The entertainment industry is generally regarded as recession-proof.

People, the thought process goes, will always need to entertained. So once they take care of the basics - food, shelter, transportation, heat - the very last extra expenditure to be cut will be that for entertainment.

The next few months may put that theory severely to the test, at least in the traditional senses.

My suspicion is video games and downloads will still make their money (and a surprising amount of money that is, at least for those not tuned in to the gaming and downloading culture). More people will convert to high-definition flat-screen televisions, and Blu-ray is hoping this is the year it makes a huge breakthrough. (My guess is we're still a year away, but the rapid disappearance of VHS tapes took me by surprise, so maybe Blu-ray backers are right.)

But the traditional entertainment stops, particularly television and movies (CDs have essentially dropped off the radar by now, right?), are being hammered by a diversity of possibilities and some missteps along the way.

Foolishly, almost petulantly, the entertainment industry seemed to think the ongoing pampering of its talent would have no consequences. The back-breaking hubris came from the three-month writers' strike that ended in February.

Many observers, myself included, thought the fallout from the strike wouldn't be apparent until a year or so after its settlement. While to a degree that's true - it's part of what we're seeing right now, both on television and in movie theaters - the problems in many cases started immediately after the settlement.

Most television shows aired just a handful of new episodes from February through May. Some (notably "Heroes" and "24") booted their seasons altogether.

We had the normal summer break, but the normal summer break now stretches to October instead on the once-traditional Labor Day start of the new television season. Shorter seasons (22 episodes rather than more), a constant juggling of schedules and the proliferation of cable channels and the popularity of video games have fractured the audience to the point where networks' expectations of audience size are unrealistic.

And even if the results were in line with the expectations, the strike probably contributed to a dearth of quality from new programming. Has there been a breakout new television hit this season? No, and the old favorites are generally suffering from decreased audience size.

In addition, let me again whine about the overpriced DVD season sets from last season. As these shows come out, you might think there would be a reduction in set size and price, and maybe some kind of addition of extras as a nice token of appreciation to fans for hanging in with the programming through a 13-week stretch of no action and hyperbole. Nah.

"The Office" listed at $50; "Bones" at $60. That $60 is for 15 episodes from season 3 on four discs, and the first four episodes from this season - which will presumably be again packaged on next year's season 4 set - on a fifth disc.)

The financial and artistic successes of "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" and "WALL-E" have erased the sting that just six films this year surpassed grosses of $150 million. (Eleven films passed that yardstick last year.)

Potential Oscar nominees such as Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight" and "WALL-E" for best picture (heck, even Robert Downey Jr. is getting some "Tropic Thunder" buzz) might have been laughed away by now in previous years. But this year, there's precious little excitement about what's to come next month - financially or artistically.

The well seems to be drying, and no positive rainclouds are immediately identifiable on the horizon.

What is immediately identifiable on the horizon? A potential actors' strike that may halt any production of new work for fear of investing and losing money to a walkout.

Fire up the video games. They won't walk out on you.

timcain@herald-review.com|421-6908