Fresh Loaf

Four writers for Tyler Perry’s TBS series “House of Payne” will be picketing tomorrow’s opening of Perry’s new Atlanta studio.

The writers claim they were retaliated against after they got involved with a union organizing campaign with the Writers Guild of America, West. The writers sought a contract that would give the them health care, pensions, and residual

According to a Writers Guild of America press release:

On Tuesday of this week he fired the writers, after warning them some weeks ago that they should “be careful about pushing the WGA deal or you could be replaced.”

“We’re asking all those who had planned to attend the opening of Tyler Perry’s new studio not to cross our picket line,” said writer Christopher Moore. “It’s very disheartening considering that this is a studio run by African Americans. What Tyler Perry is essentially saying to us is that ‘you’re black and there’s not a lot of opportunities for you so you’ll take what I give you’ – whether it’s fair or not.”

The show’s head writer, Kellie Griffin, added, “A lot of people who fought for civil rights and social justice never really saw what eventually came out of their work. While I’d like to see something positive come out of this for us, if this fight helps future black writers get what they deserve, that’s a good thing.”

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It’s obvious that the suits over at TBS don’t like Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren.

In 2003, TBS banished the two longtime Braves announcers from TBS’ dwindling broadcasts of Braves games before fan anger drove it to rescind the decision. This year, TBS takes over the broadcasts of baseball play-offs from ESPN, and when the network announced its lineup of announcers, Caray and Van Wieren were nowhere to be found.

As the AJC’s Tim Tucker writes today, Caray is, understandably, peeved.

A TBS flack issued a fairly terse statement: “TBS has put together four telecast teams that we feel will best serve our national baseball audience. … We appreciate Skip’s abilities as a play-by-play announcer and look forward to his [Braves] calls for us next year on Peachtree TV, but we decided to go in another direction as we look to brand our new MLB-on-TBS playoff package.”

Skip Caray has called baseball on TBS since 1976. He is destined for the Hall of Fame. He is one of the best baseball announcers still working.

But he’s not good enough for the network he helped build into a national presence?

I have one word for the TBS suit who made this decision: stupid.

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