Strike Watch: TV Critics Tour Cancelled by Critical Lack of TV

This time they've gone too far! The writers' strike has officially crippled TV critics' ability to sit in a hotel ballroom in L.A. and ask questions of the stars of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The Television Critics Association has officially announced that it has cancelled its planned January press tour, owing to a lack of networks willing to show up and talk about their shows, or lack thereof.

Note: I joined the TCA for the first time ever last week, so I will accept officially blame for jinxing it.

"The TCA would prefer, and has steadily advocated for, a full January tour whether the strike is still on or not," said a letter to the membership from TCA president Dave Walker. "Many members have expressed to me that the value of a strike tour would actually be greater than a typical January. The networks disagreed."

Mmmyeah. Probably because such a tour would involve having their striking showrunners and idled actors sitting around and talking about how much the networks suck.

If there's a lesson in this, perhaps it's that the press tour is good for certain things: getting stars to blab about their upcoming projects, hoping that executives will slip up and accidentally reveal news in an executive session. But for covering a controversial news event like a strike, not so much--ultimately, the networks participate in the press tour because they want to get free publicity, not because they have any altruistic interest in aiding journalists.

Also, never let me join any association that you manage, because I will jinx it.