‘Old Christine’s’ adventures on the picket line
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So how was it that almost the entire cast of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” led by star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, joined the CBS comedy’s writers at the Warner Bros. picket line on Monday?
As soon as the strike was called, creator and show-runner Kari Lizer said she shut down production so that Louis-Dreyfus, who is married to a writer and is very worried about the labor issues, would not have to make a tough choice.
“What happened was that we shut down before that happened, so that Julia wasn’t put in the position of having to work without her writers, which she was very worried about,” Lizer said. ‘Her husband is a writer and she’s in support of this whole thing. But we were able to stop production and join the picket line along with the other actors before it became anything uncomfortable.”
The cast had just rehearsed the ninth episode of the CBS mid-season show, but it will not be shot until the strike ends, Lizer said. Multi-camera comedies do not work far in advance and writers are rewriting even during a taping, so it is not possible for the show to go on, she added.
“Warner Bros. has been reasonable about not forcing us to continue production when our writers were on strike,” Lizer said. “Which is really great and we really appreciate it. There was nothing expressly said between any of us, but when the strike happened it was just assumed that the show was shutting down.”
Joining Lizer and Louis-Dreyfus on the picket line were: Clark Gregg, Hamish Linklater, Wanda Sykes, Tricia O’Kelley and Alex Kapp Horner.
“It was really something because they were the only cast out there, so it was very supportive and very nice.”
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
Photo credit: The Associated Press