Search Results for: blog how a writers strike could affect your favorite tv shows

Hollywood Writers Going Back to Work

Could it be? Is it possible? Are striking Hollywood writers really putting down their picket signs and heading back to work… so we can finally learn what happens to the ladies on Wisteria Lane post tornado? Sort of. It appears as though the three-and-a-half-month-old work stoppage is finally coming to an end. Hollywood producers reportedly caved in and agreed to give striking writers a piece of the profit that their work might make over the Internet. In exchange, the Guild had to end their fight to have their membership include animators and reality television players. Hooray! Reruns be gone! Well… … Continue reading →

Kimmel, Stewart and Colbert Returning with New Shows

Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will join NBC’s late-night hosts in returning with new shows next month. ABC made the announcement regarding Kimmel’s show, which was later followed by a statement from the comedian who added that it was a difficult decision to resume work without writers, but he planned to do so to save the jobs of other staffers on the show. “Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than a hundred people whose financial well-being depends on our show. It is time to go back to work,” Kimmel said … Continue reading →

Save Your Jokes Late-Night TV Hosts Can’t Take Them

Word sure spreads fast… Shortly after the announcement came that late-night TV hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien plan to cross picket lines and get back to work by January 2nd amateur comedians got busy. According to NBC executives, both the network’s website and switchboard were inundated yesterday with material from jokesters around the country trying to peddle their laughs. Well, as of this morning, the peacock network has this to say to anyone who wants a new job as a late-night TV writer: Keep your jokes to yourself. Actually, the notice posted on NBC’s website reads as follows: “NBC … Continue reading →

Leno and O’Brien Returning to Late-Night TV

Fans of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will get to start 2008 with fresh laughs from their favorite late-night comedians after all. Executives at NBC just announced that both the “Tonight” show and “Late Night” will return to TV with new episodes beginning January 2nd, almost exactly two months to the day after the Hollywood writers strike sent them into repeats. According to NBC bigwigs, both late-night talk shows will not include jokes supplied by writers. They didn’t elaborate on who will be writing material, but you’d think that the life-long comedian/hosts could help come up with a few minutes … Continue reading →

Ray of Hope Emerges for Striking Hollywood Writers

For the past six weeks members of the Writers Guild of America have been out of work and slowly running out of patience with the negotiation process. Two days ago the situation look even grimmer when the announcement came that talks had been indefinitely suspended. Then, just last night, a ray of hope emerged when the union representing the picketing writers said it would try to deal directly with Hollywood studios and production companies, bypassing the umbrella organization that has been representing them. That’s welcome news for companies like the one that produces David Letterman’s “Late Show.” Letterman’s Worldwide Pants … Continue reading →

The Continuing Writers Strike—What’s Happening with Your Favorite Shows?

It doesn’t look like striking Writers Guild of America members will be having a very merry Christmas this year. Prospects for a compromise came to an abrupt halt when talks collapsed last week. What’s more, no new negotiations are scheduled. So, now that we know that it is very, very unlikely that a new deal will be reached by the end of the year what does this all mean for your winter TV viewing? Most of the major networks are keeping tight-lipped about their plans for the first few months of 2008, except for ABC. Big wigs at the Disney … Continue reading →

The Writers Strike and Late-Night Talk Shows—THE BACKLASH!

Did you watch “Last Call” last night? If so you witnessed the first fresh episode of late-night talk since the writer’s strike began more than four weeks ago. After host Carson Daly cracked jokes about his applause sign still working and shared pictures of what he and his staff did in the last month he finally explained why his NBC show became the first late-night chatfest to return to the air with fresh material since members of the Writers Guild of America took to the picket lines more than a month ago. “We ran out of repeats,” Daly cracked. “A … Continue reading →

Striking Writers Temporarily Shut Down Picket Lines

It took a Hollywood legend to get striking Writers Guild of America picketers to briefly put down their signs. Elizabeth Taylor apparently hasn’t lost her magic touch given her affect on determined writers who began their work stoppage more than a month ago. But, don’t look for the great dame’s spell to last very long, strikers will be back on the front lines first thing tomorrow morning—their temporary break instituted in honor of Taylor and World AIDS Day. Taylor returned to the stage last night, but not until striking TV and film writers put down their signs. The 75-year-old screen … Continue reading →

Conan the Saint?

Well, he does kind of look like a young Kris Kringle… As the Writers Guild of America strike drags into the end of its fourth week, Conan O’Brien is making like St. Nick to bring holiday cheer to his late-night talk show staff. The comedian has pledged to cover the salaries of his non-writing production workers (nearly 80 in all) for the foreseeable future. According to Variety, the 44-year-old talk show host’s generous offer (he’s paying the salaries out of his own pocket) will kick in on December 1st, that’s when NBC said it would be forced to lay off … Continue reading →

Food Network BAMS Emeril and Carson Crosses the Line

One of my dad’s favorite TV shows is getting sliced, diced and dumped from the Food Network. “Emeril Live,” which has been a mainstay on the all-cooking channel for more than a decade will cease production on December 11th. However, according to network execs, the show’s star celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, is still under contract with Food Network. Which means you’ll still see the effervescent cook BAM-ing, basting and butterflying chicken breasts, but it won’t be on the show that made him a household name. (Though, the network says reruns of “Emeril Live” will air at least until the end … Continue reading →