Modern Family Money

In the news all over Hollywood, everyone’s debating the recent suit spat at 20^th TV by the ENTIRE cast of Modern Family. Well, I’m not sure that Manny is involved, but you know he knows more about it than anyone else, technically speaking. Despite what Manny does or does not know, the cast is asking for more money. Plain and simple, they are getting paid much less than much lesser stars on much lesser networks on much lesser shows. However, that is still more than anyone should ever get paid for what they do, and that’s strictly speaking like someone in the real world, even though I am not. What happens whenever someone makes a lot of money and then asks for more, the debate immediately shifts focus to how dumb these people are for asking for money. It reminds me of when a basketball or football or baseball player asks for more money. People hate when they do that, but what happens so quickly that it boggles the mind – people forget. Sooner or later, they just want to see the guy on the damn field.

So who is really at fault for all this, and who is really being dumb? The average person would answer quite simply…everyone. Honestly, the average person would be flat out right. However, since Hollywood is a make-believe world making make-believe things and selling them to people who they’ve made believe the product is believable, in Hollywoodland this is an inevitable battle that will always delay the inevitable. Egos is the short answer. The long answer is, just like in sports, the players (in this case being actors) believe their peers are making more money despite being of lesser actual value. The studio, (and yes it’s the studio, not the network which I will cover in a minute) is holding onto the smallest thread hoping that people will take sympathy with the studio just long enough to gain some high ground. They never will win, but they hope to come out looking like the good guy with their hands tied behind their backs.

In reality, ABC will get the blame, which is interesting since they had nothing to do with it. However, when the average person hears “studio” they assume it’s the studio that is associated with network. Again, the average person would be right in the sense that this is what makes sense, but the truth is, ABC does not pay the salaries of the actors, but will likely somehow be seen as the bad guys, EPSECIALLY and UNDOUBTEDLY if Modern Family ends up not coming back on TV Shows as it was scheduled. Therefore, ABC is the next party who must act, because ultimately it is their heads that will role both by way of losing money and ratings with MF not running, and by way of being declared the network that let the best comedy on TV get away. In brief, pay them.