Hollywood, CA – The writers' strike has slowed or stopped production on many television shows, but not every show is in trouble Many producers have found creative ways to continue making shows.
Producers of the popular CSI: show and it's spin-offs in Miami and New York are using technology to create new shows.
"We have hundred of hours of footage all stored digitally, we should be able to piece together a couple seasons of 'new' episodes," said Jerry Bruckheimer. "I mean, the shows all start the same and end the same. I doubt the viewers will notice a difference."
It's rumored that NBC may be creating new seasons of Friends and Seinfeld using these techniques as well.
Younger shows without vaults of footage will have a harder time piecing together shows, so they're relying on the Web 2.0 model to make new shows. "We're just going to have people send in footage they've shot, and put the best ones on air," said Kevin Harbuckle, producer of the CW show The Black Family.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno will continue to use the random joke generating software it started using in 2004. "You just punch in some headlines from the news and Microsoft Joke creates my monologue," said Leno.
Industry watchers say that success of any of these techniques could prolong the strike until the robot uprising of 2009.
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