Fall TV Blog

Get back to work! That was the message contained in a letter sent out to the members of the WGA today, informing them that the writers’ strike is officially over. In part, the letter stated:

To Our Fellow Members:

On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over.

Writing can resume immediately. If you were employed when the strike began, you should plan to report to work on Wednesday. If you’re not employed at an office or other work site, call or e-mail your employer that you are resuming work.

The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor’s gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future.

We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike.

Over the next weeks and months, we will be in touch with you to discuss and develop ways we can use our unprecedented unity to make our two guilds stronger and more effective than ever.

Thank you for making it possible. As ever, we are all in this together.

The letter was signed, “Best,” by Michael Winship and Patric M. Verrone, presidents of the Writers Guild of America, East and West.

Ezio Petersen/Landov

Missing McDreamy? Keeping your fingers and toes crossed for an end to the strike?

Well, it looks like a photo finish as to whether Hollywood’s writers and producers will be able to hammer out a deal in time for the Oscars to go ahead — but however it plays out, don’t expect your favorite shows to come racing back to the small screen anytime soon.

Patrick Dempsey, Teri Hatcher, Hugh Laurie and Marg Helgenberger may be ready to come back to work but their characters will likely be absent from your set for two months or more because, industry experts tell Reuters, that’s how long it will take to bring back shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, House and CSI to prime time.

Even if, as some have anticipated, the dispute were settled next week, viewers will have to wait until early April to see original episodes of their favorite dramas.

But some multi-camera sitcoms are quicker to shoot and wrap — around three to four weeks — so shows like Back to You and Two And A Half Men could be on the air again before mid-March. –Caris Davis

Sthanlee B Mirador/Shooting Star

While the writers’ strike has put many in Hollywood out of work, it has made at least one star restless.

“I am miserable,” Joely Fisher told PEOPLE at last weekend’s Hugo Boss/Glamour Studio Glam suite. “I’m not miserable when I’m with my children, and running around; I’m firmly ensconced in that.

“But then when I’m idle, I get a bit self-sabotagey,” says Fisher, who plays Brad Garrett’s wife on the sitcom ‘Til Death. “Like, ‘When is this going to end?’ The weird thing is it’s not happening only to you, but to the immediate world.”

Production has been halted on most TV shows since early November. –Nicolas White

“I can’t watch another reality show, I really can’t,” Fisher, 40, says. “We watch a lot of Disney Channel at my house.”

In the meantime, Fisher has taken to designing jewelry, and will be showcasing a new line Feb. 9 at Lisa Rinna’s L.A. boutique, Belle Gray.

“Just in time for Valentine’s Day!” she says.

Michael Williams/Startraks

• Since the writers’ strike is making it hard to book celebrities, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are going to become guests on each other’s shows. Stay tuned for next week, when Steve the sound guy gets a full hour!

• Hey, guess what! Justin Bobby was reportedly just a fling for Audrina Patridge, but then he was convinced to join The Hills as an actual paid cast member. The score so far? The Hills, 24; The Truth, 0.

• New York City’s television and movie industry is suffering from the writers’ strike as well, with 78,000 production workers out of jobs. Between this and Cloverfield, is there any hope for the Big Apple?

Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBC; BYRON COHEN/ABC

WATCH AND VOTE: The Writers Guild isn’t laughingas Jay Leno writes his own jokes, but 7.19 million viewers still tuned in Wednesday night to see the first new Tonight Show in two months (just in time for the caucuses). But are his fans cracking up? Watch some of his stand-up routine from the past two nights and tell us: Without his 19 writers to pen his monologue, is Jay still funny? –Caryn Midler

After a two-month hiatus, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to TV January 2—despite the on-going writers’ strike.

“Unfortunately, now with the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision,” O’Brien said in a statement Monday, released through NBC, about his show Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

“Either go back to work and keep my staff employed, or stay dark, and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for 14 years, to lose their jobs,” O’Brien’s statement read. “An unwritten version of Late Night, though not desirable, is possible— and no one has to be fired.”
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Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Is there a correlation between the WGA strike and misplacing your Schick Quattro razor? For David Letterman and Conan O’Brien there is. The two late-night talk show hosts have taken to growing “strike” beards. While Letterman is sporting what we call the “full hairy,” O’Brien (who joked in early December that he’s been growing his since the strike of 1988) has something of a dusting of cinnamon scruff, like the first snowfall of the season.

• Late night hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien are considering airing new episodes starting in January whether or not the writers strike is resolved. Going back on the air without their scribes would be no laughing matter. Literally.

• 30 Rock has blended the show with American Express commercials, thanks to “podbusters”—a.k.a., short segments starring the 30 cast that have nothing to do with that episode’s plot. We remember watching the last podbuster on our Sony 52-inch LCD television—the picture quality was fantastic!

• A new brand of DVR can hold 2,300 hours of programming. That’s almost enough to record all the fights on The View this year.

• Andre Birleanu, a contestant on America’s Most Smartest Model, claims that VH1 is destroying his career by forbidding him from responding to allegations that he molested two women. “They tell me not to say anything, but then they don’t stand up for me,” said Birleanu, who pouted—and was promptly offered a fragrance campaign.

Photo: Kevin Foley/NBC; Timothy White/NBC

He’s already agreed to personally cover the salaries of his non-writing staff during the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike—and now Conan O’Brien is taking another move in solidarity with the strikers by . . . growing a beard! Calling it his “strike beard,” O’Brien jokes, “I started growing mine during the strike of 1988—not a lot of hormones!” The comic also sends his holiday greetings—even to those who celebrate Hanukkah!—in his humorous video message. Watch it here. —Brian Orloff

Photo: Scott Gries/Getty

One thing’s certain about the Writers Guild of America strike, it follows no script.

Despite assurances of job security from Jay Leno himself, on Friday the staff of the Tonight Show learned they were all out of jobs—and they were not guaranteed to be rehired once the talk show returns, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

By Saturday, sources close to Jay Leno confirmed to PEOPLE that starting Monday, when workers face their first day off the NBC payroll, the talk show host will begin paying crew and band and other employees out of his own pocket.
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