Hollywood's labor unrest is hitting prime-time

By Maria Elena Fernandez and Lynn Smith, Times Staff Writers

Production on ABC's "Desperate Housewives" and NBC's "The Office" were halted today in the wake of the Writers Guild strike, and many more will be shutting down in the next few days including NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and ABC's "Pushing Daisies."

It was expected that shows written day-to-day would be the first to call it quits, among them "The Daily Show" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." But prime-time series were expected to continue production at least through Thanksgiving. They're shutting down far faster than expected, however, because actors, producers and the creative forces behind the shows are standing in solidarity with the writers and refusing to cross picket lines.

The rapid escalation was seen as a victory for writers trying to prove their worth to studios and the wealthy conglomerates behind them -- and was likely to ratchet up the pressure on other actors and so-called show runners to join the writers' cause.

Several multi-camera comedies have also shut down, including "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Til Death," "Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Rules of Engagement." It's impossible for those shows to shoot without writers, because it's not uncommon for scripts to be changed again and again, even in front of the live audience.

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