WGA Strike: Status of Shows

Filed under: BattlestarGalactica, Dexter, Doctor Who, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Lost, Pushing Daisies, Smallville, TV, WGA Strike — Scott King at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, November 6, 2007


As the Writer’s Guild Strike commences it means many of our favorite shows will soon be nothing but re-runs. As a result, I’ve compiled a list of some of the shows that are and aren’t affected by the strike (update: a more detailed list can be found here):

In preparation of a prolong writers strike, “Heroes” re-filmed the ending of their 11th episode to server as a season finale. The decision to do so was made by the shows Executive Producer and creator Tim Kring. Kring has said in interviews that he expects the strike to go on for months and didn’t want to leave viewers hanging.

Carlton Cuse, executive producer of “Lost” said in interviews yesterday that eight episodes have already been produced of the shows fourth season with eight more to go. But with the writers strike and all, there’s no way to produce them because no writers will be around to do rewrites. That may not stop ABC from airing the episodes already in the can, however, reports Entertainment Weekly.

“Battlestar Galactica” has scripts written up until about Episode 15, and production is up to about Episode 10. All production on the show has come to a stop because of the strike.

Jericho” won’t be affected at all. The shows second season was only planned to be seven episodes and all of them have been written and filmed. If anything, the strike may bring new viewers to the show since it will be one of the only programs not in reruns.

“Doctor Who” nor “Torchwood” are affected by the strike since the WGA does not cover the United Kingdom.

The current season of “Dexter” and “Weeds” aren’t affected because production on both series has already been completed.

“Smallville” and “Supernatural” on The CW as well as “Bionic Woman” on NBC, “Moonlight” on CBS and “Pushing Daisies” on ABC will have eleven episodes completed and will be forced to go on a mid-season break. New episodes won’t return until well after the strike ends.

One of the few shows who may benefit from the strike is “ER.” The long running drama was expected to end after this season, but with the strike the show’s producer is considering another season so that they can properly wrap up the show.

NBC’s “Tonight Show” and “Late Night,” along with CBS’ “Late Show,” “Late, Late Show” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” have already shut down and aren’t expected to return until after the strike. However, there is a chance that some or all of these shows may return early, but the catch is that they will have to be ad-libbed and not even the hosts are allowed to write their monologues ahead of time.

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