# If The Writers' Strike Ended Today, How Long Before Late-Night/Daytime TV Came Back? Scripted TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [September 10, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875 "2023-09-10T14:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/1 "2023-09-10T14:05:05Z")
Assume, for the moment, that the actors weren’t also on strike. If the two sides hashed out their differences tomorrow, would _The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon_ be back with new episodes the following night? How long before new episodes of _Ghosts_ and _Bob Hearts Abishola_ (prime-time, scripted shows, for those not familar)? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/2 "2023-09-10T15:07:10Z")
I’ll use the last strike of 2007 as a guideline. Supernatural was a show that normally produced 22 episodes per year, but in their third season the strike paused them and reduced their order to 16. The gap between episodes was extended a bit and it looked like about a 3 month delay or “lost time” that was not regained. I’d estimate 3 months from now for shows that are absolutely ready to film and were planning to go ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/3 "2023-09-10T21:28:24Z")
The 2007 strike ended on February 12, 2008. Picking _The Office_ as a random sitcom example, the first episode after the strike ended aired on April 10. For 60-minute dramas, I looked at Grey’s Anatomy, which resumed airing on April 24. Roughly two to two and one-half months overall. David Letterman’s production company owned his _Late Show_ and struck a separate deal with the Writer’s Guild on December 28 (a Friday) and returned to same day shows on Wednesday, January 2. Since that period covered a weekend and New Year’s Day, two working days is probably about as fast as you could get everyone back into the office. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/4 "2023-09-10T22:06:20Z")
Just saw that Drew Barrymore has announced today she’s resuming production on her show, just in time for the new season to start on September 18. > **[Drew Barrymore Announces Talk Show Return, Says New Season Will Still Follow...](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/drew-barrymore-talk-show-return-sag-aftra-writers-strike-rules-1235719337/)** > > Drew Barrymore is returning for the fourth season of her eponymous daytime talk show sooner than expected. Barrymore announced on social media Sunday that “The Drew Barrymore Show” will… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/5 "2023-09-10T22:16:59Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > How long before new episodes of _Ghosts_ and _Bob Hearts Abishola_ (prime-time, scripted shows, for those not familar)? What I find kind of intriguing is: imagine that, before the strike, you were writing episodes for, as you say, _Ghosts_ or _Bob_ — and imagine that, during the strike, you just kept plugging away at writing _Ghosts_ or _Bob_ episodes. You maybe wouldn’t talk about that, figuring that it’d weaken your position during said strike — but could you have a stack of ready-to-go scripts just sitting there on Day One, when you’re ostensibly just now getting back to work, once the strike ends? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-writers-strike-ended-today-how-long-before-late-night-daytime-tv-came-back-scripted-tv/989875/6 "2023-09-12T01:56:14Z")
That might work if you were a staff writer for series, but most series need a lot of scripts to be done in a relatively short time, so they hire free-lancers to write them. Since you mentioned _Ghosts_ I looked it up. IMDB lists 11 writers with between one and five scripts each, totaling 34 episodes, out of 41 produced. Unless you have a firm contract to write X number of episodes for a show, you (and the other ten writers who’ve sold scripts to _Ghost_) would essentially be writing scripts on spec during the strike, and then hoping the show will buy them when the strike ends.