Strike Watch 2007!

Bill Clinton has offered his services to help mediate the Writers Guild strike.

Additionally, Grey’s Anatomy actress Sandra Oh has made this video in support of the scribes.

Patrick Dempsey also is chiming in.

And so is Gary Marshall, who created this video.

B.J. Novack and several writers from The Office have made this clip.

And, finally, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof share their thoughts!

Fox "Strike" Schedule Subtracts 24, Adds Prison Break

Fox's "revised" 2008 schedule kicks off Jan. 13 and 14 with the series premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and starts cooking with gas on the 15th with the two-night return of that singing show known as American Idol, but now is experiencing a Bauer outage. "The seventh-season premiere of 24 is being postponed," explains the network, "to ensure that Day 7 can air uninterrupted, in its entirety." Fair 'nuff.

Another jaw-dropper: Instead of taking a four-month breather following a Dec. 17 "fall finale," Prison Break will take a break after this Monday's airing, then return with new episodes starting Jan. 14.

Other Fox programming:

• Starting Jan. 4, the Friday night lineup features encores of Bones at 8 and House at 9. (House leads out of Idol starting Jan. 22.)
• The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad, 5th Grader, Don't Forget the Lyrics!, Cops and America's Most Wanted all will continue with original episodes, while a mix of original and encores is currently planned for House, Bones, 'Til Death and Back to You.
• The game show The Moment of Truth premieres Wednesday, Jan. 23, at 9 pm/ET.
• New Amsterdam premieres Friday, Feb. 22, at 9 pm.
• The Farrelly Brothers comedy Unhitched premieres Sunday, March 2, at 9:30 pm.
• The unscripted role-reversal series When Women Rule the World debuts Monday, March 3, at 8.
• The Return of Jezebel James premieres Friday, March 7, at 8:30.
• Hell's Kitchen returns with a fourth season on April 1.
• Canterbury's Law, starring Julianna Margulies, premieres April 11.

Struck Out: Grey's Anatomy Cast Calls It Quits

The stars of Grey's Anatomy on Wednesday took their lunch breaks outside with picketers and told them they were just about finished shooting until the strike is resolved. "We're supposed to be going until the end of May," T.R. Knight noted, "and right now our last shooting day will be Tuesday or Wednesday." Added Sandra Oh: "This matter is way too important not only for our writers, but ultimately everyone who makes movies, everyone who makes entertainment here in this town and again for the rest of the world."

Jenna Fischer: The Office Was About to Shoot its "Funniest" Episode

This is the kind of thing that really makes the writers' strike sting. In a new message on her MySpace page, Jenna Fischer says The Office has only two episodes left to air, and that the next one they were about to shoot — but now won't — "was going to be the funniest of the year. I'm sure of it." Fischer says the plotline for the episode had been tossed around for two years, and that it involves "Pam and Jim being in Michael's home. But that's all I'll say."

Fischer says she hopes to get to shoot that episode soon, but makes clear her support of the strike. Explaining a major sticking point that led to the work stoppage, she says, "If you go to NBC.com... you can watch an episode of The Office for free," and though NBC makes money off ads that surround that content, "the actors, writers, producers and director... are not compensated in any way. The issue is a big deal because the Internet is clearly where the future of entertainment lies."

Office Closing: Carell, Others Won't Cross Picket Line

Steve Carell by Ron Tom/NBC

With many of its employees refusing to show up for work, The Office did what any regular office would have to do — shut down, the latest series to cease production in light of the WGA writers' strike. According to the AP, executive producer Greg Daniels said filming stopped after series lead Steve Carell refused to cross picket lines. Instead, in order to educate the public on the situation and the nature of the Guild's grievances, writers, actors and writer-actors from The Office made a video (watch here).

Kate Flannery, in her latest entry to her celebrity blog for TVGuide.com, says, "While I am very sad about not working, I agree with the writers. I think they need to fight for these issues on the table. The Internet and DVDs are making someone a lot of money, but not the writers or actors. I have no idea when this will get resolved, so please be patient. We have to stand up for what we believe. Let's hope the resolution comes quickly without much job loss."

Flannery ends her blog saying, "If you don't pray, maybe you should start," and then — à la Meredith — "If you don't drink, maybe you should start."

Ellen Degeneres' show must go on — even without its writers

Nov 7, 2007, 09:04 PM | by Annie Barrett

Categories: Strike, TV Biz

On Thursday, Ellen will air its first episode made without the help of its writers. ''I address [the strike], and I have a little fun with trying to fill time with no content," the daytime talk-show host explained Wednesday during a telephone press conference about her upcoming variety show on TBS. "We tried to figure out how many pints were in a cup, we guessed the inches of the length of the coffee table... today, honestly, I don't know what I'm gonna do yet. We shoot in five hours. I have to figure out how I'm gonna walk out there and make people happy." Because her talk-show is syndicated, it can't simply shut down due to the strike.

For now, Degeneres and her producers are winging it. "We're all kind of juggling 15 different jobs since we're minus some people," she explains. "We sort of have an outline." And her writers? "I miss 'em, and I love 'em," she says. "It's a very strange situation here, and sad. Usually we're just here laughing all day long. I hope it ends. I hope people can compromise and figure it out. You know, I'm really in a bad place. I'm really stuck in the middle.... It's just the hardest thing in the world to drive on[to] this lot."