"Desperate" Times In Hollywood

Writers Strike To Halt Production Of "Desperate Housewives" And Other Top TV Shows

(CBS/AP)  A producer of the hit ABC show "Desperate Housewives" says the show will stop production because it has run out of scripts due to the writers strike.

Alexandra Cunningham says filming of the show's 10th episode of the season will finish on Wednesday.

She says ABC will run out of new episodes to air before Christmas.

Meanwhile, production has stopped on at least six sitcoms filmed before live audiences because of the Hollywood writers strike.

"Back to You," starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, will not return from a planned hiatus on Wednesday. said Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television.

Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said production has also stopped on her CBS show, "The New Adventures of Old Christine."

In addition, the sitcoms "Til Death," which airs on Fox, and "Rules of Engagement," "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory," all on CBS, will also end filming, according to people familiar with production of the shows who were not authorized to be quoted and requested anonymity.

It was not immediately clear how many of the shows might already be finished.

Network officials referred calls to companies producing each show.

The first strike by Hollywood writers in nearly 20 years got under way with pickets on both coasts after last-minute negotiations on Sunday failed to produce a deal on payments to writers from shows offered on the Internet.

Right now, the writers get nothing and they want 2.5 percent of the profits, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. The studios and producers are offering far less, claiming the technology is too new and their profits too slim.

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Photos: On The Picket Line

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No new negotiations were scheduled.

Pickets returned to studios in Los Angeles and New York as the strike by the Writers Guild of America entered its second day

In Toluca Lake, Calif., near Warner Bros. studio, writers converged on a house that serves as a location shoot for "Desperate Housewives."

"We write the story-a, Eva Longoria," about 30 strikers chanted, referring to one star of the hit ABC show.

"It is a very serious business," said Larry Wilmore, a writer on "The Daily Show," explaining the protesters were marching "so we can get back to being funny."

Shooting continued inside the house despite the protests, said Chandler Hayes, a spokesman for ABC.

The protesters were joined by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

"I'm really here because I'm a union member," said Louis-Dreyfus, a member of the Screen Actors Guild whose husband is a member of the writers guild.

"If we prevent them from working today, that's a small victory," she said.

In New York, strikers picketed outside Silver Cup Studios in Queens, the site of shooting for "30 Rock" and "Gossip Girls."

The strike began Monday after last-minute negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to produce a deal.

"People seem pretty upbeat and determined for now," reported CBS Radio correspondent Claudia Peschiutta from the picket line outside the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank on the strike's first day.

2"The question is, how will people feel if this strike drags on as long as the last one strike went on for in 1988? That one lasted for more than five months, and it would be difficult for some of these writers to be without a paycheck for that amount of time."

The walkout immediately sent late-night comedy shows going into reruns.

It will not immediately have an impact on production of movies or most prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and many TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.

Nick Counter, chief negotiator for the producers union, said he expected a long standoff.

"We're hunkered down for a long one," he said Monday. "From our standpoint, we made every good faith effort to negotiate a deal, and they went on strike. At some point, conversations will take place. But not now."

Writers said the next move was up to the studios.

"My hope is that it won't be too long," said John Bowman, chief negotiator for the writers.

Some producers were torn about trying to keep filming finished scripts.

Tim Kring, a producer and writer of the NBC hit "Heroes," said he had to revise the ending of the show's 11th episode on the chance that it might be the last one to air this season.

"Fortunately we were able to hustle back," Kring said from a picket line in an effort to shut down the show. "The audience won't be left in a lurch."

While scripted shows suffer from the strike, reality shows could flourish because they don't use union writers, despite an aggressive attempt by the writers guild to organize the staffers on the programs.

Viewers could also check out more entertainment on the Internet, ranging from user-generated fare on YouTube to professionally produced shows such as "Quarterlife."

Writers have not gone on strike since 1988, when the walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.

[erasmus6]

I am all for them getting what they deserve but I am getting tired of the B-u-llsh-t. Every year it seems like there are more and more reruns than there are new shows. The shows will start in September (some October/November), then before too long they are showing repeats because of Thanksgiving and then Christmas. And it seems to take awhile even AFTER Christmas before they start showing new ones again. THEN after you get into a show, they end up putting a show on hiatus and sticking another one on. I think they are getting a little TOO BIG FOR THEIR BRITCHES.
The world should UNITE and shut OFF the frickin'' T.V., maybe that will straighten them all out. What do ya think???

[usayesterday]

Maybe, just maybe, a book might be an alternative to the boob tube.
Posted by Baileycc at 02:59 AM : Nov 07, 2007
...........

Now THAT is hoping for too much!

(sadly)

[brianbwb-2009]

"Right now, the writers get nothing and they want 2.5 percent of the profits, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. The studios and producers are offering far less, claiming the technology is too new and their profits too slim."

The strike is over income from DVDs and digital downloads. The industry''s position is pure BS, DVDs are so mainstream that they are almost out of style, about to be replaced by HD and/or Blu Ray. Sales from DVDs and other digital media are the leading source of income, how many of you still have VHS tapes and rent from Blockbuster?

2.5% is a crumb, and the industry is too greedy to give the creators such a small slice, and they have the nerve to call file sharers pirates, suing kids for downloading their favorite shows..

[allunknowing]

I wish this happened 10 years ago to "THE NANNY." I still don''t believe that was filmed in front of a studio audience.

[sendreidpelo]

Considering the amount of tripe the Leftist Hollyweird writers have been dumping on society -outside of the Law and Order series and Shark - the last two decades or so, this is a blessing in disguise.

Maybe they''ll stop production on the movies too -and force little boys like Clooney, Pitt and Penn to get REAL jobs.

Or is that hoping for too much?

Maybe, just maybe, a book might be an alternative to the boob tube.

[jenniferjese]

I am just a bit curious...Her profile was found on millionaire dating site http://www.BillionaireCupid.com last week. I heard she just broke up with her boyfriend! I am wondering what kind of relationship she is looking for on that site!

[sittle]

We in Sudan are still watching the season where that lady''s boyfriend poisons her husband and things like that....(Desperate Housewives?), thats the current episode.

[sittle]

We in Sudan are still watching the season where that lady''s boyfriend poisons her husband and things like that....(Desperate Housewives?), thats the current episode.

[sittle]

We in Sudan are still watching the season where that lady''s boyfriend poisons her husband and things like that....(Desperate Housewives?), thats the current episode.

[harp1963]

Who cares. Our children would be better off if television didn''t exist.

[Hybdiesel]

I think these comments are better than anything on tv. Oh my goodness do they write the script for football games, news, and the bigest looser? I guess they can''t loose fat without a writer.I can do without all the sxxx they put out on tv.

[famulla-2009]

No Comments as I am in Tanzania and my TV is balck and white
The cast of "Desperate Housewives" pose on the set in this 2005 publicity photo. (AP) The phot is old 2005 mama mia

Firozali A.Mulla P.O.Box 6044 Dar-Es-Salaam Tanzania East Arfica

[ssm9451]

Who cares about this *** on tv? Who wants to watch this s#*t? Read a good book

[shanev137]

hey, whatever works to get these stupid shows off the air.

[cecilimready]

do my fellow posters actually watch the show?

[excoachken]

The only thing "Desperate" about this show is how "Desperate" the viewers are to find a life. If you want to cheat on your spouse, go for it, and quit living you life through these losers!

[jetranger7]

Ya, I think half of the Shows on TV Suck anymore anyway, I refer to it as TV Trash Sitcoms, with such Poor Acting Talent, it makes one want to go to a Grade School Play ! The TV Show Desperate Housewives is one of those Suck TV Shows ! Its Stupid and Ignorant, Bored Women who obviously don''t hold a real job in real life, and they accompolish nothing but spend money on dumb things, Ya, that takes real brains, some show !

[hypnotoad72]

Anybody want a scab?

And what other way is it possible to get into their family that''s seemingly tighter than than a person in need of vast quantities of prune juice...

Okay, in semi-seriousness, it is indeed the writers that give the material for the actors to work on. Bad shows are blamed on writers yet good ones are always blamed on actors; regardless of the writing quality put in both. And everything is tuned for mass audiences, which only assures brief moment of popularity before it becomes worthless; smaller, more loyal audiences seem to be more lucrative for the long run. Though there''s nothing wrong in appealing to the masses either...

As for illegal downloading, et al, let''s look at the flip-side: Attempting to return a DVD whose content sucked. That''s as much thievery because a person should buy something they like. Not out of chance and be stuck with it, regardless. The media industry has a unique situation right now.

[jankebenz]

Desperate housewives is in desperate need of being replaced with something worthwhile.This paticular show is nothing but filth and immoral garbage,with most other sit coms not being much better.If thats the best these writers can come up with,lets hope for a very long strike