Chris Hazzard and Barry Rubinowitz sandwich blocking my view of Acapulco cast member Jessica Collins.
The first original Star Lord as far as I’m concerned – Farscape’s Ben Browder.
David Alan Grier.
Aziza Scott from Apple+ TV‘s Home Before Dark.
Jerry O’Connell’s last hurrah on The CBS Radford picket line, accompanied by his fellow The Talk co-star and former American Ninja Warrior host, Akbar Gbajabiamila.
I had no idea that Jerry was one of the five hosts on the CBS daytime show, The Talk.
I’m going to paraphrase a few paragraphs from a Hollywood Reporter article dated September 13, 2023 to explain the situation rather than going off on a obscene laced rant about how I and a few captains felt betrayed by what Jerry O’Connell pulled off. AND keep in mind, Jerry is both a member of the WGA and SAG:
The gist is this: To be in lockstep vogue with The Drew Barrymore Show and The Jennifer Hudson Show, who thought it would be very clever to resume taping of their shows, other talk shows wanted to follow suit, even Real Time with Bill Mahar thought it was the fashionista thing to do. The Radford area captains were on yellow alert; CBS Radford had be all hands on deck 24/7, because Jerry decided to switch sides and sneak onto the lot at 4 in the morning and that got the captains really fucking angry, especially Captain Andra Whipple who was practically in tears once word of Jerry’s defection got to her:
Around 50 WGA members set up near Radford Studio Center’s Radford Avenue gate, talking to audience members who had shown up, handing them leaflets that railed against the entertainment industry’s “unsustainable” business model, and WGA-emblazoned buttons. According to Writers Guild captains on site, the group had turned away two potential audience members by informing them that they would be crossing a picket line to enter the show.
“The reality is that bringing a show back without your writers is an attempt to devalue our labor and devalue the work that we do,” argued WGA captain Chris Hazzard. “And there’s no way to make a show without writing. So whether that’s picking guests or talking about who’s going to speak when or doing pre-interviews to update your hosts about what the topic is going to be, all of that is writing. And so that work being done is scabbing and we will be out here with a picket sign until it stops.”
Like fellow daytime talk shows The Drew Barrymore Show and The Jennifer Hudson Show, The Talk is resuming production without union writers amid the ongoing writers strike, even as last season it employed three WGA members. The Talk is currently targeting a Sept. 18 premiere. The show’s hosts, including Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell (GODDAMMIT!)and Sheryl Underwood, are covered by a SAG-AFTRA contract — the Network Code agreement — that is currently active and not affected by that union’s simultaneous strike.
A picket had not previously been scheduled for this location due to the simultaneous SAG-AFTRA rally scheduled for Wednesday, but when the WGA got wind of the alleged Talk rehearsal, it quickly convened a small group, said WGA captain Josh Brown. “It was very last-minute, honestly,” he said. “We gathered whoever was able to and started picketing today, knowing that this was the day that we wouldn’t have picketers here because most of the membership was going to be at the [SAG] rally. “
WGA observers took a video and photos — shared with THR — of a black GMC Yukon with tinted windows entering a gate in an alley between Colfax Avenue and Radford Avenue. WGA captains said they believed the passenger (or passengers) was a high-profile performer or guest on the show, (Editor’s Note: IT WAS GODDAMN JERRY!!) avoiding the picket line by entering through this alternate gate, which is usually padlocked shut and rarely used but remains an authorized entrance.
WGA members had been out on Radford Avenue as early as 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning in preparation for The Talk picket. As for how long they would remain on the sidewalk? “As long as we need to stay out here,” said assistant lot coordinator and strike captain Myles Warden. “It’ll be very obvious when the audience starts to clear out.”
Credit to excerpts from The Hollywood Reporter article goes to Katie Kilkenny. Please allow me to clarify: the studio reported to us that these weren’t actual tapings per se, but rather dress rehearsals as a vehicle to test out new things, new protocols put into place proceding farther once the strikes have ended.
Yeah, sure thing studio publicist pal.
I distinctly remember Myles words to me when I asked for his advice on what are we going to do if Jerry shows his face back on the picketline, or at Paramount or CBS Television City for that matter, since those were the most designated ones who were constantly hosting Star Trek themed pickets that he and wife Rebecca Romijn were known to be special guests of.
“Nothing. We can’t do anything about it.” Myles retorted ‘BUT – I guarantee he wouldn’t dare embarrass his stupid ass by showing up here ever again!!”
And words never ran truer. Jerry never showed up at any WGA or SAG-AFTRA sanctioned picket ever again after he crossed over into that scab dimension.
And that’s how Myles Warden became a true Ghost Dawg Samurai.
4th verse and still no word of a deal.
Also, on the whiteboard above, Steven Kriozere entrusted me with coming up with movie titles for his BIKE THE STRIKE series. That was the best one I came up with.
And by the time I got to the last verse of King Crimson’s Elephant Talk – still no deal was on the table, but wow dig that crazy elephant caricature made up on the fly by me. I’m so very proud of that.
One of the most creative food trucks that stopped at CBS Radford. It was a self serve flavored-ice truck.
One day Ben Browder showed up wearing the exact same shirt as me, so we had no choice but to become workshirt day brothers. The whole damn Farscape series was just released on blu ray recently. I’ve got to invest in a set one of these days. Same with Babylon 5.
Pic of Ben Browder and I together taken by his daughter, Imogen.
In the shadows lurks Paula Poundstone.
The Neighborhood-themed day. Based on a sitcom that I’ve never watched – sidekick, actress Cheryl Chapman-Teague was more familiar with the talent involved on that show, so she sent me a bunch of photos of who showed up that represented the show. It was quite another busy day, as we had Entertainment Tonight camera crews setting up to do interviews.
I tried another obscure King Crimson song lyric – this time from 2000’s Construction of Light album, the chorus of “The World’s My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum” – but still the AMPTP and their evil overlord Carol Lombardini weren’t getting the message.
Entertainment Tonight setting up for interviews and coverage of the day’s events.
Captain Patty Carr eating her yogurt and granola – which she made faithfully every morning. I thought the gentleman sitting down talking to her was a cast member of The Neighborhood, but someone pointed out to me he was only merely one of the showrunners.
Captain Chris Hazzard on the prowl for a production to shut down. This guy was a legendary strike folk hero, he took a handful of people with picket signs into the hills of Bel-Air to shut down a shoot of a Loot episode taking place at some mansion that had Maya Rudolph practically locking herself inside her trailer in distress.
Glenn Rabney marching to the beat of the “Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song” playing in his head.
Cedric The Entertainer, the big kahuna of The Neighborhood.
Cedric The Entertainer being interviewed by Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier.
With days before My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 was set to open in theaters, Nia Vardalos did the only PR she could without actually promoting the film herself by showing her solidarity on the CBS Radford picketline.
Angelique Rivera, one of the stars of ABC’s American Crime with her organization L.I.F.E. (Latinos in Film & Entertainment).
On right, soap opera writer supreme Michele Val Jean.
Star of all 3 My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies, Nia Vardalos is in lockstep with her Studio City compatroits.
It was kind of surreal seeing Nia after such a lengthy absence. When she was on the Colfax, she never talked about the third installment of her movie series – EVEN before the SAG strike began. And when she stopped showing up, the only memories I had of her were the trailer I kept seeing over and over of BFGW 3 during the entire summer of every movie I went to see at the AMC Burbank.
Johnny – our favorite teamster driver. Johnny is one of Matt Damon‘s best friends – even going as far as being selected to be the best man at his wedding as well serving as his assistant on many of his shoots. Johnny regaled us with such tales as being one time engaged to actress Lena Headey, getting in trouble in Europe with Matt having to bail him out of jail and being stuck in China for a long period of time while Matt was shooting The Great Wall. He and I really hit it off. In some aspects he reminded me a lot of hanging out with Harry Perzigian who always had a great tale to tell or two when it came to celebrities and their insecurities . Our favorite antic was taking the megaphones from the captains at the end of the day and then screaming obscentities through the van’s window at people in Hollywood as we were heading back to the main HQ to unload our supplies. Usually lame stuff like Beavis & Butthead imitiations and singing verse or two of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung at mostly homeless people observed sleeping on park benches as we drove by. It was all in good fun.
I talked plenty in past chapters of Stephanie Streisand, a comedian and animation writer on all the How To Train Your Dragon-related series, but this is the first time I came across a picture of her in my files. She was one of my favs on the picketlines mainly because she confessed to a self appointed Yes fan. She’s also related to the legendary Barbara Streisand – she’s a second or third cousin of hers I think she told me
A gallery of pics provided by Cheryl Chapman-Teague. From top left, The Neighborhood’s Tichina Arnold, in middle: Cheryl and moi posing for pic on French theme day, and right: Max Greenfield, also from The Neighborhood and Samwise Aaron scaring the hell out of us of what we originally thought was him getting his Zappa hair cut off – BUT, not to worry, it was really just a beard trim.
A few more photos randomly taken by Cheryl include Christopher Gorham – star of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer and was for a period of time the voice of The Flash in a handful of DC Animated Universe Projects.
Left: Laura San Giacomo (in addition to Peter Onafri, she also grew up in and around Parsippany, NJ – but since I have my own photos of her, I’ll talk more in length later and Right: Beth Behrs also well known cast member from The Neighborhood in addition to 2 Broke Girls.
I forgot whatever this was about. I thought maybe it was a photoshoot for all those who showed up for Yvette Nicole Brown’s birthday celebration, but now upon closer inspection I’m not so sure. I just need to clean out my desktop.
However, I noticed this girl was in the last photo kneeling in the front row and so it must have been a group of people from a IATSE faction came out for support.
No, no, no, I was right the first time – IT WAS Yvette Nicole Brown‘s birthday after all.
Okay, moving on.
Another BIKE THE STRIKE star studded event – look at Steve Kriozere in the back trying to be all He-Man about it.
I might be wrong on this particular round – but I remember one time when I stood in the middle of the street with a megaphone ready to launch them out of the starting gate and one guy couldn’t maintain his balance within ten feet without falling off his bicycle seat and I ran out in the middle of the street with the megaphone just for shits and giggles and yelled that he was disqualfied.
Fire Country and Foundation producer Captain Joelle Garfinkel was around to help celebrate Andra’s birthday.
Ben Browder with his daughter Imogen, who currently works as a personal assistant to Shawn Ryan on The Night Agent, which I literally just heard is Netflix’s highest rated streaming show from between January and June of this year- AND has been renewed for a second season (duh). Ben is no doubt very proud of her,
Danny Pino formerly of Mayans M.C. made an appearance. He is slated next to join Michael Chiklas (who made an appearance at CBS Colfax covered in our first chapter) in a new show for MGM+ about Cuban exile and secret CIA Operative Roman Compte in Hotel Cocaine.
Captain Brian Nelsen on left. On right: Two SAG-AFTRA actors who I ran into at various other picket sites after the WGA closed up shop.
Background actor, occasional blogger to this site and professional stone mover, Zak Alvarez finally joined us on CBS Radford to give us all a demonstration of his prayer drum techniques – until it got on everyones’ nerves. Now if he would stop beating on his tom-toms and get around to writing that review of “Killers of The Flower Moon” that I asked for…
Justin Melnick, proving once again to be our top notch pizza delivery Superman. In the middle photo, he strikes a pose with occasional SEAL TEAM guest star actress Meredith Jackson and on the right, Justin disappears like The Flash leaving Meredith in the dust still holding his sign while Cheryl Chapman-Teague looks on slightly bemused at the check-in table.
My picture of Laura San Giacomo. I had a talk with Laura wondering how far her New Jersey roots extended (she was, after all born in Hoboken). I had heard that she grew up in Denville, NJ and I told her that there used to be a movie theater I used to go to as a kid in Denville to see all the James Bond movies starring Roger Moore when I was a kid like “Live and Let Die”, “Man With The Golden Gun”, “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker” – and she recalled that theater, but the real kicker she told me was that there was a good possiblility that she remembered my stepfather while he was a bartender at The Fireside, because that was a place she used to go to drink when she was hanging out with her high school friends AND she used to also act in plays at Parsippany High School whenever her theater troupe rented out our auditorium. I should let all you know, I invited her to join actor Peter Onofri and me the next time we plan our Jacques Cousteau inspired expedition to explore the lost city of Boonton, which rumor has it that it’s been sunk to the bottom of The Jersey City Reservoir.
Former Dr. Phil staff writer, Amy Joe models her new custom made WGA on strike umbrella.
Ben Browder and Imogen Browder.
Christopher Gorman
Dan Peck and Glenn Rabney walking in tandem. Glenn is probably telling Dan that reciting The Mickey Mouse Theme Song in your head can sometimes be a great stress reliever.
Jeff Zimmer and Rick Overton observe as Samwise Aaron tries to spiritually rise Frank Zappa from out of the studio sidewalk.
A valiant effort, but Samwise wasn’t successful. Glenn got scared and ran behind Rick and Jeff as Samwise became even more determined.
Something LGBTQIA2S related. I didn’t get the full gist of what this group was about, but they’re here, they’re queer and that’s alright with me.
Samurai Ghost Dawg Warrior Myles Warden is in constant contact with his dojo.
Actor Robert Amico walking tall and signless.
The weather was beginning to cool and Samwise Aaron decided to being his winter pelts. Whatever pack of mythical creatures he had to slaughter to make that pelt kept us guessing until the very end.
Bob Odenkirk looks as if he’s under remote control. Can someone please press a button on his phone, so he no longer looks stiff as a board?
Captain Andra Whipple giving the thumbs up.
Jeff Zimmer points something important out while Glenn Rabney still looks mesmerized by The Mickey Mouse Theme Song playing in his head. Looks as if someone heard my plea, for Bob Odenkirk is looking mobile again.
Hereeeeeeeee’s Teamster Johnny
These two actresses, one being Melanie Liburd and another unknown actress from Power Book II made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and would up CBS Radford instead of the CBS Television City in the Fairfax district where the rest of her Power cast members were picketing.
Myles Warden debates with fortune teller on whether or not the strike will end soon or if we’re due for another six more weeks of winter.
Studio City dog love. Nowhere else in the world quite like it.
Studio City’s equivilent of the Keystone Cops march in lockstep: Glenn Rabney with Lowell Ganz and behind them: Rick Overton and Samwise Aaron. Now that requires a whole new theme song altogether. Can someone please get Benny Hill’s Estate on the line?
Laura San Giacomo on the march!
Abject failure came to me when I attempted to come up with a more successful facebook selfie and social conscious picture profile to commemorate 142 days strong, but the algorithims kept cutting me off at the nose.
The next two tries weren’t much fruitful either even though I tried to improve it by raising the camera above my head. So I said the proverbial fuck-it to myself and moved on.
Anyway, moving on…
Dan Peck sernades us with the classic Simon & Garfunkel pick up line ‘let us be lovers, we’ll marry our strike funds together’, like Paul Simon said never.
Jessica Collins and Michael Cooney became my new favorite married couple at The CBS Radford picketline- replacing previous disgraced couple Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn . After the WGA called it quits, I would run into them all the time that I hit the Disney SAG-AFTRA picketline. Jessica will return for a 3rd season of Apple+’s Acapulco sometime in 2024.
Random strikers on Day 142 included Mad Men’s Rich Sommer (2nd Row – Middle picture) – not really one of the friendiest actors I ever met, Captain Joelle Garfinkel confers with Captain Josh Brown) Third pic on top: Robin Fusco and ( her buddy, Dana Braziel-Solovy was reportedly in Israel throughout the entire month of September visiting relatives). First pic 2nd row, Amy Joe and Samwise Aaron discuss something that doesn’t include me. Bottom photo: Lesley Ann-Warren came by for a encore appearance.
The Upshaws’ Maya Nalli & Act Your Age’s Mariah Robinson. Act Your Age is a show that Myles Warden has written scripts for.
On right, SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher graced us with her presence. It totally didn’t dawn upon me that after she left she was Carrie’s half-sister and she may have been raised in the house across the street from me where I used to live with my half-sister Becky on Woodcliff Street that used to be owned by her father, Eddie Fisher in Sherman Oaks. Wish I had a chance to ask her.
Anyway, no use crying over it…
Uh oh. Looks like something hot and heavy is being discussed here. It looks like another think tank amongst writers and actors, planning on taking on the evil AMPTP empire with Samwise Aaron leading the charge!!
Captain Andra Whipple touches her toes with small dogs. Because gyms all over Studio City have been suffering from a barbell shortage of late.
Myles Warden gets interviewed for local news station KCAL Channel 9.
In Ray Liotta we trust. This was a very popular sign that was utilized towards the end of the strike. Don’t know the source of how it came to be, but it somehow made the rounds in our van. Johnny somehow confiscated it by putting it in the front seat in the van so no one from HQ would unload it by accident. Then Robert Amico got ahold of it. When the writers’ strike officially ended, it somehow wound up at my house because Johnny never got to step foot in that van again when word came down on a late Sunday night that the strike had ended for the WGA. I remember being a very heavy sucker after retrieving it from the van and heaving it back on a LA Metro bus back to the barbed-wired confines of Casa de la Coatney. I met up with Johnny during one of our afterstrikes at Warner Bros so I could personally hand it off to him as a farewell gift.
But somehow we all managed to learn how to share the spirit of Ray Liotta during the strike people.
Hey, remember when I closed off Part 3 last month with this tiny tidbit?
Some random nutjob attacked us with a super soaker and yelling all kinds of naughty words at us.
Above is the incident report that Andra Whipple had to file. Unfortunately, the police couldn’t do anything for us, BUT Robert Amico – secret SAG-AFTRA sleuth somehow found out where this punk was being holed up and it wasn’t too far from the secluded fortress of Casa de la Coatney. AND JUST as Robert and I were loading up the baseball bats and donning our Ray Donovan gay apparel into Robert’s trunk, much to the chagrin of Captain Andra Whipple, a tweeted bulletin suddenly came in from the Santa Monica police department:
Individual was arrested in Santa Monica for doing the same kind of domestic terrorist activities to other pedestrains while walking along Wilshire Blvd and was arrested – now get this: by police while driving that blue hunk of shit of his right on the beach in broad daylight zipping past sunbathers and surfers – WHILE INTOXICATED!!
Robert Amico does his best conspiring to take on strike disrupting punks over spicy Mexican fruit salad.
So here we are on the final day of picketing for The Writer’s Strike, Friday, September 22, 2023…
Spicy fruit salad and Porto’s.
I swear, this guy must has dog eyes in the pack back of his head.
Well, here’s the 3rd actress during the entire strike who’s direct down to earth kindness and charm totally blew me away in addition to iZombie’s Rose McIver and The Big Door Prize’s Gabrielle Dennis earlier in the summer. Third runner-up Stephanie Arcila, currently stars on a very big hit show called Fire Country (rumors are flying that’s it going to be start sprouting spin-offs soon) on CBS (no doubt due to being strategically placed before soon to be departing hit, Blue Bloods) and it’s slated to come back for a second season this upcoming February. Anyway, I had no idea who she really was when she approached me out of nowhere at the sign in table and complemented me on what a great job I was doing for people and how much she loved my long locks. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, she didn’t exuberate a snobby holier than thou self-absorbed attitude or come across entitled for such a big name star – AND she is a big name star. if you ever checked out her extensive list of credits. It’s just I’ve never heard of her until now- EVEN though I’ve seen her work without fully knowing that I’VE SEEN IT. It’s a good thing, she’s a very good friend of Captain Joelle Garfinkel, so if I ever have a message to deliver to her, I’ll know who to give it to in the future. I’ll have more on her in the next chapter, because our paths did fortunately cross again and I learned many much more interesting things about her in our second encounter.
It’s the last whiteboard sign I’ve ever write for you. Is that how that song goes?
Some artist in San Francisco did the art for this line of picket signs. A limited number of them got printed up and distributed amongst the various sites. You never know, they might end up being collector’s items someday.
A gallery of Silent Disco participants and not so much participants. So this DJ company led by this redheaded girl you see in the middle top row and the second on the bottom row came up with this idea of having people wear a special set of headphones that could beam multiple channels of rave music through a bluetooth device that you can dance do without disturbing other people who are picketing. At first, it didn’t go too well, because CBS Studios‘ own wi-fi kept cutting and breaking the signal, so they had to set up the equipment across the street (first photo, top row) from us and as you can see from some of the results varied from various picketers busting a move. Glenn Rabney (third picture top row) kept to the classics – mainly The Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song still playing in his head. Samwise Aaron struggled to sign on any Frank Zappa classics moonbeaming into his headset (third picture middle row). Robert Amico (first picture, last row) felt left out because everybody else left their Tony Bennett CDs at home.
Spartacus: Vengeance and Spartacus: War of the Damned’s Liam McIntyre made a appearance on the last day of picketing.
Venezuelan actress Dayana Gomez stopped by to take part in the Silent Disco festivities.
The final appearance of CBS Radford’s favorite married couple Jessica Collins and Michael Cooney. But fret not, I knew I was destined to see them again in our next and final chapter.
Not ever knowing it was going to be the TRUE final day of picketing, we were allowed to picket later than usual on that Friday due to the spite that was going on with talk shows trying to return back to work in addition to Jerry O’Connell’s scab inducing The Talk doing practice runs on the CBS Studio lots (in addition to the Dancing With The Stars push back), Captain Joelle Garfinkel bought up some amazing pizza pies from the newly opened Prince St pizza that was just around the corner from us. I gotta say, that slice of spicy pepperoni on the left was freakin’ amazing, but unfortunately I needed a lot of water to wash down with HOURS after consuming – because the heartburn simply lingered throughout the rest of the evening.
My final photo taken at CBS Studios Radford with Myles Warden top left and Amy Joe bottom right. I forgot the other three people’s name. I think Myles would know them.
Finally to conclude this penultimate chapter, a couple of greeting cards were presented to me in my honor as Master Chief of CBS Radford. This one made by one of my overall mobile WGA strike supervisors Deb, which brings up the subject of me constantly begging HQ on my WhatsApp to include a T-Shirt canon in our next day’s camping supplies (which was always responded with a hard NO!) and a pic of almost every button that Dana Braziel-Solovy ever devised on the rear.
and a little tongue in cheek Christmas strike humor by one of my big bosses, Doug.
And on that note: I don’t know how long it will take me to finish the final chapter on how everything turned out with The Screen Actors Guild – but I have all next week off from work to get a running start on it. I don’t think I’m going to be include a traditional stats update on this past year since my numbers are practically down the toilet this year (It’s a staggering less than 10 thousand readers this year), so maybe I’ll opt for a ten best of the year list type of thing spread across all television, comics and progressive rock.
UNTIL NEXT TIME: Afterstrike – The Final Chapter.
PPGuru 