Ask the Screenwriter with the Master List - How many Episodes Left?

Cafe Society
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I’ve had a few private requests for this information over the last few weeks, so I figured hey, what the heck – I’ll put it up here.

Ask away – got a favorite show? Maybe a movie coming up? A favorite screenwriter working on something? But most importantly, you’re gonna DIE if you don’t know how many episodes of your favorite show THEY (who ARE they anyway?) managed to shoot before production shut down (did production actually shut down?) Is your show threatened? OH NOES!

… there’s a lot of crappy info out there. But hey, ask the girl with the Master List, fresh off the WGA Talk Sheets, direct conduit to the Powers That Be (with apologies to Joss for using that turn of phrase, please don’t turn me into your left tit. Thank you.)

Fire away!

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What’s happening with Battlestar Galactica?

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Smallville. This is looking like the last season. How close is it untill the end?

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How much longer will Katie Couric do the ‘Nightly News’?

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I already know that my Ugly Betty and Pushing Daisies are done until the strike ends. sigh

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I’ve heard that eight episodes of Lost are complete, although the season was supposed to have sixteen episodes. Is that correct? And do you know if the season was abbreviated, or do the eight episodes leave the season incomplete?

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That’s okay. Toss him 1/735th of a cent for residuals, and you’ll be set. That’s about the going rate, right? :wink:

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OK, I watch:
How I met your mother
The Big Bang Theory
Reaper
My Name is Earl
Scrubs
The Office
30 Rock

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Journeyman?

I know, I’m thinking wishfully here. :frowning:

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The Lost creators were interviewed in Entertainment Weekly a few weeks ago where they admitted the eight episodes will leave the season incomplete and that the last one ends with a major cliffhanger.

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Csi ?

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How about The Venture Brothers? Are Adult Swim animated shows affected by the writer’s strike?

And how about quiz shows? I’d like to know if Jeopardy is affected also.

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I be back with some answers, my children o’ the boob tube. :slight_smile: All these productions have shut down shoots now.

**Battlestar Galactica: ** Final season is scheduled to premiere in April. Will have 10 of 22 episodes completed.

Smallville: Will have 12 to 14 of 22 episodes completed. *Last I heard, it looks like 14, though the last two are in pretty rough shape given that they were NOT shooting scripts when they were left behind. It does appear like it will be the final season.

How much longer will Katie Couric do the ‘Nightly News’?: My connections to the mob are only fictional. This saddens me a great deal, sometimes. This is one of those some times.

Lost: 8 out of 16, though they have been struggling because of set disruptions. That’d be our fault. Sorry. Not that the actors have minded the disruptions, in fact they’ve been rather supportive. There has been talk of a half-season if the strike is not resolved by the end of March, but this is true of many shows that have hit 12 out of 24. It makes sense for Lost given its location shoot and the costs involved. So, right now, it sounds like it’s going to be an 8 episode year for Lost.
**
How I met your mother**: One of the first productions to shut down. 11 of 22 episodes completed.

The Big Bang Theory: Production has shut down. 8 or 9 out of 13 (half-season order, new show) completed. This is an at-risk production because it is new and only had a half in.

Reaper: 13 out of 13, will complete production and air it all. Showrunners and writers managed to squeak everything in.

**My Name is Earl: ** 13 out of 22 completed.

Scrubs: 12 out of 18 completed.

**The Office: ** 10 out of 30 completed, production was immediately shut down. Season completion at risk.

30 Rock: 10 out of 22 completed.

Journeyman: 12 of 13 completed. The series is at risk since it has not yet received a full-season order. No one knows if it will be picked up. If it is NOT picked up, it is doubtful that a 13th episode would be written and shot at this point. Either this is the end of Journeyman, or it will be re-upped with a full season or a second-half and/or a new season next year. Ratings will decide its fate.

For all your CSI Investigative Needs:
**CSI: Original Flavor ** 12 of 22 completed.
**CSI: NY: ** 14 of 22 completed with the last two completed by non-writing producers. Trust me, this borders on disastrous. They were not in shooting shape before the strike hit.
**CSI:Miami :**13 of 22 completed.
NCIS: 13 out of 22 completed, probie.

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What’s up with The Shield?

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How about Friday Night Lights?

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Animation is not affected by the strike unless they are the handful that were involved in the FOX strike in the recent years (that includes Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama and a couple others). Animation is not with the guild, though we are trying to have them included and protected. This is a sticky point right now and part of the problem with this strike. The Companies don’t want this to happen – they like being able to screw those writers too… back in the day, when the animation writers at FOX walked out, FOX allowed them to join the guild because, well, what the hell else were they going to do? Lose the Simpsons? Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen, so they did let them join the WGA. Now, we’re saying we want to include and protect animation writers as well as reality show writers – guarantee a certain number of jobs to union writers, damn it. Fair wages! Fair benefits! Gah!

Some game shows are affected, but not all. If memory serves, Jeopardy does not employ union writers. I will check with the mothership though.

On preview I see:
**
The Shield:** Production of the series finale should be complete, but I don’t have an airdate for it yet.

Friday Night Lights: Should have 15 of 22 completed.

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How about my favorite show, perhaps of all time - Boston Legal?

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Know anything about Supernatural?

(And, good joke, pretending the phrase “The powers that be” was invented by a tv writer in the 1990s. I like a nice dry sense of humor.)

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(Thanks - it even irritates the dude himself because he didn’t invent it, but did popularize the phrase for a whole generation of vampire-lovin’ squeaky fangirls… and people do attribute it to him. :smiley: Me, I find it amusing. Unless I get transformed into his left tit. That’d just be totally disturbing. cough Now the “conduit to the powers that be”, that’s his – that’s a reference to stuff from Angel, TS. :slight_smile: )

Righto. Onward.

**Boston Legal: ** 14 of 22 completed, my little shatnerian friend.

Supernatural: 12 to 14 out of 22 completed, which likely means 14… and that the last two were finished by non-writing producers. That’s usually semi-bad news, depending on how close to shooting-script-ready the scripts were. I’ll poke my CW contact and let you know what I find out…

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I’m not official WGA like Elenfair, but I’ve been following events closely, so I can add a few details I’ve read here and there:

The final episode was produced, but Shawn Ryan, creator and executive producer, did not participate.

Also, Journeyman is almost certainly dead.