Brothers & Sisters' Jon Robin Baitz politely fired by ABC

Why am I not surprised by this recent event.  Think of all the great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner that have suffered at the hands of Hollywood.  These decision makers are unread, and ruled by MBAs that can mangle numbers so that fewer people watching means raising prices and not quality.  No one in Hollywood wants quality they want the lowest common denominator that puts butts in the seat.

They have a hit show and what do they do, they fire the creator and show runner, because rather than do quality they cut costs, so they can be more profitable. Did James Joyce write Ulysses in a week?

It's also possible (in fact, probable) that Baitz is only a victim of his own creation.  Where there's smoke, there's fire, and all indications are that Baitz was in over his head and was at least partially responsible for quite a bit of drama himself.  While B&S is his baby, I'm not worried about the show.  In fact, had he stayed on board, it's quite possible that the show would have suffered for it.

It was reportrd in Variety that the studios and networks cancelled 65 writer deals at the same time on Friday.  January is the beginning of the pilot season and with no pool of scripts to choose from there may not be a new season next Fall.  We are talking about people like Barbara Hall (Judging Amy, Joan of Arcadia) who have strong records  of hit shows.  Now that Baitz has gone from show runner to a new production deal, that new production deal is now cancelled, ergo he's fired.  Writers  cannot write by order of the WGA so they don't want to pay them.  The cancellation now in efect according to their contracts.  Some who haven't done things in years may not get them re-instated when the strike is over.

By the bye Baitz whole writing staff was replaced not just the man himself.  So the show is going to change no matter what.  This is a two way street, I think Baitz is scapegoating himself for empathy to a certain degree.  I have grown to love these characters but realize too that the show has become a bit of a hydra with lots of possibilities.  Baitz may have lost his way with all that possibility.  The executives will not abide indecison without accountability.  It is their job.  It is the same thing they did to Aaron Sorkin in on WEST WING  and then STUDIO 60. Regardless of the fact that he was right and both shows got cancelled.It looks less and less like a  homophobic situation than it is creative differences in terms of meeting dealines.