That's Marc Cherry, writer-producer ("showrunner", in Hollyweird speak) of "Desperate Housewives", speaking to the LA Times this evening. Networks has hoped to keep showrunners doing the producing parts of their jobs, so that completed scripts could be turned into episodes to air through the end of the year. More than 100 showrunners picketed outside Walt Disney Studios (which owns ABC). The move caused many shows to shut down; Cherry's "Housewives", "Grey's Anatomy", "The Office", and "Family Guy" are among them.
Some of these shows will be off the air as soon as this week. Will it make a difference? It's hard to say. This may or may not be retaliation against a studio move to suspend contracts with production companies in an effort to kill support among rank-and-file, like production assistants, whose names you never see and who are not actually members of the striking guild. (This is pure spectulation, you should know.) I've read at least one studio head who claims that his studio won't be affected financially. (I'll try to find the link tomorrow; for now, my commentary is: Yeah, right.)
Other links:
LA Times:"The Office" first big casualty of strike
UPI: Writers Guild of Canada supports WGA move
Reuters: Writers may find succor in animation
Reuters: Strike could be a long haul
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