The writers strike is turning into an amazing case study of idiocy in big media. From obnoxious greed (on both sides) to misunderstanding of new media and the internet to giving viewers months of reasons to look elsewhere for entertainment, the writers strike will do more harm than any spin machine can handle. But that spin is months away. This week, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) and Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) released bitter statements in regards to their recent three-days of negotiations revealing how far we are from the strike’s end.

WGA’s negotiating committee chair John Bowman said yesterday producers left talks “in a bit of a huff” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The AMPTP responded with a four-page statement with explaining their position. They said “Negotiations broke down [Dec. 7] primarily over one of the most old-fashioned issues of all: the desire of the WGA’s organizers to increase their own power and prestige by expanding the jurisdiction of the union over reality TV and animation writers.” The AMPTP challenged many of Bowman’s statements saying producers had wanted to start talks much earlier and do not rely on giving ultimatums as the WGA claims.

WGA East president Michael Winship said Monday “They [the AMPTP] lie. And then they lie again. And then they lie some more. Because the AMPTP wants to create confusion, doubt, fear and dissension. They want to divide and conquer, to undercut our proven solidarity.”

In a funny, yet patronizing, move, the WGA bought the domain AMPTP.com creating a fake website to spoof the producers’ official website, AMPTP.org. The writers (some of them are comedy writers) is an interesting read and an excellent PR use of the internet.

Unfortunately, that’s where the intelligence ends. I’ve criticized the WGA’s short sightedness, thinking they much wrangle what they can from the internet now before it’s too late. What they forget is few people are making real money from the internet and media companies especially are not sure how to effectively monetize all the content they have. The media companies, on the other hand, are adamant about limiting further royalties even when there are more ways to make money than before and the old models are still profitable.

While writers and producers fight, consumers are left with limited television and worrisome outlook on upcoming movie releases. Some major scripted shows have a few episodes left, but already late-night is a barren existence of repeats - no Daily Show for almost a month during election season is unforgivable.

The lack of television content will only drive consumers to find new modes of entertainment. I’ve already found myself playing a lot more video games (especially during the 11pm Daily Show and Colbert Report time slots).

At the same time, networks are finding their viewers dropping, whether to cable or other media. Reuters reports NBC is reimbursing advertisers for its low ratings. Other networks are offering free advertising slots for next year. These rating drops do not account for the writers strike as many shows have continued airing new episodes.

Though I hate to continue criticizing the writers, who if I had to choose I support over producers, continue to make mistakes that will cost them more over the long run. As Techdirt points out, unions make little sense in an industry was broad as entertainment. There are so many different interests to be represented that, as EW columnist Mark Harris points out: “Anybody who has spent time in a roomful of writers knows that getting them to agree on anything is a fool’s errand. Fill that room with 12,000 people, and you have a fractious alliance that has, at times, barely been on speaking terms with itself. The WGA, long known as the guild that can’t even unite its East and West coasts, has always been something of a mess.”

Now this demanding organization wants to include reality TV and animation writers into their ranks, which, at face value sounds like a stronger position to be in but in truth would just fracture the already conflicted organization. How do you fairly represent all the well-off writers, starving writers, and retired writers living on residuals at the same time? Collective bargain sounds good but in such a diverse industry, it will hurt more people than it helps - and it sounds like more of a way for the writers to increase their hold on networks who plan to up their reality show content in place of scripted shows.

So lots of angry words, a prank website, and a more complicated negotiation that previously though (wasn’t this all supposed to be about internet residuals). This strike has a ways to go, so until one or both sides grows up and realizes more money can be made working together, I’m just going to go play video games. I’d recommend adding some to your shopping list cause this going to boring winter.