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As the Hollywood StrikeWatch Doomsday Clock ticks louder (incidentally, we're still working on a prototype that can run in our sidebar and emit a blood-curdling scream every hour on the hour) with each second counted off until the midnight Wednesday expiration of the Writers Guild's contract with the studios, each new instance of pre-walkout saber-rattling takes on an increasing, bowel-loosening poignancy. Hoping to get in a couple of shots at WGA leadership before negotiations resume tomorrow, Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers president Nick "Why Won't These Greedy Fiends Listen To Reason?" Counter chatted with TV Week about his organization's frustration with the union's bargaining strategy:

TVWeek: If you haven't reached an agreement by Nov. 1, do you expect the WGA to immediately call a strike? Mr. Counter: That's now entirely in the hands of the leadership, no longer in the hands of the members.

The problem with the strike, as I said to them this morning, is it impacts far more people than just Writers Guild members. We have hundreds of thousands of people who rely on this industry, and all those people are at risk. For the Writers Guild, their demands are so over-the-top and unreasonable. It's really embarrassing to anybody who understands this that intelligent people like the Writers Guild people would stand on these proposals they made back in July and not make one iota of movement.

TVWeek: How do things change for you once they have the power to call a strike at any time?
Mr. Counter: From a negotiating standpoint, we'll continue to negotiate until we reach an agreement irrespective of whether they strike. I told them this morning: They can strike for six months or 12 months or 24 months; at some point we have to reach an agreement. There are no divorces in our industry. It's just a question of when and how much damage is caused.

We'll admit to never having thought of comparing the writers' turbulent relationship with the studios and networks as an unhappy marriage without the possibility of divorce, but it's a surprisingly apt one; we suppose we'll all have to wait and see how much of their wedding china the two Hollywood spouses are willing to smash against the walls of a conference room before they realize that that there's still passion in the relationship, finally giving themselves up to the kind of furniture-toppling, conciliatory fucking that momentarily makes them forget they're stuck with each other forever.