NPR heralded the news that the Writers Were Set to Vote on a Strike Deal that would garner them some reimbursement for works that appeared on the Web.

I'm not sure if I still care.

The last writers' strike gave us reality TV. Um, yay! This one has allowed the greenlighting of television programs that should never see the light of the morning sun. Here's how we descend to hell: The Surreal Life plowed the field with its tawdry mix of has-beens and almost-beens who live together (kind of like "Big Brother" where no one gets voted out).

Then, because that was so good (and we just couldn't turn away from the Flavor Flav /  Brigitte Nielsen...I'm not even sure what to call it...we got Strange Love (2005). As this romance fizzled, we saw the brain trust at VH1 set us up for Flavor or Love (2006, now in its third season). That gave us I Love New York (for Tiffany whazzername, the two-time loser with a mother who other contestants swore has an Adam's apple) and Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School (the recycling program for the rest of the...ladies...Flav didn't cotton to). The Surreal Life also gave us The Surreal Life: Fame Games (oh, God. Make it stop) and My Fair Brady in which Adrianne Curry and Chris Knight (who played Greg Brady on the Brady Bunch), a new couple with a theraplist on speed dial.

Now, MTV, not wanting to be left out of the spin-off war, have cloned their  A Shot at Love with MySpace star Tila Tequila (born Thien Thanh Thi Nguyen) and her spin off. The critics loved it . Now, given the wild success of that program (it topped out at over 6 million viewers for the finale, an MTV record), they've spread the love with spin-off, That's Amore with...who cares.

Those writers. They owe us and they'd better start paying up--quick.

Oops! Gotta run: Flav's on.

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