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Writers Strike 2023?

gr8oldies said:
I was working at a CBS affiliate when CBS lost the NFL (and a lot of affiliates along with it). CBS tried to counter-program football with "women's movies"
Click to expand...

I remember this debacle. I tuned in to CBS to see what they aired at 1:00 pm ET. Woof! I couldn't believe CBS would go there but they did.
 
gr8oldies said:
I was working at a CBS affiliate when CBS lost the NFL (and a lot of affiliates along wth it). CBS tried to counter-program football with "women's movies"
Click to expand...
They lost football to someone else; in the hypothetical scenario, there's no football to counter program. Plenty of other filler material if such an extreme hypothetical ever happened.
 
And we're still a long way away from any of this becoming a reality. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't...but the sensationalistic headlines between now and a future deadline will be nothing but attempts to garner clicks by framing things in the most salacious way possible.
 
gr8oldies said:
I was working at a CBS affiliate when CBS lost the NFL (and a lot of affiliates along wth it). CBS tried to counter-program football with "women's movies"
Click to expand...
I remember my mom watching a movie about a Russian ice skater that won Gold in 94 Winter Olympics. WWMT aired BH 90210 on Sundays was surprised they aired that as I was surprised that WXMI Fox17 wouldn't have aired BH 90210 in syndication. They also aired WCW Worldwide at 1PM the last year they didn't have the NFL.
 
Latest updates as the May 1st deadline is quickly approaching as a strike has been authorized in the event no deal is reached

deadline.com

WGA Members Vote Overwhelmingly To Authorize A Strike If No Deal By May 1

WGA members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The vote, which was approved by nearly 98% of the eligible voting members, authorizes the WGA West Board and the WGA East Council to cal…
deadline.com

www.nytimes.com

Hollywood Writers Approve of Strike as Shutdown Looms

The writers have not gone on strike in 15 years, and the vote gives their unions the right to call for a walkout when their contract expires on May 1.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

www.latimes.com

We can't afford another writers strike

The last strike cost $4.5 billion in today's dollars. That's why the studios need to stop preparing for the next one and start trying to prevent it.
www.latimes.com www.latimes.com
 
Seth Meyers was, of course, at one time a writer and then the head writer at Saturday Night Live

Seth Meyers Speaks in Solidarity With WGA: ‘If You Don’t See Me Here Next Week, Know That It’s Something That’s Not Done Lightly’​

www.thewrap.com

Seth Meyers Speaks in Solidarity With WGA Ahead of Potential Strike

Seth Meyers spoke out in solidarity with the WGA ahead of a potential strike from behind his Late Night desk, saying what the writers are asking for "is not unreasonable."
www.thewrap.com www.thewrap.com
“I am deeply proud of the fact that I get to be a professional writer, and I bring this up because as of Monday at midnight, there might be a writers’ strike,” Meyers said on Friday’s episode of his traditionally goofy “Late Night” YouTube program “Corrections.”

“If a writers’ strike happens, that would shut down production on a great many shows, and I’ve been through this before in 2007, 2008. There was a very long strike when I was working at ‘SNL,’ and it was really miserable, and it doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows, and it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected obviously not just showbusiness but all of us.”

Meyers expressed his gratitude for the negotiators at the table and threw his full support behind the WGA.

“I’m incredibly grateful that there are negotiators for both sides sitting and talking. I’m incredibly hopeful that they can come to an agreement,” Meyers said. “I also feel very strongly that what the writers are asking for is not unreasonable. And as a proud member of the guild, I’m very grateful that there is an organization that looks out for the best interests of writers.”

The host concluded the earnest message by saying that if a strike does occur, it will not be done lightly.
Click to expand...
 
One thought:

Many prime-time scripted shows have two, three, or four more episodes left in their respective 2022/23 seasons.

Could the major broadcast networks decide, if a strike begins tomorrow (May 2nd) at 12:01 A.M. PDT, to pull these first run episodes from their schedules at the last minute so that there may be at least some first run scripted programming ready when the 2023/24 prime-time TV season does get underway?

This way, if there's an extended strike that eventually gets settled, the 2023/24 TV season could begin a few weeks earlier than what otherwise would have been the case had there been no episodes sitting "on the shelf", their original broadcasts being postponed due to the strike.
 
Some shows have already started filming their next seasons early just in case for example Quantum Leap, La Brea and Magnum P.I. (the last which was split into two 10 episode seasons.)

They won't cancel the rest of the season to hold out for the fall they will just have their fall seasons premiere later like October and November like in years past if it came to that point.

NBC has also pulled one of their mid season shows Found to premiere in the fall and there will be Reality programming, sports and possibly some foreign programming that could fill the gap if it came to that point.
 
If “reality” shows are not covered under WGA then networks will go reality show heavy in September. I also remember during pandemic CBS showed a season of The Good Fight which had only been available on Paramount Plus. I would expect more broadcast premiers of streaming only shows.
 
Larry said:
If “reality” shows are not covered under WGA then networks will go reality show heavy in September. I also remember during pandemic CBS showed a season of The Good Fight which had only been available on Paramount Plus. I would expect more broadcast premiers of streaming only shows.
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That's true too as they also showed the first season of star trek discovery and nbc showed Canadian TV show Nurses.
 
I remember in at least some past strikes the daytime soaps used “scab writers” so they didn’t have to stop production. I wonder if that will happen this time.
 
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