American TV networks have lost almost a quarter of their audiences because of the Hollywood writers' strike, according to new figures, and executives fear that "orphaned" viewers may never return.

Now I know what you're thinking: Joe is off his meds again. Joe, what about the substitution effect? Won't people just do something else that uses energy? And indeed, the article says:

Writers as well as studios are worried that lost viewers may never return to TV, instead finding new ways to entertainment themselves, such as YouTube, Facebook or video games. The most recent figures show that YouTube has had an 18 per cent surge in traffic, while visitor numbers to other websites, such as Crackle, have seen doubled, albeit from small bases.

But first of all most people leave their PCs on all the time anyway, or they have one of those flying toaster climate-destroyers screen savers. Second of all, many people are multitasking when they watch TV -- blogging, checking emails, playing their Game Boy. [I mean seriously, who could possibly watch Las Vegas and do nothing else at the same time -- give the public some credit, people!]

Now if we could only get the reality TV show writers and staff to strike ...

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.