WGA Victorious; AMPTP Still Kind Of Weasely

I've been so busy reading old issues of Playboy magazine these past few days (for research, seriously!) that I completely forgot to celebrate the fact that the writer's strike is officially over, as of Tuesday night. While I'm not totally convinced the AMPTP aren't still a bunch of ugly fascist weasels, I'm going to allow myself to be optimistic about the future of screenwriting. So here are the top ten things I'm looking forward to now that the strike is officially over:

10. And now, for tonight's word. Also, The Daily Show (as opposed to A Daily Show).
9. Not having to watch my fellow Americans embarrass and pimp themselves nightly on the latest insipid reality show. NBC recently purchased the rights to a new series entitled, I shit you not, Rockstar Curling. While Canadians are no doubt in a whirl of excitement over this, I think it's safe to say that this show will not resemble quality programming. They're courting either Jon Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen to host. Hopefully by the time it airs we'll have some marginally acceptable scripted shows to turn to instead. I'd even take another season of Big Shots over this.
8. Jurassic Park IV. Just messin' with ya there. I'm most definitely not looking forward to it. Though it actually might happen. But hopefully not.
7. The next two slaps, whenever they may come. April Slaps Day? Slapsoween? Slapsmas? Doesn't matter; I'll be there.
6. The return of Tina Fey and 30 Rock to television, because Cleveland hasn't taken nearly enough abuse yet.
5. Aaron Sorkin and Stephen Spielberg's The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Most every Sorkin product I see ends with me thumping my fist to my heart in passionate liberal pride.
4. The possibility of an Arrested Development movie, which should be extra exciting now that Michael Cera is all grown up and Jason Bateman is still really hot.
3. The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man. It sounds quirky enough to be the heir to The Big Lebowski. Joel and Ethan, if you will consider giving Jesus Quintana a cameo in this one, I promise I'll eat my own foot.
2. Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. See previous gushy post for more. Also, two of my favorite things, Joss and dance, are about to collide: he's is in the process of writing and producing some sort of ballet short with Summer Glau, who has already kicked ass with grace and style in both Serenity and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It'll be filmed in late Spring or early Summer. Count me giddy with anticipation!
1. Any new words that come from the pen of Diablo Cody. Apologies to Joss. I wanted to give him the number one spot, but that's reserved for witty former Minneapolis strippers with blogs called The Pussy Ranch. Diablo, I'll follow you anywhere: Movies, TV, YouTube, the cage of a hungry lion, The United States of Tara, Jennifer's Body, Girly Style, and Juno II, III, and IV. Ever since I saw Juno three times, Cody's dialogue has been subconsciously showing up in my everyday conversation with a frequency I haven't experienced since the days of Buffy. I swear, when the day comes (far, far in the future) that I become pregnant myself, I'm going to reveal this fact to everyone by proclaiming I'm "fo' shizz, up the spout."

p.s. The picture above is of Joss Whedon (wearing a Red Sox hat, natch) and Ron Moore (of Battlestar Galactica) delivering half a million fan-purchased pencils to various studios during the strike back in December. My dozen pencils are in there somewhere.