WGA Post-Strike Watch: News About Returning Shows

AFTRA is upping the pressure on the Screen Actors Guild to begin contract negotiations by the end of March — or they'll begin their own talks, according to Variety.

In a statement last week, SAG leaders said they didn't plan to start talks until at least April, when all their fact-finding was done and they were good and ready. Contracts for both unions expire June 30. Days later, however, AFTRA prez Roberta Reardon sent a letter to SAG chief Alan Rosenberg asking that the guild begin talks on AFTRA's timeline — or they can negotiate on their own. As it is, the two unions only recently reestablished ties, a move that was widely seen as preparation for upcoming contract negotiations. The relationship is still fragile, hanging as it is on various quid pro quos that each union set up.

In her letter, Reardon was clear about her timetable saying, "Time is of the essence now, and AFTRA can no longer let its members be idle when such important matters are before us."

SAG's response in the next week should indicate the tenor of things to come. Reardon asked for an answer by Monday, while SAG announced Tuesday that it's open to interim deals with feature producers on a case-by-case basis — similar to the WGA's striketime approach. If SAG doesn't step up to Reardon's request, how would separate negotiations affect things, if it comes to that? Do you think it would harm or help actors' interests to have the unions negotiate independently? — Anna Dimond

Related:
• SAG Preps for Talks, But Not Ruling Out a Strike

First it was the writers, then the directors. Now it's coming up on the actors' turn for contract negotations before theirs expires June 30. With the five-letter S-word hovering on the periphery, it seems that union leadership are taking every step they can to start talking ASAP — but they're not making any promises that they won't strike.

In a letter to members Wednesday, SAG chiefs Alan Rosenberg and Doug Allen promised that they would begin talks with the AMPTP as soon as their information-gathering is complete on March 31. In recent weeks, they've asked members to submit wages and workflow feedback in an effort to prep for the big table.

That said, they then noted that there were some things left to be desired for actors in the DGA's and WGA's new contracts. Promising to start negotiations "as soon as possible," they added this caveat: "But not before we finish our member-driven W&W process and not until we are in a position to finish what we start [sic]."

While it's clear that SAG's focus right now is on research and preparation for serious sit-downs, it also seems that no one's ready to rule out a strike. As things unfold in early spring, my guess is that the tenor and direction of things will become clear, as the rest of Hollywood looks on. — Anna Dimond

Three months and two weeks after the start of the writers' guild strike, Hollywood (and the rest of us impatient viewers) found closure Tuesday as the guild members' vote to ratify the proposed three-year contract was announced.

In a statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers confirmed the ratification, and issued a call to action to get everyone fired up for production as one big happy community:

"Now that our industry is back in business, our goal is to collaborate with everyone in the industry — writers, directors, actors and stagehands alike — to produce the highest-quality entertainment products without any further interruption."

While members voted two weeks ago to lift the strike order (thus allowing writers to return to work), the big pact in question wasn't definite — until now. Let's hope the AMPTP is wholehearted and that, three years from now, we're not recycling shows again (or strike coverage). In the meantime, get ready for a kinder, gentler Hollywood. — Anna Dimond

It's been two weeks since the WGA's strike order was lifted and ratification ballots were sent out to membership. Now the votes on the new three-year contract are being tallied, and an announcement on the result is expected Tuesday.

As 10,500 guild members await closure on the three-month strike, other discussions and issues stemming from the strike continue to surface. On Tuesday, CBS chief Leslie Moonves commented on another way the strike has impacted the industry, saying that, while the 100-day strike order "lasted longer than any of us would have liked," it actually helped the industry.

Not only did it save CBS $70 million in its fourth quarter, he said, but it gave nets an opportunity to reexamine their series-development processes — i.e., and start cutting back. In the same statements, Moonves asserted that "pilots are vastly overrated," and counted the reduction in spending on them as a major plus for the bottom line.

In the meantime, the WGA is still working to squeeze in some more love for its members. On Monday the WGA said it had introduced a bill into the California state senate that attempts to make up for a provision in the contract that didn't make it in. According to the Reporter, the guild said the proposed bill would "end the practice of selling television series and films for less than fair market value."

Will the senate go for it? Does Moonves have a point? Will the effects of the strike keep reverberating? Give us your take. — Anna Dimond

Following the other networks' announcements of their upcoming spring schedules, ABC has finally unveiled its plans for the post-strike return of its shows.

Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy return April 24, with each series airing five new episodes. To round out the Thursday-night knockout punch, execs are (as Ausiello first reported) placing Lost in the 10 pm/ET slot for at least five new episodes.

Desperate Housewives returns April 13 with five original episodes and a two-hour finale planned. DH's Sunday-night sibling, Brothers & Sisters, won't be back until the following Sunday and will only air four new episodes.

Samantha Who? and Boston Legal will return April 7 and April 8, respectively, each with six original episodes to air. Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money will all return... next season.

Keep checking Ausiello's chart at TVGuide.com/ShowStatus for updates on all your favorite shows. — Adam Bryant

Related:
• Exclusive: Lost Finds Post-Grey's Berth!

CBS has announced that when The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother return with fresh episodes on March 17, they will occupy each other's time slots. Big Bang will now lead off the Eye's comedy four-pack, with Mother sliding a half-hour back, to 8:30 pm/ET. Welcome to the Captain, in turn, will move from the Monday lineup onto the answer side of a Trivial Pursuit card. — Matt Mitovich

Tweaking a bit that which was previously reported (at least with respect to its Thursday-night lineup), NBC has issued a game plan for its returing series, inlcuding both Law & Orders. Without further ado:

April 3
8 pm/ET: My Name Is Earl (returning with a one-hour episode

March 20
10 pm: Lipstick Jungle concludes its run

April 10
8:30: 30 Rock
9 pm: The Office
9:30 pm: Scrubs
10 pm: ER

April 15
10 pm: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

April 23
10 pm: Law & Order

Medium, meanwhile, will forge on with original fare, Mondays at 10..

"Specific plans for other NBC scripted series are currently being determined," says the Peacock's press release, "and will be announced later." Translation: Watch 30 Rock.

For more on the "new" season of TV, check Ausiello's chart at TVGuide.com/ShowStatus.

Related:
• Tina Fey Weighs in on the Strike's End, 30 Rock's New Beginning

Tina Fey walked the picket lines with fellow writers last November, but on Feb. 12 she walked the red carpet with 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin , ready to toast the end of the strike.

"I'm very glad that the strike is coming to an end, because I really feel like it's been difficult economically for our crew, for people in Los Angeles and New York, and at the same time I feel like hopefully we got a good deal on some of these things that needed to be settled. I'm just happy," a smiling Fey told reporters.

The 30 Rock star and her on-screen boss were out to celebrate their cover and feature spread at Gotham Magazine's eighth-annual gala held at the Rainbow Room.

Fey expects to meet with her 30 Rock writing staff this week and already has ideas about what fans should expect from Liz Lemon and the gang for the rest of this shortened season. "I think we're going to see some crazy stuff. I think we're going to see Jack trying to get the big boss' job. Maybe Will Arnett's character will come back. We'll see my character hook up with some of her ex-boyfriends. Maybe have a little pregnancy scare by the end of the season," she revealed to TV Guide.

As for Tracy Morgan's Tracy Jordan? Fey would only say, "We'll see Tracy get up to some crazy business." — Erin S. Medley

More Strike Watch news:
• NBC Thursday Gets "Fresh" April 3
• Galactica Exec Glad to Have Writers Back in Orbit

Strike Recovery Guide previews:
• What Will Ghost Whisperer Scare Up Next?
• Desperate Housewife Teases "a Lot of Juicy Stuff"

In a statement, the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers today reached out to the Screen Actors Guild to encourage a dialogue about upcoming contract negotiations before the guild decides to strike.

SAG, whose contract is up in June, has been threatening a strike of its own in the wake of the writers' actions. The AMPTP, however, reminded SAG that the directors' guild managed a new deal sans strike — and so can the actors. SAG prez Alan Rosenberg said on Wednesday, "We're always open to having discussions."

With relief about the WGA pact still fresh, the industry is eyeing the actors' guild as the next player in the contract game. While SAG has not formally announced its next move, they have taken heartening steps toward a diplomatic solution. On Saturday, the organization abruptly announced its renewed ties with AFTRA, the other actors' union. The prior schism between the two signaled a long and bumpy road of strike one-upmanship that would likely have drawn things out (and eroded a lot of that WGA relief).

The upshot? No official course of action yet, but everyone's playing nice so far. So keep those fingers crossed! — Anna Dimond

On the heels of CBS' detailing of their own plans for the spring, NBC has announced that the funny 66 percent of its Thursday-night lineup — My Name Is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and Scrubs — will return with fresh fare April 3, with Earl presenting a one-hour eppy.

ER comes back with new episodes the following week.

Update:
• NBC Confirms Rollout Plan for New Episodes

Related:
• Tina Fey Weighs in on the Strike's End, 30 Rock's New Beginning

Now that the strike is over, what are the writers going to do? No, they're not going to Disney World, they're getting their butts back in the writers' room ASAP. Not only are the writers ready to go back to work, they are all fired up about it. A few weeks ago, TVGuide.com spoke to Jane Espenson (co-executive producer on the hugely popular and acclaimed Battlestar Galactica) and Charles Tatham (a co-executive producer for Fox's Back to You) on the picket lines. Now that the strike is over, we wanted to know how it felt to be getting back to the grind.

Tatham, who writers affectionately call "Uncle Chuckles," said, "Only one person in the known universe wants me to go back to work more than I do: my wife." Espenson echoed that sentiment, and more, saying, "I'm happy that a deal was reached. I'm happy that it appears to be a good deal, certainly better than what was likely without a strike. But most of all, I am, and my colleagues are, happy to be going back to a writers' room tomorrow to work on Battlestar Galactica. So say we all."

So say we all indeed. — Erin Fox
More post-strike coverage:
• The WGA's New Deal: Tallying the Pros and Cons
• CBS' Post-Strike Plans Features Lotsa Laughs
• NEW CHART! When Will Your Shows Return?

There were times during the past three months when we never thought we'd say it, but... the WGA strike is officially over. According to the WGA websites, members voted by 92.5 percent to lift the strike order that was enacted Nov. 5.

Following WGA leadership's approval of a tentative deal on Sunday, the guild members on Tuesday voted to lift the strike order, which has been in effect (and playing serious havoc with our TV viewing) for three months. Members on both coasts voted in person or by proxy, and the "polls" closed just an hour ago, at 6 pm/PT. Yes, the vote to end the strike was expected, given the positive feedback after meetings on the deal over the weekend, but still, it feels so good. The writers will be revving up their typing fingers and plot points to get back to work on Wednesday.

With the swift start back at work, which shows can we expect to see back on the air first? How have summer series been affected? Might show shows (gulp) not return at all? You've got tons of questions, and in recent weeks TV Guide experts such as Matt Roush and Michael Ausiello have been trying to proactively answer them. For the past few days, for example, Ausiello has been painstakingly updating a "Strike Recovery Chart" of sorts, listing each show, its status, and how many fresh episodes you might expect during this crazy season. The URL is TVGuide.com/ShowStatus — easy enough to remember, also easy to bookmark.

As the "new" season nears, we've also summoned our Online Video Guide to round up a collection of the last episodes of many of your MIA favorites. So scratch that itch at video.tvguide.com/Search/TheStrikeIsOver.

Still, you may have other, more basic questions. To that end, we've set up a "FAQ," serving up generalized answers about the obvious topics. Check it out, and if between that and Oz's "SRC" you still need some answers, give us a holler in the comments field. We got you through the strike, and we'll get you through these next few "endless" weeks!

More post-strike coverage:
• The WGA's New Deal: Tallying the Pros and Cons
• CBS' Post-Strike Plans Features Lotsa Laughs
• NEW CHART! When Will Your Shows Return?
• Galactica Exec Glad to Have Writers Back in Orbit

Both the East and West wings of the Writers Guild of America are voting Tuesday afternoon on whether to lift the three-month strike. Polls on the East Coast close at 7 pm/ET, while West Coast scribes have until 6 pm/PT to get their ballots in.

The vote was put to WGA membership following leadership's recommendation of a tentative contract on Sunday. If members do vote to lift the strike (as is widely expected), they could be back at work as early as Wednesday. The tentative contract, which leaders presented in guild meetings on Saturday, is expected to be ratified over the next 10 to 12 days.

So what's first up for fresh TV, assuming the strike's lifted? Late-night laughter. Writers for The Daily Show and Colbert Report expect to be back at work Wednesday, as are scribes for Leno's Tonight Show and O'Brien's Late Night. Saturday Night Live, meanwhile, is slated to air a fresh ep Feb. 23 — its first since November.

Votes should be in Tuesday evening, with an official word on the strike's status coming micromoments thereafter. Until then, we're guessing, across L.A. and New York, champagne's getting chilled and laptops are getting plugged in... just in case. — Anna Dimond

When will your favorite shows return? (Will they return?) Check out the Ausiello's "Strike Recovery Chart" at TVGuide.com/ShowStatus for frequent updates.

The presidents of each wing of the WGA sat together Monday for one of their first joint interviews since they announced their boards' approvals of the tentative deal reached on Sunday. In their postmortem on Fox Business Network, the chiefs commented on key points of the deal, plus on the value of the strike overall.

One of the big questions they addressed following the contract approval is how the new 17-day window will affect programming and payment. In the deal, which writers are expected to ratify over the next 10-12 days, writers will not get paid during a 17-day window after the first airing of a program. WGA East prez Michael Winship acknowledged, "We would have liked to have closed that window completely. That is one of the things we did not achieve in this contract and something we will be working on going forward."

When asked whether he thought networks would actually air shows after that window, he said, "I think that they will because they'll recognize the value of those programs being on beyond that window." He added, "It's a tremendous start for us."

For his part, WGA West honcho Patric Verrone was disappointed about dropping animation and reality TV writers from the new contract. "It was a heartbreaking thing for me as an animation writer," he said. "Those writers are more or less the sweatshop writers in this industry and our hope going forward is that we can improve that situation and get coverage from them."

The chiefs also responded to some of the criticism that's been floating around about whether striking was necessary at all, especially in light of the strike-free Directors Guild of America deal. Winship was frank, saying, "I think the Directors Guild deal was achieved largely because we went on strike." What's your take? Do you agree with Winship's assessment? Or think they were too soft on certain points? — Anna Dimond

The boards for both branches of the Writers Guild of America on Sunday unanimously approved the tentative deal reached for a new contract. The boards are also taking the final decision on lifting the strike to membership in a vote on Tuesday.

In the meantime, showrunners will get going even sooner, heading back to work Monday to get crews set up and production facilities going again, as will writers who have producing duties on their shows. Ballots to ratify the three-year deal are also going out to members, and will be returned within a 10-12 day period.

Patric Verrone commented on the deal agreement, saying, "This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years."

Verrone also went on to praise the work of the three CEOs who stepped up in the decisive moments of negotiations, including News Corp. chief Peter Chernin, Disney head Robert Iger and CBS top dog Leslie Moonves. Until the business chiefs sat down at the bargaining table, Verrone said, "We spent about three months getting nowhere."

In light of the huge support among writers for the deals in members' meetings on both coasts Saturday, it's expected that they'll be in favor to end the strike in Tuesday's vote, and be able to return to work as early as Wednesday. For writers pushed out of contracts in force majeure situations, many will be hired back, but in a case-by-case scenario, in which the status of each show will affect the deals.

As the final logistical steps are taking place, at least most of Hollywood will start getting back into motion. — Anna Dimond

More WGA strike coverage:
• Outside the WGA West Meeting: Writers React
• Tentative Deal Struck: Writers to Vote, Could Start Work by Wednesday
• WGA Prez Gives Tentative Deal Thumbs-up, But Will Members Agree?
• NEW CHART! After the Strike: When Your Shows Will Return