Late-night talk shows were among the first casualties of the Hollywood writers’ strike, which were almost immediately halted after members of the Writers Guild of America demanded higher wages and greater job security.
More than a week after the protests and no new material has been produced, scripted TV shows have also been forced to rerun.
Audiences, too, will soon begin to notice the lack of new content on streaming platforms and TV networks.
“Almost every show is affected in some way,” said Reed Alexander, Hollywood business correspondent for Insider magazine. “It depends on the production lifecycle.”
For example, production of popular shows such as “Billions,” “Severance,” and “Stranger Things” has been halted or delayed.
“What we soon see is exactly the late-night shows you pointed out, because shows that have members of the Writers Guild in the Writers’ Room often shut down quickly.” Alexander told CBS News. .
Late-night talk shows like CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” are already reruns. ing. because of the strike.
Mr Alexander added that journalists who make up the staff are not members of the WGA, so broadcasting of news programs will not be affected.
“But what’s essentially scripted includes scripts that writers collect and work on, so most of the shows being taped and produced in Hollywood come to a standstill,” he said. said.
Writers are not allowed to discuss new ideas in the studio or among staff, so the development of new concepts has also been put on hold.
more reality shows
With a repository of unreleased episodes, the show still has fresh content to air for the time being.
“If you’re a streaming viewer, or a viewer watching programs that have already been accumulated for the network, you may not see an immediate impact, but if this continues ( “While experts say it will be, there could be an impact.” Mr Alexander said.
The streaming platform’s goal now is to keep viewers unaware of the disruption “probably until next quarter,” Alexander said.
Unscripted reality shows could be replaced by scripted content.
In fact, the WGA strike 15 years ago spawned reality shows such as “The Real Housewives” and other types of unscripted shows.
Studios can also produce documentary content. “But scripted comedies, sitcoms, dramas, all of them are currently banned until this issue is resolved,” Alexander said.
Writers and studios aren’t turning to AI
WGA members are demanding higher wages, as well as protection from studios to keep jobs from being taken by artificial intelligence.
Both sides are clinging to opposing positions and have made no meaningful progress in resolving the dispute.
Experts say the strike will last well over three months and could last until late August.
“Studios and streamers on the one hand and Writers Guild members of around 10,000 to over 12,000 on the other are firmly entrenched in their positions,” Alexander said. “It will very likely take until the end of summer before we see significant progress here.”
