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NEW YORK -- David Letterman’s production company has struck an independent deal with the Writers Guild of America that will allow “Late Show With David Letterman” and its sister program, “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” to return to the air Wednesday with its writing staffs, according to a person familiar with the agreement.
Worldwide Pants, which produces and owns both programs, is the first company to strike a deal with the guild in the nearly 8-week-old strike. The terms of the agreement were not immediately known.
The accord means that when Letterman and Ferguson resume production next week, the CBS hosts will be the only late-night comedians back on the air with their writers. NBC’s Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert said earlier this month that they would also return with new shows in January, but without their writing staffs. (Because their programs are owned by their respective networks, those hosts could not make the kind of separate arrangement with the union that Worldwide Pants did.)
So while Letterman is reeling off his famous Top 10 List, Leno -- who is prohibited from writing under strike rules -- will have to rely on improv, musical guests and celebrity interviews.
The Worldwide Pants deal is a small bright spot for the guild, which is engaged in a bitter standoff with the studios. While the agreement covers only a small fraction of the 10,500 striking writers, it allows the union to make the case that it is willing to work with reasonable producers.
Still, even with Worldwide Pants offering to give the union the terms it sought, it took nearly two weeks for an agreement to be reached between the two sides.
More news on the strike
-- Matea Gold
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With a lingering writers strike, many TV fans are finding other storytelling outlets to occupy their time. Online tales, comic books and even card games (in the case of Fox's "24") are making the rounds. For followers of NBC's "Heroes" who are looking for an action-filled, mystery-inducing romp reminiscent of the first season of the show, the novelized "Saving Charlie" might not fill that adrenaline junkie void. But in terms of expanding on one of the show's more endearing and popular characters, it scores high marks.
 "Saving Charlie" is a love story. One that, due to Hiro Nakamura's powers of teleportation and time travel, literally spans a lifetime in months.
Back in the first season, Hiro and his friend Ando found themselves in a small Texas eatery (Burnt Toast Diner) while on their way to save the world. There they met Charlene "Charlie" Andrews, a waitress who coincidentally has powers that cause her to superhumanly remember (and maybe more importantly) comprehend pretty much everything that she reads almost instantaneously. In a few short minutes, Charlie learns Japanese and Hiro is smitten. In a few more short minutes, Charlie is killed by the now infamous Sylar. Hiro, feeling it's his duty and destiny, decides to use his abilities to go back in the past and save her. And this is where the book comes in.
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Dear Fellow Members of the Writers Guild, East:
I write this to you two nights before Christmas. It’s tough as hell to be on strike during the holiday season. Not only are we staging outdoor pickets and other events in the throes of winter’s cold, we’re without work and paychecks at a moment when gift giving and good times are very much on the minds of everyone around us, especially our friends and loved ones.
Yet we know that what we’re fighting for is worth it, that we’re exchanging our temporary stress and discomfort for future gain and security, not only for ourselves but those who will follow us as wordsmiths and storytellers.
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The Writers Guild of America, West, has issued the following statement regarding the Independent Spirit Awards:
"Film Independent came to us before the strike and the WGAW board decided to grant an interim agreement allowing for writing services for the Spirit Awards. The best way to get the awards season back on track is for the AMPTP to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild to get this town back to work."
More news on the strike
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This afternoon, Comedy Central announced that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would return to the cable network's airwaves Jan. 7. Neither show has had new episodes since the Writers Guild of America went on strike Nov. 5.
That leaves David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, who hope to negotiate an interim deal between their Worldwide Pants production company and the WGA, as the only late-night hosts who have no official return date.
Here is Comedy Central's press release: "'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and 'The Colbert Report' will resume production on Jan. 7 with both shows returning to air that night without their respective writing staffs. The Jan. 7 return follows a scheduled two-week, end-of-year hiatus that was previously built into the shows' production calendars. We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again."
-- Comedy Central
"We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."
-- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
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Days after the WGA declined to give a waiver to the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards -- and at a time when many in Hollywood continue to worry that striking writers will derail the pomp, circumstance and box-office windfall that arrives with each award season -- another award show has decided to drastically alter its format to ensure a picket line won't disrupt the proceedings.
On Wednesday, the People's Choice Awards announced plans to produce its Jan. 8 broadcast in a "magazine-style" format. Instead of a live ceremony with presenters giving statuettes out to honorees, the show, hosted by Queen Latifah, will consist of taped pieces. A source close to the production described the new format as a post-produced show package.
Industry sources said the change in format came as a direct result of concerns about WGA picketing and the strike discouraging movie, television and music stars from attending.
The People's Choice Awards have been broadcast annually since 1975, recognizing the most popular people and work in popular culture. Unlike the Academy Awards, Emmys or Grammys, which are voted upon by professional peers, the People's Choice Awards are dictated by the general public. Honorees in music, movies and television are selected based on results from polls, market research and online voting. Categories run toward the esoteric and include favorite tour, favorite all-around movie and favorite hair.
More news on the strike
-- Chris Lee
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In the end, it’s all about Uncle Frank and the rest of the gang.
As expected, ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, announced Tuesday that he, like NBC’s Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, will be crossing the picket line to go back to work on his live show Jan. 2. Kimmel, who has picketed and served lunch to picketing writers, has declined to speak publicly about the strike. But Tuesday’s announcement contained a statement from the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live."
"Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than a hundred people whose financial well-being depends on our show,” said Kimmel, who also employs a handful of family members and close friends on the show's staff. “It is time to go back to work. I support my colleagues and friends in the WGA completely and hope this ends both fairly and soon.”
More news on the strike
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
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Statement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: The Golden Globe Awards, which has a long and friendly relationship with the Writers Guild of America, is obviously disappointed that the WGA denied its request for a waiver. However, we are encouraged by the fact that the WGA has announced that it plans to negotiate agreements with independent production companies. Therefore, we will attempt to reach some type of agreement with them on behalf of the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which will recognize and honor outstanding achievements in both movies and television programming made before the strike.
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Deepening its conflict with Hollywood's studios, the Writers Guild of America has denied requests for waivers from the producers of the Golden Globes and Oscars
Dick Clark Productions and the Foreign Press Assocation had sought a waiver from the guild's strike rules to allow writers to work on the awards show, to be aired on NBC Jan. 13.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had asked the guild for permission to use clips from movies and past awards programs that could be shown during the awards shows on ABC in February.
However, Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, rejected the requests in letters to both groups Monday night, citing the union's ongoing battle with studios to negotiate a new contract to replace one that expired Oct. 31. Writers are in their seventh week of a strike.
-- Richard Verrier
(full text of letters below)
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NEW YORK — NBC announced this morning that late-night hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien would return to the air Jan. 2 with new episodes even if the writers strike was not resolved, citing a similar move by Johnny Carson during the 1988 labor stoppage.
"During the 1988 writers strike, Johnny Carson reluctantly returned to ‘The Tonight Show’ without his writers after two months,” Rick Ludwin, NBC’s executive vice president for late-night and prime-time series, said in a statement released by the network. “Both Jay and Conan have supported their writers during the first two months of this WGA strike and will continue to support them. However, there are hundreds of people who will be able to return to work as a result of Jay’s and Conan’s decision.”
But unlike Carson, Leno and O’Brien are members of the Writers Guild of America. That means they will be crossing their own union’s picket line when they go back on the air, unless the walkout is settled in the next two weeks.
In a statement, O’Brien called himself an “ardent supporter” of the writers guild but said he was “left with a difficult decision: either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for 14 years, to lose their jobs.”
Leno said he had hoped for a quick resolution to the strike.
“Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled, I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work,” he said in a statement. “We fully support our writers and I think they understand my decision.”
Their writerless programs will have to rely on quite a bit of ad libbing; under the WGA’s strike rules, the NBC hosts will not be able to write material for their shows that would have otherwise been penned by their writing staffs.
So far, the only late-night host who has returned to the air since the strike began Nov. 5 is NBC’s Carson Daly, who is not a WGA member. The rest of the late-night comedy shows have been in reruns for the last six weeks, and most of them have suffered steep ratings declines as a result.
The labor dispute has forced comedians such as Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart into a tricky balancing act, pulled between their loyalty to their guild and their responsibilities to their programs. As they’ve waited out the strike, all the hosts have worked to make sure that their non-writing staffs continue to be paid, either by their networks or out of their own pockets.
As that tab mounted and ratings dwindled, however, their return to the air seemed inevitable.
The announcement from NBC comes two days after Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants, said it wanted to strike an interim agreement with the WGA to cover the writers who work on its two programs, “Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.” The guild is set to formally approach studios today to discuss its willingness to strike individual deals with companies.
Talks between Worldwide Pants and the WGA have not yet begun. But if the terms can be hammered out in the next two weeks, Letterman could be back on the air after the new year as well, but with an advantage over his rivals: writers.
More news on the strike
-- Matea Gold
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You won't see SpongeBob SquarePants or Dora the Explorer on the picket lines. JoJo, Ed, Edd and Eddy also are sitting it out.
Instead,
they -- or, rather, the writers of those animated namesake shows -- are
still working, despite a strike by Hollywood writers that has idled the
TV industry for six weeks.
That's because animation writers are not
employed under the same Writers Guild of America contracts that cover
live-action movies and TV programs. With the exception of a handful of
prime-time animated shows on Fox, animation largely falls under the
jurisdiction of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees, a rival union not on strike -- or no union at all.
As
a result, broadcast networks such as CBS and NBC are bracing for
audience fallout as original live-action programming dries up because
of the strike, while cable channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon
Network, whose schedules are dependent upon animation, are flourishing. Read more
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--Lorenza Muñoz
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The biggest surprise of “Dexter” on Sunday night wasn’t that Sgt. James Doakes was killed. Nor was it that his death was at the hands of Dexter’s psychotic ex-girlfriend Lila (Jaime Murray) rather than Dexter himself. What was most shocking was that it happened within the first 10 minutes of the Showtime series’ season finale.
Though fans of Doakes are undoubtedly sad to see the irascible character go out with a literal bang, true to form, he showed only irritation and anxiety, rather than pants-wetting fear, at the predicament of being locked in a cabin about to explode.
Erik King, who played the dearly departed Doakes, said on the telephone recently: “I don’t say that there isn’t fear, but I think that in some ways Doakes is that guy who will always push it to the limit. With his Special Ops background, you have to believe that this is probably not the first time he has been captured or held against his will.”
It seemed fitting that Dexter (Michael C. Hall) — with the question of whether to turn himself in or murder his captive answered for him — chose to “honor” Doakes’ memory by enjoying his freedom after the cabin explosion, in a clever callback to the show’s opening credits. This sort of dark humor was one of the hallmarks of the relationship between Dexter and Doakes, so Dexter’s rather flippant memorial was pleasurable to watch.
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Predictions often come back to haunt the predictor, but
Scott Collins goes out on a limb in his Channel Island column. He writes: Chances are slim to none that
the Writers Guild of America will make good on its vow to organize
large numbers of reality-show workers as a result of its current strike.
Unless you're one of the harried wage slaves helping to crack story
arcs on, say, "America's Most Smartest Model," that forecast may not
sound so earth-shattering. But it has important implications for the
6-week-old strike that's paralyzing large swaths of the entertainment
industry. Read more
More news on the strike
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Dozens of striking film and TV writers are negotiating with venture capitalists to set up new companies that would bypass the Hollywood studio system and reach consumers directly with video entertainment on the Web.
At least seven groups, all comprising members of the striking Writers Guild of America, are planning to form Internet-based businesses that, if successful, could create an alternative economic model to the one at the heart of the walkout, which is in its seventh week.
Three of the groups are working on ventures that would function much like United Artists, the production company created 80 years ago by Charlie Chaplin and other top stars who wanted to break free from the studios.
"It's in development and rapidly incubating," said Aaron Mendelsohn, a guild board member and co-creator of the "Air Bud" movies, who is involved in a group he says comprises top film and TV writers. "We're creating an alternative place for distribution, with more control over our content." Read more
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--Joseph Menn
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Statement from Rob Burnett, president and chief executive of Worldwide Pants and executive producer of "The Late Show With David Letterman," on talks with the Writers Guild of America: "Worldwide Pants has always been a writer-friendly company. Dave has been a member of the WGA for more than 30 years, and I have been a member for more than 20. Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit. Therefore, since the beginning of the strike, we have expressed our willingness to sign an interim agreement with the Guild consistent with its positions in this dispute. We're happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible. It is our strong desire to be back on the air with our writers and we hope that will happen as soon as possible."
More news on the strike
-- Matea Gold
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Jesse Hiestand, spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, issued the following today in response to Friday's statement from the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee: "This is merely the latest indication that the WGA organizers are grasping for straws and have never had a coherent strategy for engaging in serious negotiations. The AMPTP may have different companies with different assets in different businesses, but they are all unified in one common goal -- to reach an agreement with writers that positions everyone in our industry for success in a rapidly changing marketplace."
-- Richard Verrier
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The Writers Guild's negotiating committee has sent a letter to its members saying that on Monday it will demand to negotiate with studios separately. The letter states that the dynamics within the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have made it "difficult for the conglomerates to reach consensus" and that studio signatories are "required to bargain with us individually" if the WGA demands that.
Here is the story by Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller in The Times' Business section. And here's the full text of the letter: December 14, 2007
Message to the WGA Membership from its Negotiating Committee
As you know, the AMPTP is currently unwilling to bargain with us. The internal dynamics of the AMPTP make it difficult for the conglomerates to reach consensus and negotiate with us on a give and take basis. We believe this multi-employer structure inhibits individual companies from pursuing their self-interest in negotiations. We nonetheless continue to hope that the AMPTP will return in good faith to negotiate a fair contract with writers, as two television seasons and numerous feature projects are currently at great risk.
We want to do everything in our power to move negotiations forward and end this devastating strike. We have therefore decided to reach out to major AMPTP companies and begin to negotiate with them individually. As you may know, bargaining on a multi-employer basis through the AMPTP is an option for the WGA, not a legal requirement. Each signatory employer is required to bargain with us individually if we make a legal demand that it do so.
We will make this demand on Monday December 17th and hope that each company responds promptly, in accordance with the law.
In the meantime, we urge you to support us and our negotiations team and leadership during these difficult times. We look forward to making a fair deal that will resolve this strike, protect our future and put us all back to work, for the good of the industry and all of its employees.
Signed,
John F. Bowman, Chair
John Auerbach
Neal Baer
Marc Cherry
Bill Condon
Carlton Cuse
Stephen Gaghan
Terry George
David A. Goodman
Carl Gottlieb
Susannah Grant
Carol Mendelsohn
Marc Norman
Shawn Ryan
Melissa Salmons
Robin Schiff
Ed Solomon
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Okay Losties, here's what "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof has to say about the move to Thursday night: It's a boost for the mysterious castaways because it guarantees that they will not have to face off against the "American Idol" machine and it also protects them from going head-to-head with original episodes of "CSI" as long as the strike continues.
"I think it's awesome," Lindelof said. "If they had told us last year we were going to get the 'Grey's Anatomy' time slot, I would have been thrilled, especially since there's no new 'CSI' to go against," he said. "But the time slot is completely colored by the fact that we're still engaged in this writers strike. It's bad for the entire town. The only show you don't want to be up against in January is 'American Idol,' and there were very few time slots that would afford us to not compete with 'Idol.' It's great to not be up against 'Idol' but [it's a shame] that we're not up against 'Idol' because there's a writers strike."
"Lost" performs better in the ratings when the networks air episodes without interruption in the scheduling. Lindelof and Executive Producer Carlton Cuse designed the new season as a 16-episode arc and were hoping the strike would be resolved in time for ABC to be able to air the season without
interruption. But with the end of the strike increasingly uncertain, Lindelof said Friday that ABC felt it had no choice but to go ahead.
"What I would not want to do is hold these episodes of 'Lost' indefinitely," he said. "I feel like the fans haven't seen any 'Lost' since the end of May, and I completely understand the network's decision
to air these eight episodes. We certainly designed our season as 16 straight and this is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. But we can't go on strike in one breath and then complain about the fact that the series isn't airing the way we want it to in the other. I believe in the strike and why we're on strike, so that supersedes what my preference is for the ideal way for the show to end."
Because of complaints from fans last year that the show poses more questions than it answers, the writers learned to wrap up their seasons more conclusively, Cuse said. To that end, they designed the first half of the fourth season as set-up and the second as pay-off.
“The audience just needs to be warned,” Cuse said. “There’s a very cool cliffhanger at the end of the eighth episode. But most of the major questions were designed to get answered at the second half of the season. The whole idea that we’re actually looking forward as well as looking back is something we’re very excited about as storytellers. But there is a fear that if the strike continues and we’re not able to complete the season, that people might feel a little frustrated because those eight episodes aren’t conclusive.”
--Maria Elena Fernandez
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TV viewers will begin the new year without Jack Bauer, but they will spend at least two months with their favorite castaways.
Soon after the strike began, Fox announced it would indefinitely postpone the midseason premiere of its Emmy-winning drama “24” to protect the integrity of its time-stamped story line.
Today, ABC announced it was moving ahead with plans to air “Lost” but, in a surprise move, will do so in the "Grey's Anatomy" Thursday night time slot, beginning Jan. 31. This is the third time-slot move for "Lost" in four seasons and the first time it will not air on Wednesday nights, even though doing so means possibly cutting the season in two halves and potentially alienating more viewers.
Both "Lost" and "24" have done better in the ratings when the networks air episodes without interruption in the scheduling. To that end, ABC, in a highly unconventional move in May, announced that “Lost,” the series that helped lift the network out of last place, would have three more seasons of 16 uninterrupted episodes each, airing from February to May each year.
The decision came after a tumultuous year for the series, after ABC aired its third season in two parts — six episodes in the fall and 16 in midseason — and the size of its audience declined by 14%. When the show returned in midseason, it picked up momentum, convincing ABC executives that Losties, as the show’s fans call themselves, prefer their show to have a straight run.
But the strike has altered those plans. Instead of shelving the series a la “24,” ABC is taking the chance of possibly having to air the series in two parts because the producers completed only eight episodes before the strike began. But giving it the slot occupied by "Grey's Anatomy," which has run out of original episodes because of the strike, could give it a boost. "Lost" will also serve as the lead-in for a new ABC drama, "Eli Stone," starring Jonny Lee Miller.
"Lost" executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof could not be reached on Friday. But in an interview last month, Cuse said they both hoped the network would hold out.
“This is a very tough dilemma,” Cuse said. “The lesson last year was six episodes was an exercise in frustration. I think eight episodes would only be slightly less so. We hope that when the show airs, all 16 would air consecutively. That’s the way we’ve designed our season and that is our hope.”
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
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And the winner is . . . not here?
The Golden Globe Awards are a highly rated NBC event, an often irreverent ceremony brimming with A-list stars. If the Writers Guild of America strike against the TV networks and movie studios isn't resolved, the WGA could picket the Jan. 13 show, potentially resulting in a ceremony with all the celebrity clout of a charity bowling tournament.
While not considered remotely as prestigious as the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes can predict which films possess Oscar momentum. (Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. voters narrowly made "Atonement" a favorite Thursday, with seven nominations.) This year the Globes could also be a harbinger of how the labor dispute will affect prime-time specials -- with ABC's Oscars next in the cross hairs.
Several Globe nominees expressed reservations about crossing picket lines to attend the show, with a handful saying they wouldn't consider being disloyal to the WGA.
"If actors can't have solidarity with writers -- the people who put the words in their mouths -- then who can they have solidarity with?" said Tom Wilkinson, nominated for supporting actor for "Michael Clayton."
WGA member Aaron Sorkin, nominated for writing "Charlie Wilson's War," said he wouldn't cross, and Marc Forster, the director of foreign-language film nominee "The Kite Runner," said he wouldn't either.
"It's important to respect the writers," Forster said.
Read more here.
More news on the strike
--John Horn
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A bitter labor dispute intensified today when Hollywood's striking writers filed charges against the studios, alleging they had not bargained in good faith.
In a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, the union representing 10,500 writers asserted that the studios broke federal law by ending contract negotiations Friday after writers refused to meet their demand to take several proposals off the table. The WGA issued the following statement: CONTRACT 2007 NEGOTIATIONS STATEMENT
LOS ANGELES – The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:
“Today the WGA filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the AMPTP for its refusal to bargain in good faith with the WGA. It is a clear violation of federal law for the AMPTP to issue an ultimatum and break off negotiations if we fail to cave to their illegal demands.
We are in the midst of the holiday season, with thousands of our members and the membership of other unions out of work. It is the height of irresponsibility and intransigence for the AMPTP to refuse to negotiate a fair agreement with the WGA. We reiterate our demand that the AMPTP immediately return to the negotiations, rather than going on vacation, so that this town can be put back to work.
The DGA announced today that it may commence negotiations with the AMPTP in January. The DGA has to do what is best for its membership, and we will do what is best for ours. We wish them well, but they do not represent writers. Our strike will end when the companies return to negotiations and make a fair deal with the WGA.”
For more information about the Writers Guild of America, West, please visit www.wga.org. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, East, please visit: www.wgaeast.org.
The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news. The unions conduct numerous programs, seminars, and events throughout the world on issues of interest to, and on behalf of, writers.
The development came the same day the Directors Guild of America announced it would begin its negotiations with the studios right after New Year's Day. More
More news on the strike
--Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller
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If you've been watching, you knew this was coming. A super teary goodbye, some final gold star rewards, and of course, one last challenge.
 The episode, like the show and its pre-air hype, started off with chaos. The job board was burned down, nixing the class structure and the division of labor. The kids went wild. Mike, who has kept a relentlessly active energy around him throughout the ordeal, found the board aflame as he reflected on his stay in Bonanza during a walk in the dark. As the kids banned together to douse the fire, Jarrod left us with another zinger (as he carried a cup of water to the flame): Help any way you can, even if you have to use a freakin' tin cup! We'll miss Jarrod.
Once order broke down, the kids looted the store and the supply room. As DK asked "Why?" Taylor disciple Leila tried to justify the mayhem by stating that "kids don't always have to act like adults." Though I'm sure it happens, most kids probably don't loot the candy store whenever they get the chance. Or do they?
 Guylan embodied the guilt that the kids felt the next day when they woke up to their candy-strewn town saying: "We need to learn the hard way sometimes." They established order and cleaned up. DK, Greg, Blaine and Michael continued to be the council leaders as they headed into a town council meeting. Zach was finally given a gold star. He believed he deserved it, but the 10-year-old welled up nonetheless.
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I'm all for second chances but is it cruel to bring someone back if that person is only going to get the ax again?
Last night, Jack, suffering from a skin staph infection, had to withdraw from the competition mid-challenge. It was sad for a number of reasons. For one, pretty-eyed Jack has shown promise. He's been HIV-positive for 17 years but his MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant strain of the staph germ, wasn't connected with his HIV. After he left the show, he had to be hospitalized for five days, as he writes on his blog. What a lame bit of luck.
But one man's swollen nose is another man's vindication, so in bounded Chris March, to the delight of Sweet P and others who had missed his booming laugh. Me, on the other hand, I just rolled my eyes. What is the point of bringing back a guy who clearly has talent but who also just as clearly isn't going to make it to Olympus Fashion Week? Does it really make it more competitive to bring back a designer who was already cut? Though I also wonder if Jack will get to reenter the fray as well? In fact, maybe Jack and Chris will swap places a few times. Hey, why the hell not?
 Last night's challenge asked the designers to create an outfit for a client who had lost a lot of weight. Here's the trick: the outfit had to be based on clothes they had loved when they were bigger. Steven was paired with a woman standing in her too-big wedding dress like a little girl in her mother's frock. He knew right away he was doomed: "It felt like death on a stick."
Never have I seen someone so intimidated by a heap of poly-satin and beading. He went the wrong direction -- pairing a simple black fabric with a mess of lace and pearls? You gotta meet that kind of insanity with more insanity. He could've made it playful, whimsical. Instead of going down in flames, he went down with all the dour impact of a librarian rear-ending a "just-married" limo.
As far as the Algonquin fashion table goes, Christian, who initially seemed horrified at the idea of working with some norm from the real world, rose to the challenge and made a spectacular outfit -- chic, polished and accessible. Kevin's was adorable too but he should've played with those leggings a little bit. Maybe some piping or a bottom cuff would've done the trick? Jillian, who made an awesome pair of overalls (I know, that might be an oxymoron) last episode, is clearly one to watch. Her dress was totally smashing and her client loved it.
One of the best moments last night was watching these regular women, renewed and breathing in the full powers of a second wind, taking to the catwalk with verve and attitude. I loved the energy, the sassy turns and devils horns. Heidi could've picked up a few tricks.
-- Margaret Wappler
(Photo courtesy Bravo)
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The Directors Guild of America announced this morning that it would not schedule negotiations with studios until after the new year. The guild, in a statement, said it would only begin formal talks "if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established."
The directors have been holding off their talks on a new contract to replace one that expires June 30 in deference to Hollywood's film and TV writers, who are now in their sixth week of a strike.
The decision comes after directors faced strong pressure from writers and their own members not to do anything that would undercut writers as they seek to negotiate their own deal.
Talks between writers and studios broke down last week on Friday. "We are deeply disappointed by the breakdown ... Like everyone else in the industry, we had hoped that the two parties would be able to reach a fair and reasonable deal," said the DGA statement.
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-- Richard Verrier
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Isaiah Washington, who was let go last season from "Grey's Anatomy" following a furor that erupted when he used a homophobic slur in reference to costar T.R. Knight, was back in step with Knight and several other cast members of the show Wednesday during a Writers Guild of America, West, picket in front of Paramount Studios spotlighting diversity.
Washington, who mingled easily in the crowd of more than 500 marchers, stayed mostly on the line with other marchers while Knight, Katherine Heigl, Sara Ramirez and Shonda Rhimes, who created the series, conducted interviews in another part of the studio driveway and posed for photographers in between their stints on the picket line. At one point, Washington kissed Ramirez as they passed each other on the line.
Rhimes, who informed Washington last June that the show's studio was not picking up his contract option, said she and Washington greeted each other warmly when they spotted each other.
"We gave each other a big hug," Rhimes said. "I love him. Isaiah is an incredible talent, and I wish him all the best in the world. What happened with him has nothing to do with him as an individual. As they say, love the sinner, hate the sin."
Orlando Jones, Rex Lee of "Entourage," "Everybody Hates Chris" co-creator Ali LeRoi and members of the NAACP also joined in the march.
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-- Greg Braxton
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Are advertisers the next to be shut out in the writers strike?
With the strike expected to extend into the new year, broadcasters are beginning to feel pressure from advertisers that are worried about lower ratings after the networks run out of fresh episodes of popular scripted shows.
The writers strike has come amid an already disappointing season, particularly for NBC, CBS and ABC, whose prime-time ratings are down compared with last season. NBC's prime-time ratings in the key advertising category of viewers aged 18 to 49 are down 11% compared with last season; CBS is down 10% and ABC is off 5%.
January and February, when fresh episodes will run out, could be even worse. Read more
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--Meg James and Alana Semuels
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The Writers Guild of America is under new and mounting pressure from its ranks to get back to the bargaining table.
A number of union members are unhappy that the negotiations with the major Hollywood studios that broke off Friday night were sidetracked by issues secondary to the one the writers see as central: how they will be paid when their work shows up on the Internet.
Six weeks into a costly strike, they're pressing union leaders to get the talks back on track -- and fast -- fearful that the Directors Guild of America might open its own contract negotiations with the Hollywood studios as early as next week.
That could undermine the writers' leverage, because the directors might not make all the demands that the writers have made. The writers don't want another union to set their agenda.
Among the writers urging fresh talks are some of the guild's most powerful members, those responsible for the day-to-day operations of popular TV shows, which are quickly running out of original episodes.
Read more
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--Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller
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NEW YORK — With talks between the writers and the studios at a standstill, the speculation is building: Will the late-night hosts break ranks and come back on the air?
So far, all the network hosts -- except NBC’s Carson Daly -- have stood firm and refused to do live shows without their writers. They’ve even covered the salaries of their nonwriting staffs, some of them out of their own pockets.
Now many in the industry are watching to see what late-night dean David Letterman does as the strike drags on.
Bill Scheft, a longtime writer for "Late Show With David Letterman" and the Writers Guild strike captain for the program's writers, talks to the CBS comedian regularly and said he does not believe Letterman has made up his mind yet.
“I’m sure he’s struggling with it,” Scheft said as he picketed in front of ABC today. “In fact, I know he is.”
For the last five and a half weeks, Letterman’s production company has continued to pay the salaries of staff members on his program and “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” a payroll that adds up to about $300,000 a week. The comedian has committed to do so through the end of the year.
“He’s done a great service,” said Scheft, who last spoke to Letterman a few days ago. “He sounds like a guy who is comfortable in the fact that he’s done the right thing and continues to do the right thing. I know when and if he comes back, it will be the right thing. Believe me, no one is thinking about this more than him.”
The writers won’t be upset if Letterman decides to resume production, Scheft said.
“If you ask people on the line, they would have been thrilled if the guys just stayed off a month for sweeps,” he said.
In fact, having the late-night hosts back on the air could help the writers’ cause, he added.
“David Letterman, on the air without writers . . . is the greatest ally the writers would ever have, because he would rail nightly,” Scheft said. “He could be more influential as an on-air stone in people’s shoes. The leverage for us might be him and Jon and Conan talking trash.”
-- Matea Gold
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NEW YORK — Among the 300 bundled-up writers who picketed ABC Daytime’s West 66th Street studio in the chilly December air this morning were Andrew Smith and Christian McKiernan, the two WGA writers who work on “The View.”
The daytime talk show may be known for the unpredictable exchanges between its hosts, but the program relies on quite a bit of scripted material. The writers pen all the segment introductions and transitions, as well outlines for the show’s daily “Hot Topics” feature, with suggested talking points for each woman.
“Essentially, if they’re looking at teleprompters, that was written by one of us,” McKiernan said. “If they’re looking at a blue card, that was written by a segment producer or a writer. There are scripts for the show that are obviously suggested, not to take anything away from the show -– it’s driven by the talent of the women at the table.”
“But there is a script, and the script doesn’t come out of the air,” added Smith, who writes jokes for co-host Joy Behar.
While “The View” panelists have expressed support for their writers on the air, the show has continued to air live throughout the labor stoppage. The program hasn’t come in for the kind of criticism that talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has weathered, though Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, canceled an appearance last month because of the strike.
“The only thing I object to is that every now and then, to try to justify what they’re doing on the air, they'll say, ‘We love the writers. We don’t know what they do. But we love them,’ ” Smith said. “As if we were pets.”
“They act like there is no writing,” he added. “There is a script at the end of the day that is read and approved and rewritten, and that’s what Christian and I do.”
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The writers strike has claimed another victim: the TV press tour slated to begin early next month.
After weeks of desperate wrangling to keep the event alive, the Television Critics Assn. pulled the plug late Monday on the winter press tour that would have started Jan. 8 at Universal City.
The semiannual TCA events, attended by hundreds of critics and reporters, are key opportunities for the networks to expose new shows to broad audiences.
After the strike began Nov. 5, TCA officials had hoped to deliver a smaller tour devoted to networks' altered midseason schedules. Those lineups now will be composed of reality shows and repeats, with a smattering of scripted dramas mostly completed before the work stoppage. But the networks, worried that reporters would pelt executives with questions about the strike, cooled to the idea of a stripped-down tour, according to PR officials interviewed in recent weeks. The networks also believed that actors and writers would not show up for promotional activities during the strike.
"The TCA would prefer, and has steadily advocated for, a full January tour whether the strike is still on or not. Many members have expressed to me that the value of a strike tour would actually be greater than a typical January," TCA President Dave Walker wrote members in an e-mail. "The networks disagreed."
Walker had originally hoped to delay a final decision until this Friday. But the rancorous breakdown in talks last week between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers put the writing on the wall.
Representatives for ABC and the CW declined to comment on the cancellation. Other networks could not immediately be reached for comment. A representative from Fox, the network with the strongest midseason lineup because of "American Idol," wrote: "It's disappointing and we look forward to this summer's tour."
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-- Scott Collins
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