Matt Webb Mitovich
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The Writers Guild of America strike got underway on May 2, raising lots of questions about the future of TV shows that are currently airing/streaming, as well as those due to be coming down the pike.
Let’s see if we can help you sort through what’s what, depending on the types of shows you watch.
But first, a primer: According to WGA guidelines, once a work stoppage is underway, members are barred from writing, nor can they pitch or negotiate for work. What’s more, anything that was already written before the strike commenced cannot be edited during production.
As TV vet Mike Royce detailed on Twitter, “If a show continues production on a script that was written before the strike, there may not be ANY ALTERATIONS to that script made by ANYONE while the WGA is on strike. Not a word, not a comma.”
That dictates a finite supply of scripted material for the networks to live off of in the weeks/months to come.
The 2007-08 WGA strike, which lasted 100 days and came at midseason, resulted in truncated seasons for shows such as 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Brothers & Sisters, three CSIs, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, How I Met Your Mother, Lost, NCIS, The Office, Scrubs and Two and a Half Men — to name just a few of the programs that wound up producing half or less of their seasons. It also reportedly cost the L.A. economy a reported $2 billion.
And the current WGA membership is steeled to strike just as long, if not longer, given the disparity between what they are seeking in a new contract, and what the AMPTP is thus far offering.
Which shows will feel the strike first? What sorts of programs are not affected? Read on for an overview of how broadcast, cable, streaming, daytime, late-night and other shows will be impacted.
LATE-NIGHT TALK SHOWS
Image Credit: Courtesy of CBS Shuttered late-night talkers were the first symptom of the strike, as NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers, CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show all went dark effective May 2, and plan to air reruns.
HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, which respectively don’t air until Friday and Sunday, have also decided to go dark.
Fox News’ Gutfeld!, however, plans to keep on keeping on, seeing as its host and staff are reportedly non-union.
Note: Interview-based talk shows are not affected by the strike.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Image Credit: Courtesy of NBC SNL‘s game plan — at least for this coming weekend, when series alum Pete Davidson is set to return as host — was TBD at press time. If the long-running sketch series decides “the show must go on,” it would have to do so using bits that were written ahead of the strike, with no punch-ups whatsoever.
PRIMETIME BROADCAST SHOWS
Image Credit: ‘Quantum Leap’ (Courtesy of NBC) By and large, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW won’t exhibit any immediate impact from the strike as the regular TV season winds down and already-scripted finales are filmed — albeit without any last-minute tweaks.
Among the shows/seasons yet to premiere and those with summertime finale dates, Nancy Drew completed filming its upcoming farewell season in December, Riverdale‘s final-season scripts are all completed, Superman & Lois is wrapped on Season 3, NBC’s The Blacklist wrapped its series finale on May 1, and NBC’s L.A. Fire & Rescue docuseries from Dick Wolf remains on track for its July 7 debut.
But right about now is when returning and new shows would start to staff up for the 2023-24 TV season, and writers rooms usually open after Memorial Day. So, each week of work stoppage could roughly translate into a similar delay in the onset of the fall TV season.
To abate such lulls to even a small degree, a few shows (including NBC’s La Brea, Night Court and Quantum Leap) raced into production on their next seasons this spring, so as to bank at least a couple of scripts/episodes for the 2023-24 season.
How else might the networks fill upcoming gaps? That brings us to….
THE ONE BIG QUESTION….
Image Credit: ‘WandaVision’ (Courtesy of Disney+) As the networks stare at blank spaces on their schedule board, might broadcasters “borrow” from their streaming siblings?
Could ABC fill a few nights with, say, the first seasons of The Mandalorian and/or WandaVision?
Could Criminal Minds: Evolution‘s entire freshman run get a CBS showcase? Maybe Bel-Air Season 1 on NBC?
We shall see.
CABLE DRAMAS & COMEDIES
Image Credit: ‘True Detective: Night Country’ (Courtesy of HBO) The likes of HBO, Showtime and FX/FXX are in decent shape for the short term, with Succession‘s final season and Yellowjackets currently airing, and Mayans MC‘s final season on FX, HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, Showtime’s Ghosts of Beirut and FXX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 16 on tap for summer. But beyond that, if the strike persists, expect to see some staggered starts for any late-summer and fall fare.
STREAMING SHOWS
Image Credit: ‘Secret Invasion’ (Disney+) Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ et al are probably in the best shape heading into the strike (all things being relative!), seeing as they are not locked into nightly or even weekly schedules, and can roll out returning and new fare at will. And lord knows, based on the sheer number of new shows that were greenlit by the streamers over the past couple of years, at least a bunch are probably in finished-enough form to meet their announced premiere dates/months.
The question here is whether streamers will elect to slow their roll with the scheduling of episodes — maybe forego that occasional “first three at premiere” (or whatever) and lock into one-a-week drops.
And might this be the straw that breaks Netflix’s binge-release back? Ha-ha-ha. As if.
But speaking of Netflix, we do have to wonder: Given this latest and unavoidable delay, just how old will the Stranger Things kiddos be in the final season?
DAYTIME SOAP OPERAS
Image Credit: Courtesy of CBS Soaps are known to write/tape far ahead (or really far ahead if you are Peacock’s Days of Our Lives), but if the strike lasts more than a month, fi-core writers — meaning, those who resign from the WGA during the work stoppage by filing for financial core status (and are less affectionately known as “scabs”) — may step in to bang out some scripts. This, however, is an option few writers choose, even during the 100-day 2007-08 strike.
DAYTIME TALKERS, COURT SHOWS, GAME SHOWS
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television Daytime chatfests and courtroom/judge so-and-so shows are unaffected by the strike.
Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune both employ writing staffs, so they will continue producing any episodes that are already prepped, before hitting the brakes. Most other game shows, however — including a few that are non-union — will be unaffected.
REALITY-TV
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC As the 2007-08 WGA strike taught us all too well, when unscripted fare blossomed and stepped in to fill the void, reality-TV shows are generally unaffected by the work stoppage.
