As expected, the late-night comedy shows were the first casualties of the strike by Hollywood writers. “The Late Show With David Letterman'' and ``The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' have gone into reruns.
Other late-night shows bound for reruns included ``The Daily Show,'' ``Colbert Report,'' ``Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,'' ``Late Night with Conan O'Brien,'' ``Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' and ``Last Call with Carson Daly.''
One of the highest-rated prime-time shows, ``Dancing With the Stars,'' aired as planned this week, with its hosts ad-libbing.
No new negotiations have been scheduled, although the writers guild negotiating committee does plan a meeting of its members. The chief negotiator for the producers says they're “hunkered down'' for what could be a long strike.
While there has been no obvious immediate impact on the movie industry, TV production was thrown into turmoil as work ground to a halt on numerous prime-time series and highly profitable late-night talk shows were forced into reruns.
Most weekly sitcoms and drama series are expected to be forced out of production by the end of the month.
The last major Hollywood strike was a 1988 walkout by the Writers Guild that lasted for 22 weeks, delayed the start of the fall TV season and ultimately cost the industry an estimated $500 million.
Now the Govenor is lending a hand. Schwarzenegger, still a member of the Screen Actors Guild, voiced concern last week about the strike's economic impact and workers caught in the middle of the dispute.
The former "Terminator" star, who has been busy in recent weeks marshaling state resources to combat devastating wildfires in Southern California and a major oil spill in San Francisco Bay, is drawing on close relationships he forged with many in Hollywood during his years as an actor.
His back-to-back discussions with union leaders and studio executives signaled his interest in resolving the dispute.
"It's a week into the strike, and he just felt that this would be a point where it would be appropriate for him to reach out and see if he could be helpful," McLear said. "He has a lot of old friends in the business."
The Governor is in a unique position to be the 'middleman' in an all-out effort to get the two sides together and get Hollywood and it's writers back where they belong.
At Starbucks.
