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The Writers Guild is again helping reality TV writers sue, this time getting all up in the legal grill of Fox and Rocket Science Laboratories, the visionaries behind such masterworks as Renovate My Family, Joe Millionaire, and Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay. And this time, they're throwing around phrases like "unbearable" and "appalling conditions" to describe their long hours of work and uncompensated overtime:

"These folks are doing work under appalling conditions," said guild President Daniel Petrie Jr. "They've made a lot of contributions to the success of these shows and they deserve the protection and benefits of the union."

Joined by Petrie and other guild officials, Isenberg and two other plaintiffs held a news conference Wednesday. Isenberg described conditions on "Renovate My Family" as "unbearable." Working as many as 80 hours a week left him "so dazed all the time I never had a chance to rest or recuperate," he said. [...]

After a stint on Fox's "The Simple Life," he joined a crew of eight writers and producers on "Renovate My Family" in July 2004. The group worked out of a tiny office in West Hollywood with no air conditioning. They were expected to eat lunch at their desks while continuing to work, Isenberg said.

Of course, no one's really asking for better "conditions," just more money from the network and studio trying to squeeze out as much work for as little pay as the system will allow. The studio lots are lousy with bleary-eyed sitcom staff writers who work 80-hour weeks (at flat rates) and who eat working lunches and dinners over a conference table every day. But they get the Guild minimum, which is the difference between slaving in a "sweatshop" and being a baby writer on According to Jim.