The Writers Guild Strike Is A Go – Which Of Your Favorite Scripted And Late Night Shows Will Be Affected?
The last Writers Guild of America strike, which took place back in 2008, changed the television landscape: it led to the rise of unscripted (or ‘reality’) television as a major genre. Now the Guild has authorized another strike which will disrupt network and streaming viewing as we all know it now.
Late night television will be affected immediately. Nightly talk shows including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, will go dark starting on Tuesday night now that the writers have agreed to strike.
Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show, which would have been hosted by correspondent Dulcé Sloan this week, also will go dark and likely will begin showing re-runs, as will The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show and Late Night.
Seth Meyers, speaking on Late Night this afternoon, said: “I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show. I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here. No one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living. I think it’s a very reasonable demand that’s being set out by the guild. And I support those demands.”
The WGA has tried to negotiate with Hollywood’s major employers to get them to compensate writers to account for fundamental shifts in the entertainment economy, but no satisfactory resolution.
“The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement. “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “day rate” in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
Looking a weekly late night shows, Saturday Night Live‘s next scheduled episode, slated for May 6th and hosted by former cast member Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, will not take place, according to NBC. It’s possible fans have already seen the finale of the show’s 48th season as the show usually goes on its summer hiatus after May.
“SNL will air repeats until further notice starting Saturday, May 6,” NBC said.
Weekly shows Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO will shut down too, and daytime gabfest The Talk is now officially on hiatus.
Scripted streaming and network shows are also affected. While not a comprehensive list, here are some of the shows that will stop production until the strike is resolved.
Cobra Kai has shut down its writers room for Season 6. Series co-creator Jon Hurwitz tweeted “No writers on set” along with a group photo of the writers.
NBC’s Night Court season two is currently in production, and was supposed to resume filming next week, but the multi-camera comedy cannot proceed without writers on set to handle script revisions, so the series is expected to go dark for the time being.
Yellowjackets co-creator Ashley Lyle tweeted that work has halted on the Showtime drama “after one day in the #Yellowjackets S3 writers room. It was amazing, and creatively invigorating, and so much fun, and I’m very excited to get back to it as soon as the #WGA gets a fair deal.”
Over at ABC, Abbott Elementary writer Brittani Nichols and the Los Angeles-based captain for WGA West said, “we are demanding that this industry is one that can sustain a career,” in an interview with Democracy Now. She calls the industry a “gig economy,” where studios prioritize Wall Street, not workers. The show is among those whose writers room has closed.
Be sure to check your favorite shows’ social media feed (or look for news stories) for more updates on which shows will be affected.