Strike Watch 2007!

Once Strike Ends, the TV Season Could Take Weeks to Restart

Even if the WGA strike manages a "speedy" resolution — which is no guarantee, seeing as how little progress has been reported — it could still take many shows several weeks to get back on track. As detailed by the Los Angeles Times, sealing any actual deal will take a week or more of paperwork, at which point the traditional two-week holiday hiatus will hold up the biz. Though some scribes may blow off the break to get back to their keyboards, figure on three to five weeks for shows to restart production, as they wait for enough scripts to be in the hopper before firing up the machinery. "Resuming production isn't something that can happen overnight," warns CSI: NY exec producer Pam Veasey. "It doesn't take just one week to prepare 200 crew members to film a single episode."

Sitcoms that tape before a studio audience (such as Back to You) would be the first off the block, perhaps inside of a week and a half, while something like Pushing Daisies will require five weeks to bloom again.


Strike Leads DNC to Strike Presidential Debate Labor troubles have put a fork in plans to have CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric moderate a Dec. 10 presidential candidates' debate. The Democratic National Committee has decided to cancel its Los Angeles face-off rather than have a potential run-in with the Writers Guild of America. Writers and other CBS News employees represented by the union could walk off the job on the 10th and several major candidates, including front-runners Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have said they would not cross picket lines to participate. "Due to the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, the DNC has canceled the Dec. 10 debate in Los Angeles. There are no plans to reschedule," says DNC Communications director Karen Finney.

EXCLUSIVE: Conan O'Brien To Pay Staff

I just learned that Conan O'Brien has made arrangements to pay his staff who will be laid off by NBC as of Friday. About 80 production people -- like talent bookers, producers, production assistants -- will be taken care of by the Late Night host who is supposed to move to The Tonight Show in 2009. Sources tell me this is on a week-to-week basis for the moment until or if Conan, who's a WGA member and got his start as a comedy writer, goes back to work. Obviously, NBC is dying for him to return to the air because its late night ratings for the repeats have tanked. None of the late night shows have been in production during the entire November sweeps and the networks have to give sponsors free spots or “give backs” at a cost of millions.

I'll say this: it's a great PR move by O'Brien as well as an incredibly nice thing to do. After all, he's the least paid of the Big Three (including Letterman and Leno), and unlike Dave's Worldwide Pants, which is generouslydoesn'tLate Night. NBC does. paying its employees through at least the end of the year, Conan's company Conaco own

And while I'm on the topic of NBC's late night hosts, I'm told that Carson Daly was probably going to lose his show if he didn't return to work. Oh, like that would have been a great loss to humanity, much less television. It's incredible the lousy publicity which Daly's decision to cross the picket line is creating. After the news broke that Carson was soliciting scab jokes, several websites have sprung up soliciting jokes about Daly, the nastier the better.

Meanwhile, where do things stand with Jay Leno who had been a ubiquitous figure handing out food to the WGA picketers? There are no plans at the present for him to pay his show's production people who will be laid off by NBC as of Friday. As for returning to work, "I don't see him running to cross the line. I get that," an insider at the network tells me. That's because Leno is still really furious at Jeff Zucker for handing over The Tonight Show to Conan and isn't exactly in the mood to do any favors for NBC Universal.

EXCLUSIVE: Talks Day #3 'Stalemated'

There's little more to say about Wednesday's talks other than that, unfortunately. "This is not heading in the right direction," a mogul quoted his labor exec as saying to him yesterday. Another source told me, "It's stalemated. Nothing's getting achieved."

I'm not sure people are aware that CAA partner Bryan Lourd all week has been at the hotel where the talks are being held. He's working both sides in a form of "footstep diplomacy" (as opposed to Henry Kissinger's old "shuttle diplomacy"). An insider told me, "He keeps asking what everybody needs. This is what Lew Wasserman used to do during these things. Wasserman would say, 'I want to know what you each need. I don't want to know what you want. Go in the other room and tell me what you need.' "

As I've reported previously, Lourd was designated as the Hollywood agencies' point person to assist these resumed negotiations, which I should stress do not have a stop date on them at the moment and will probably continue well past Thursday. Said an insider: "There's no arbitrary end to this. Everyone only leaves if Bryan gives up and goes home."