Rational (?) Strike Settlement Exubrance Abounds

As recent days brought progress from the DGA's hook-up with the AMPTP, and more companies came into the fold with the WGA--RKO, Lionsgate and Marvel were added to a roster that includes bigger-deal concerns like David Letterman's Worldwide Pants--actual progress has reportedly been made in informal talks.

The active rumor around town was that the execs, feeling along with the rest of the populace and even the writers who have shown such grit in demanding what they feel is just, that the strike has now become a deadly bore, were leaning hards toward settling. Keenly aware of the pummeling TV rogramming present and future has taken, mindful as such dark consequences as the threat to the Oscars and the wider economy, were looking to make a deal the writers could live with. Whether the strike that jumped off at midnight on October 31 really is ending, and whether with a bang or a whimper, is still very much in question.