Effect of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike on television
The 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, which began on November 5, 2007, was a labor conflict that affected a large number of television shows that were due to be broadcast in the United States during the 2007–08 television season. Negotiators for the striking writers reached a tentative agreement on February 8, 2008, and the boards of both guilds unanimously approved the deal on February 10, 2008.
Striking writers voted on February 12, 2008, to end the strike immediately, and on February 26, the WGA announced that the contract had been ratified with a 93.6% approval among WGA members.
Effect on shows
Shows with increased number of episodes
Some shows, especially unscripted or reality shows, benefitted from the strike by providing the networks with new material.| Show | Network: | Notes |
| The Amazing Race | CBS | Originally only one season was planned for the 2007-2008 season. A second season of the show was greenlit shortly after the start of the strike, with the premiere aired on September 28, 2008. The season finale aired on December 7, 2008. |
| Big Brother | CBS | Originally only one season was planned for the show's traditional summer slot in 2008. Due to the writer's strike, a second season for 2008 was ordered. Big Brother 9 aired in the winter-spring period and premiered Tuesday, February 12, 2008 with three episodes per week. Big Brother 10 aired during the summer and premiered Sunday, July 13, 2008 with three episodes per week.. |
| Good News Week | Network Ten | Meant to be a one-off special, new episodes made for the first time in 7 years to fill gap left by lack of US product. The new run lasted until 2011, with a final special in 2012. |
| The Price Is Right | CBS | Six episodes of the prime-time version were taped February 11–13, 2008 to help fill programming due to strike. Programs aired on Fridays until the start of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. After the shows aired, a second set of four episodes were ordered to air during the May sweeps. The regular daytime version was not affected, but the strike was the subject of the November 30, 2007 taping, where the Showcase script at the end of a showcase featuring elves on strike against Santa Claus was a parody of the WGA strike. The primetime series also debuted the show's switchover to 1080i high definition, as all ten episodes aired in high-definition; by the end of the season, the show switched entirely to high-definition. |
Unaffected shows
Some shows were not affected by the strike, being unscripted, not using union writers, or completing their production before the strike began. Some shows made in Canada use mainly or solely Canadian writers and were thus unaffected by the US strike.| Show | Network | Notes |
| Eureka | Sci Fi | All 13 episodes of season 2 were shown. Season 3 was produced over a longer period due to the strike. |
| Jericho | CBS | All 7 episodes for season 2 were completed before the strike |
| All My Children | ABC | Scripts were completed through January 2008. |
| Duel | ABC | Only Big Three network game show to premiere whole series during the strike. Second season as weekly series premiered on April 4, 2008, and ended on July 25, 2008, for 10 episodes. |
| The Bold and the Beautiful | CBS | Scripts were completed through January 2008. |
| Days of Our Lives | NBC | Scripts were completed through January 2008. |
| Guiding Light | CBS | Scripts were completed through February 2008. |
| One Life to Live | ABC | Scripts were completed through January 2008. |
| Passions | The 101 Network | Scripts were completed through February 2008 |
| The View | ABC | Continued, with a statement by the network that "contingency plans have been made in the event of a strike." |
| Carpoolers | ABC | All 13 ordered episodes were completed. |
| The Closer | TNT | All 15 episodes of season 3 made |
| Curb Your Enthusiasm | HBO | Had not been renewed for a seventh season until after the strike |
| Dexter | Showtime | All episodes completed of Season 2 before strike. Production started early in anticipation. Season 1 re-purposed on CBS due to lack of new content. |
| Eli Stone | ABC | All 13 ordered episodes were completed. Premiered January 31, 2008. |
| Everybody Hates Chris | The CW | All 22 episodes completed, returned on March 3. |
| Kyle XY | ABC Family | All 23 episodes completed. New episodes began January 14, 2008. 10 more episodes ordered in October, before the strike. |
| Lincoln Heights | ABC Family | Was not renewed for a third season until after the strike |
| Mad Men | AMC | Lionsgate side deal made, production resumed on scripts for summer airing. |
| Monk | USA | All 16 episodes completed. |
| New Amsterdam | FOX | All 8 episodes completed. Premiered March 4, 2008. |
| October Road | ABC | All 13 ordered episodes for season 2 were completed. |
| Psych | USA | All 16 episodes completed. |
| The Shield | FX | All 13 ordered episodes were completed. |
| South Park | Comedy Central | Show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were not members of the union, and continued writing and producing the show during the strike. The show was on a scheduled hiatus for most of the strike's duration. |
| Stargate Atlantis | Sci Fi | All of Season 4 was completed. Most writers are members of the Writers Guild of Canada. It was reported that the broadcast schedule would potentially be affected because of the broader effects of the strike. |
| The Wire | HBO | All 10 episodes were completed for the final season. |
Unscripted shows
Shows with writing completed before strike
Shows that switched to non-union writers
Shows airing off-season
Shows delayed or interrupted by the strike
Some shows ran out of episodes, but caught up to their ordered amount after the strike. Some other shows, such as talk shows, were interrupted, but made arrangements to return to screens early.| Show | Network | Date stopped | Date restarted | Episodes made before strike | Episodes made after strike | Notes |
| According to Jim | ABC | March 11, 2008 | 11 of 18 | 7 | Most of the actors in this show, including James Belushi, struck with the writers. | |
| South of Nowhere | The N | September 8, 2008. | September 2008. | 16 of 16 | Initially set to air final episodes starting in February. The April 2008 airing of the remaining episodes from the third season were pushed back to September. | |
| Women's Murder Club | ABC | January 4, 2008 | April 2008 | 10 of 13 | 3 | |
| The Colbert Report | Comedy Central | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | January 7, 2008. | N/A | N/A | Pronunciation of show title changed for the length of the strike. |
| The Colbert Report | Comedy Central | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | February 13, 2008 | N/A | N/A | Pronunciation of show title changed for the length of the strike. |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Comedy Central | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | January 7, 2008 | N/A | N/A | The show was briefly renamed A Daily Show with Jon Stewart in honor of the strike. |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Comedy Central | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | February 13, 2008 | N/A | N/A | The show was briefly renamed A Daily Show with Jon Stewart in honor of the strike. |
| The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson | CBS | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | New episodes began on January 2, 2008. | N/A | N/A | David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, successfully negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement, so the show returned with its full complement of writing staff. |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | NBC | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | New episodes began without writers on January 2, 2008. | N/A | N/A | |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | NBC | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | February 15, 2008 with writers. | N/A | N/A | |
| Late Show with David Letterman | CBS | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | New shows began on January 2, 2008. | N/A | N/A | Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, successfully negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement, so the show returned with its full complement of writing staff. |
| Real Time with Bill Maher | HBO | Reruns began on November 9, 2007. | The sixth season premiered without writers on January 11, 2008. | N/A | N/A | |
| Real Time with Bill Maher | HBO | Reruns began on November 9, 2007. | February 15, 2008 with writers. | N/A | N/A | |
| Greek | ABC Family | September 10, 2007 | March 24, 2008 | 18 of 22 | ||
| Saturday Night Live | NBC | Reruns began November 10, 2007. | February 23, 2008. | N/A | N/A | In mid-November, most of the production staff was laid off. |
| The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | NBC | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | January 2, 2008. | N/A | N/A | |
| The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | NBC | Reruns began on November 5, 2007. | February 15, 2008 with writers. | N/A | N/A |
Shows with shortened seasons
Even though production began again on some shows, they were unable to complete the full season originally ordered.| Show | Season | Network | Date stopped | Restart | Episodes made before strike | Episodes made after strike | Notes |
| 30 Rock | 2 | NBC | January 10, 2008 | April 10, 2008. | 10 of 22 | 5 | The cast performed a live show at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York City which later resulted in the airing of a live broadcast episode entitled "Live Show" in 2010. |
| Back to You | 1 | FOX | February 27, 2008 | April 16, 2008. | 9 of 24 | 5 | |
| The Big Bang Theory | 1 | CBS | November 12, 2007 | March 17, 2008 | 8 of 22 | 9 | |
| Bones | 3 | Fox | December 11, 2007 | April 14, 2008 | 13 of 23 | 2 | |
| Boston Legal | ABC | February 19, 2008 | April 8, 2008 | 14 of 22 | 6 | ||
| Breaking Bad | 1 | AMC | 7 of 9 | 0 | |||
| Brothers & Sisters | 2 | ABC | February 17, 2008 | April 20, 2008 | 12 of 23 | 4 | |
| Cold Case | 5 | CBS | February 17, 2008 | March 30, 2008 | 13 of 24 | 5 | |
| Criminal Minds | 3 | CBS | January 23, 2008 | April 2, 2008. | 13 of 25 | 7 | |
| ' | CBS | January 10, 2008 | April 3, 2008 | 11 of 24 | 6 | ||
| ' | CBS | January 14, 2008 | March 24, 2008 | 13 of 24 | 8 | ||
| ' | CBS | February 6, 2008 | April 2, 2008 | 14 of 24 | 7 | ||
| Desperate Housewives | 4 | ABC | January 6, 2008 | April 13, 2008 | 10 of 23 | 7 | |
| Dirt | FX | 7 of 13 | 2 | ||||
| ER | 14 | NBC | January 17, 2008 | April 10, 2008 | 13 of 22 | 6 | |
| Family Guy | 6 | Fox | February 17, 2008 | April 27, 2008 | 9 of 22 | 3 | Show runner Seth MacFarlane said was the last episode produced under his watch and no more new episodes were ready after that. However, Fox completed the three episodes written, voiced and animated for the production cycle without MacFarlane's final approval. |
| Frank TV | TBS | December 18, 2007 | 5 of 8 | 0 | |||
| Friday Night Lights | 2 | NBC | February 8, 2008 | 15 of 22 | 0 | ||
| The Game | 2 | The CW | February 4, 2008 | March 23, 2008 | 11 of 22 | 9 | |
| Ghost Whisperer | 3 | CBS | January 18, 2008 | April 4, 2008 | 12 of 22 | 6 | |
| Gossip Girl | 1 | The CW | January 9, 2008 | April 21, 2008 | 13 of 22 | 5 | |
| Grey's Anatomy | 4 | ABC | January 10, 2008 | April 24, 2008 | 11 of 23 | 6 | |
| Heroes | 2 | NBC | December 3, 2007 | September 22, 2008 | 11 of 24 | 0 | - |
| House | 4 | Fox | February 5, 2008 | April 28, 2008 | 12 of 24 | 4 | |
| How I Met Your Mother | 3 | CBS | December 10, 2007 | March 17, 2008 | 11 of 22 | 9 | |
| King of the Hill | 12 | Fox | 21 of 22 | ||||
| Las Vegas | 5 | NBC | February 15, 2008 | 19 of 22 | 0 | ||
| ' | NBC | January 22, 2008 | April 15, 2008 | 14 of 22 | 5 | ||
| Lipstick Jungle | 1 | NBC | March 20, 2008 | 7 of 13 | 0 | ||
| Lost | 4 | ABC | March 20, 2008 | April 24, 2008 | 8 of 16 | 6 | Two episodes lost to the strike added to season 5 and 6 respectively. |
| Medium | 4 | NBC | 9 of 22 | ||||
| My Name is Earl | 3 | NBC | 13 of 25 | - | |||
| NCIS | 5 | CBS | January 15, 2008 | April 8, 2008 | 11 of 24 | 7 | - |
| The New Adventures of Old Christine | 3 | CBS | March 17, 2008 | March 24, 2008 | 8 of 13 | 2 | |
| Nip/Tuck | 5 | FX | 14 of 22 | ||||
| Numb3rs | 4 | CBS | January 18, 2008 | April 4, 2008. | 12 of 24 | 6 | - |
| The Office | 4 | NBC | November 15, 2007 | April 10, 2008 | 8 of 25 | 6 | |
| One Tree Hill | 5 | The CW | March 18, 2008 | April 14, 2008 | 12 of 22 | 6 | |
| Prison Break | 3 | FOX | February 18, 2008 | 13 of 22 | 0 | Returned for the fourth season. | |
| Reaper | The CW | December 4, 2007 | March 13, 2008 | 13 of 22 | 5 | ||
| The Riches | FX | 7 of 13 | 4 | ||||
| Rules of Engagement | 2 | CBS | November 19, 2007 | April 24, 2008 | 9 of 22 | 4 | |
| Samantha Who? | ABC | December 10, 2007 | April 7, 2008 | 12 of 22 | 3 | ||
| Scrubs | 7 | NBC | December 6, 2007 | April 10, 2008 | 11 of 18 | 2 | Two episodes were produced after the strike — as indicated by production codes — that aired as part of the eighth season when the show moved to ABC. One of those two episodes, "My Nah Nah Nah", made use of unused footage from the incomplete twelfth episode of the seventh season that had its filming halted as a result of the strike. |
| Shark | CBS | January 22, 2008 | April 29, 2008 | 12 of 22 | 4 | ||
| The Simpsons | 19 | Fox | 22 of 23 | ||||
| Smallville | 7 | The CW | March 27, 2008 | April 17, 2008 | 15 of 22 | 5 | |
| Supernatural | 3 | The CW | February 21, 2008 | April 24, 2008 | 12 of 22 | 4 | As a result of the strike, Supernatural's third season was reduced from its usual twenty-two episode count to only sixteen episodes. |
| Til Death | FOX | November 28, 2007 | March 25, 2008. | 12 of 22 | 3 | ||
| ' | Fox | March 3, 2008 | September 8, 2008 | 9 of 13 | 0 | The second season was announced on April 22, 2008 and premiered in September 8, 2008. | |
| Two and a Half Men | 5 | CBS | November 26, 2007 | March 17, 2008 | 10 of 24 | 9 | |
| Ugly Betty | 2 | ABC | January 24, 2008 | April 24, 2008 | 13 of 23 | 5 | |
| The Unit | 3 | CBS | December 18, 2007 | 11 of 22 | 0 | ||
| Without a Trace'' | 6 | CBS | January 17, 2008 | April 3, 2008 | 12 of 24 | 6 |
Shows postponed
The production on some shows was halted completely, to be restarted, in the 2008-2009 season.| Show | Network | Date stopped | Restart | Episodes made and ordered | Notes |
| 24 | FOX | N/A | January 2009. | 8 of 24 | Delayed until January 2009. FOX announced a two-hour movie, ', that was shown on November 23, 2008, to bridge the year and a half gap between season 6 and season 7. |
| Battlestar Galactica | Sci-Fi | N/A | 10 of 21 | Only the front half were planned to be aired in Spring 2008 season with an indefinite time for the back half. | |
| Chuck | NBC | January 24, 2008 | Fall of 2008. | 13 of 22 | The season was cut short. |
| Damages | FX | October 23, 2007 | January 2009. | 13 of 13 | No episodes were written because the show was renewed the day after the strike began. |
| Dirty Sexy Money | ABC | December 5, 2007 | Fall of 2008 | 13 of 22 | It was renewed for 2008-09 season with no new episodes set to air until then. The last three episodes were pushed to the beginning of the next season. |
| Entourage | Start delayed from June to Sept 2008. | - | - | - | |
| Hannah Montana | Disney/ABC | Season 2: 5 episodes remained. | |||
| Hannah Montana | Disney/ABC | Season 3: 4 | |||
| ' | USA | December 13, 2007 | Summer of 2008 | 10 of 24 | Currently repurposed on NBC. Originally scheduled for April, second half delayed until summer. |
| Life | NBC | December 5, 2007 | Fall of 2008. | 11 of 22 | The season was cut short. |
| FOX | N/A | N/A | No status reports for the spin-off were ever announced, and the project quietly ended before production began. | ||
| Private Practice | ABC | December 5, 2007 | Fall of 2008 | 9 of 22 | The season was cut short. |
| Pushing Daisies | ABC | December 12, 2007 | Fall of 2008. | 9 of 22 | The season was cut short. |
| Rescue Me | FX | July 1, 2008 | No episodes were written because the show was renewed the day after the strike began. |
Shows cancelled during strike
Some shows cancelled during the strike were under threat of cancellation anyway. In other cases, shows were cancelled, or had their seasons shortened, because of the financial damage of the strike. Several television shows, including Journeyman, K-Ville, Big Shots, and Cavemen, were "quietly" cancelled, in part due to the writer's strike, and in part due to low ratings.| Show | Network | Unaired Episodes Left | Episodes made and ordered |
| Men in Trees | ABC | 19 of 27 ordered episodes were completed. | |
| Big Shots | ABC | 11 of 13. | First cancelled in December 2007, the series was later announced on the mid-season schedule, but was ultimately cancelled for good on May 13, 2008. |
| Bionic Woman | NBC | 8 of 13 | Although rumored to have been cancelled following its eighth episode, media reports suggested that NBC-Universal intended to produce the remaining episodes of the 13-episode order. In March 2008, producer David Eick announced the series had been cancelled. |
| Cavemen | ABC | 7 of 13 | Only 6 episodes aired; the show was then cancelled. |
| Cashmere Mafia | ABC | 7 of 13 | |
| Girlfriends | The CW | 13 of 22 | Season 8 was announced as final before strike, no proper final episode to be produced. |
| Journeyman | NBC | All 13 episodes completed. | The series was not renewed by NBC. |
| K-Ville | Fox | 11 out of 13 | Production shut down and not present on Fox's spring schedule. |
| Life is Wild | The CW | 13 of 13 | The CW did not renew it; production was filmed in South Africa so it was not under WGA purview. |
| The Return of Jezebel James | Fox | 7 of 13 | Due to low ratings, cancelled after 3 episodes |
| Welcome to The Captain | CBS | 6 of 6 | Only 5 episodes aired. |
| Notes From the Underbelly | ABC | 5 episodes were shot, only 10 of the planned 13 new episodes were made. Only 2 of the 10 were shown. | |
| The 4400 | USA Network | Cancelled despite the fourth season's cliff-hanger. |
Unknown post-strike effects
There is still not enough known information about the following shows to categorize the effects on them.| Network | Show | Unaired Episodes Left | Notes |
| Disney Channel | Wizards of Waverly Place | Writing halted. | |
| Cartoon Network | Out of Jimmy's Head | Writing halted. | |
| Disney Channel | Cory in the House | Writing halted. | |
| HBO | Big Love | Writing halted. | |
| HBO | Tell Me You Love Me | Season one complete, DVD released February 12, 2008. Although initially renewed for a second season, it was cancelled later in the year. | |
| HBO | True Blood | Started airing first season on September 7, 2008. | |
| Lifetime | Army Wives | Writing halted. | |
| Lifetime | Blood Ties | Writing halted. | |
| Lifetime | Cheerleader Nation | Status is currently unknown. | |
| Lifetime | Side Order of Life | Writing halted. | |
| Lifetime | State of Mind | Writing halted. | |
| The N | The Best Years | Season one completed its run during the summer. No word on season two. | |
| The N | Beyond the Break | Season 3 eventually aired in 2009. | |
| Nickelodeon | Just Jordan | Writing halted. | |
| Nickelodeon | SpongeBob SquarePants | Several writers fired. Speed of scripting slowed. | |
| TBS | The Bill Engvall Show | 10 episodes are to be produced, unknown how many are written. | |
| TBS | My Boys | 8 episodes are to be produced, unknown how many are written. |
Strike effect by type of show
Prime-time series
- Mid-season shows, such as Dirt and The Riches, began production after most other TV shows, so they had completed fewer episodes; although some show were produced early knowing a strike was possible. 24, also airing mid-season, was postponed due to the serial nature of the show.
- For some shows without full-season pickups such as Moonlight, production on the first batch of shows was completed.
- Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence responded to concerns that a proper series finale may not air, as only 11 of its 18 ordered episodes were filmed at the time. Lawrence stated he would either release the finale on DVD or post what would have happened in episodes 13 through 18 on the internet. However, it was announced in May 2008 that ABC picked up Scrubs for an eighth season for 2008-2009.
- During the strike, ABC's Dirty Sexy Money was given a full season order. NBC also gave full season orders to Life, and Chuck and also announced that, contrary to recurring rumor, Bionic Woman would also continue production after the strike.
- FX Network's The Shield is one of the few shows that was able to air the entire season, as it was mostly wrapped before the strike started. Similarly, CBS's returning series, Jericho, aired midseason. Production of the full season was completed prior to the strike and was not affected by the work stoppage.
- Some networks such as CBS, due to the financial effects of the strike, ordered a reduced number of pilots.
- CBS aired a Canadian series, Flashpoint. NBC similarly aired the Canadian series The Listener, but pulled the show after one episode due to low ratings.
Talk shows
On November 12, 2007, instead of a recent episode, NBC aired an episode of The Tonight Show from November 17, 2003. Beginning the week of November 26, The Tonight Show began continuously airing "vintage" episodes. The Tonight Show was reportedly planning to air new episodes beginning November 19, having guest hosts to fill in for Jay Leno. This did not occur, however.
Several talk show hosts who refused to do their shows announced that they would pay non-striking staff members out of their own pockets through the end of the year, including David Letterman and Conan O'Brien. Jay Leno was chided when NBC fired his non-striking staff, after he promised them they would not have to worry about their jobs. Leno later announced that he would also pay his staff for the next 2 weeks starting December 2, 2007.
David Letterman and his Worldwide Pants, Inc. production company broke ranks with the networks and negotiated its own independent contract with the WGA in late 2007. The deal was independent and only between the production company and the union, and allowed the company to start new shows in 2008.
Other
Although many animated series employ union writers, there is no requirement to do so. For instance, the writers of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, were not union members, and the show remained in production during the strike. The episode "Canada on Strike" was written as a parody of the WGA strike.Movies, such as , were directly affected by the strike, including those filmed on location. However, the strike did not affect reality shows such as American Idol, whose episodes are unscripted, or news programs, whose writers belong to a different guild. Nevertheless, newswriters at CBS News and at local CBS owned-and-operated television stations were subject to the threat of a different strike action by the WGA. CBS News writers under the WGA had been without a contract with the network since April 2005 until a contract was agreed to on January 9, 2008.
Similarly, some game shows, such as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and The Price Is Right, were not affected because they are unscripted, other than the questions and the prize descriptions ; by contrast, Sony Pictures' Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and Disney's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire had their quiz questions researched and written by WGA writers under deals with their producers.
The first season of the game show Duel premiered on December 17, 2007, and ended on December 23, 2007; the first season of the show was the only game show, and thus the only strike-replacement program, that was affected by the strike. The second season premiered on April 4, 2008, and ended on July 25, 2008, with an 8-week break between May 2 and June 27. A revival of American Gladiators was launched sooner than originally scheduled, with taping in November 2007 that aired in January 2008. Other game, contest and reality shows launched sooner than originally scheduled in order to minimize the amount of scripted-program reruns, and CBS commissioned an order of six episodes of The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular, the first in the primetime series with new host Drew Carey, which later resulted in four additional episodes later in the season. This resulted in drastic mid-season set changes that allowed the show to switch to high-definition television, initially with these episodes, and the daytime show switched for the start of the next season.
While the strike had no effect on sporting events, the strike also did not affect scripted professional wrestling, as both World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling had in-house ununionized writers. WWE, which had a contract with NBC Universal and aired the biennial Saturday Night's Main Event on the parent network, offered up additional wrestling shows for NBC if needed.
Nightline was the only late-night network program to benefit in the Nielsen ratings from the writers strike. As well, many ABC, and some Fox, affiliates won their late news timeslots as a result of the strike, with most ending winning streaks of the local CBS or NBC affiliates. Among these ABC and Fox affiliates were KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WCVB in Boston, WFAA in Dallas, WTTG in Washington, KSTU in Salt Lake City, KMSP in Minneapolis, KTVI in St. Louis, KOMO-TV in Seattle and WXYZ-TV in Detroit.