Hi Alex,
How are things on the island ? They certainly can't be worse they are in Hollywood. This place is burning down at warp speed. But this was not on my mind three days ago. I was just clicking through YouTube and ran into OverlordDVD's/Doomcock's channel. And what was the latest rumor buzzing around now ? (Which I took with a grain of salt, as these things are supposed to be.) That the Paramount/Skydance brass wanted to have an emergency meeting with Alex Kurtzman before Sunday (18 August). Yeah, right. File that under 'I'll believe it when I see it.'
But then, the day after, I saw a video by Call Me Chato about Paramount TV shutting down. And he told us denizens of the internet about the huge lights they use in TV studios and the huge power bill that comes with them. And then I had a light-bulb moment, which was fitting. Just don't ask if it was a bit fitting or a small one. (Okay, I'll stop making light-bulb puns now.) This is just me thinking out loud, but...
Ponder Me This
The mainstream media made it clear that Paramount/CBS is salvage Paramount TV's most popular shows by moving them over to CBS. But those shows are not enough to fill all of TV's sound stages. And with Paramount needing to cut costs, are they are going to pay the utility bills (power, gas, internet, etc) and staffing costs for a studio that is 90 percent just props gathering dust ?
Or do you move the surviving shows to a CBS lot ? If that's the plan, shutting down this week makes total sense, because it allows Paramount to give the utility companies notice to cut everything off on 1 September. And it gives you two weeks to do the move. And so we end up back at Doomcock's rumor.... (Just remember your salt, folks.)
My Theory
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is supposed to start filming on 2 September. Wee problem, in order to make a TV, you need sets. I wouldn't be surprised if construction of said sets was scheduled to start on Monday 19 August. But because of Operation Big Move, the sound stages that where those sets were supposed to be build are now essentially, well....reassigned-slash-gone. And they are going to have to break that news to Kurtzman.
Now, I could be right, I could be wrong. This whole thing could be a giant nothing burger. But at least I got a blog entry out of it.
That's all I have.
Regards,
Ruben A. Hilbers (aka Commander Nash)