HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As we're counting down towards the end of 2007, I'll be revisiting the past 12 months and looking back at some of the moments in TV showbusiness that I found memorable. I will republish about 150 out of 2500 articles that I posted in 2007 over the next 4 days ending on New Year's Day. Then on Wednesday, January 2 - it's back to business as usual.

2008 will of course begin with a great deal of uncertainty in the TV and movie business in the US due to the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike. The consequences of this labor dispute we are only about to experience as one by one our most beloved shows run out of fresh episodes and disappear from prime-time schedules.

The Televisionista blog will be bringing you up to date on the progress of the situation including the information regarding the return of your favorite shows. Although the focus may temporarily shift to tabloid-style updates on TV stars, you'll be also seeing the latest ratings data and updates on high-profile shows that do make it onto the air, namely ABC's "LOST."

A new series of posts titled "Flashback Saturdays" will run on weekends beginning January 5 in which I will go 5, 10, 20 or more years back in time to revisit a number of interesting moments in TV history that helped shape TV as it is today. Think of it as "Televisionista Goes TV Land".

The first edition of "Flashback Saturdays" will go back to 1988 when a very similar yet also a very different strike crippled the TV industry. How did the strike affect the TV shows then, how was it ultimately resolved and how big was the damage? You may find some of the details very surprising. Initially, I plan to keep "Flashback Saturdays" themed - each weekend I'll tap into a different topic.

Finally, I have recently realized that December 2007 will be a record-breaking month for the blog. Not only has the traffic tripled since the beginning of the season, but more visitors will have come to Televisionista this month than any month before, which I find personally very satisfying given the fact that because of the holidays the traffic levels normally go down in December. I have only you to thank.

I wish all of you a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2008!

Justin