History MediaNotes / TVStrikes

* ''Series/TheOffice'' saw its fourth season cut to 18 episodes and the creative team had to scrap a planned arc where Angela got pregnant as a result of her affair with Dwight. Her actress had gotten pregnant in real life and by the time production resumed she was too far along for it to be convincingly written into the show, forcing them to employ HideYourPregnancy. It also caused season four to be the only season aside from season one (when the show debuted as a midseason replacement) to not have a ChristmasEpisode.

* The late-night talk shows went on hiatus for the first couple of months, but returned in January rather than lay off the non-striking production staff. Notably, David Letterman negotiated a special deal with the WGA to let both ''Series/TheLateShowWithDavidLetterman'' and ''Series/TheLateLateShowWithCraigFerguson'' return with their full writing staff; the others (including ''Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno'', ''Series/TheDailyShowWithJonStewart'', and ''Series/TheColbertReport'') relied on non-scripted material for the duration of the strike.
** Which led to the hilarious {{crossover}} episodes between ''TDS'', ''TCR'' and ''Late Night'' culminating in a fake fight between Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Conan O’Brien.

* The late-night talk shows went on hiatus for the first couple of months, but returned in January rather than lay off the non-striking production staff. Notably, David Letterman negotiated a special deal with the WGA to let both his show and Craig Ferguson’s return with their full writing staff; the others (including ''Series/TheTonightShow'', ''Series/TheDailyShow'', and ''Series/TheColbertReport'') relied on non-scripted material for the duration of the strike.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' carried on and bashed the strike in one episode, in which the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything World Canadian Bureau (WGA) encourages Canadians to strike for “more money”.]] Many animated programs, including ''South Park'', were written under a different union than the WGA.
** IATSE covers the writers on most animated series. This is a [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood point of contention]] between the WGA and IATSE.
** The ironic part of the episode was Kyle’s [[AuthorFilibuster episode-ending speech about how people shouldn’t strive to get money from unproven revenue sources]]—in the case of the episode, online content. That summer, Parker and Stone had just inked a deal to stream ''South Park'' episodes online, with ad content, which was estimated to bring them ''$75 million'' over the next four years. So it’s either HypocriticalHumor, or just plain hypocrisy. Your choice.
*** The stupid part is that [=DVDs=] are very reliable cash cows and people working on the Internet can make a living.

* When the producers of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' set an end date for the show, the final three seasons were originally planned to have 16 episodes each. The fourth season was supposed to have the episodes all aired in a row, but the strike cut it down to 13 episodes with a month-long break between episodes 8 and 9, although the script for the finale was long enough that the season was later extended to 14 episodes. As well, to make up for the [[((Pun)) lost]] episodes, Seasons 5 and 6 were extended to 17 episodes each (with Season 6 later being pushed up to 18).

* When the producers of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' set an end date for the show, the final three seasons were originally planned to have 16 episodes each. The fourth season was supposed to have the episodes all aired in a row, but the strike cut it down to 13 episodes with a month-long break between episodes 8 and 9, although the script for the finale was long enough that the season was later extended to 14 episodes. As well, to make up for the [[IncrediblyLamePun lost]] episodes, Seasons 5 and 6 were extended to 17 episodes each (with Season 6 later being pushed up to 18).

* The script for ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' was finished two hours before the strike commenced and some filming took place with Creator/DanielCraig having to work on the script with the director. [[http://www.swiftfilm.com/daniel-craig-says-writers-strike-ruined-quantum-of-solace/ It showed]] (NSFW language).

* The ends of ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'' and ''Kate & Allie'' are attributed to the strike.

Creator/{{Disney}}’s animators joined the Screen Cartoonists’ Guild and went on strike on May 29 for the profit promised from ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' (which many animators took unpaid overtime to complete) and in response to the firing of prominent lead animator Creator/ArtBabbitt for joining the Guild. Six weeks later, a federal mediator found in favor of the Guild, and “The Mouse Factory” has been a union joint ever since.

It’s been rumored that the nasty, drunken clowns from ''Disney/{{Dumbo}}'' (which was in production during the strike) who decide to “hit the big boss for a raise” are a TakeThat at the striking animators.

* ''Series/OutOfJimmysHead'' was cancelled, but considering this was the first series to mark the NetworkDecay of Creator/CartoonNetwork, that may have been considered a good thing.

** This also meant that Kiefer Sutherland, who pleaded no contest to his second DUI charge, got to serve his 48-day jail sentence in one go. He’d planned to do it in two stints, during the production gaps.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' had a 24-episode run cut to 17 and ''Series/CSINewYork'' to 21.

The strike lasted from 13 November 1970 to 8 February 1971 and affected such programs as ''Series/CoronationStreet'', ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'', ''Series/TheGoldenShot'', ''Series/PleaseSir'', ''Series/UpstairsDownstairs'', ''Series/OnTheBuses'' and ''Series/{{Crossroads}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' carried on and bashed the strike in one episode, in which the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything World Canadian Bureau (WGA) encourages Canadians to strike for “more money”]]. Many animated programs, including ''South Park'', were written under a different union than the WGA.

To create a monochrome image with the colour equipment, the technicians simply switched off the colour tubes on their cameras[[labelnote:†]]Colour cameras of the time used four tubes to relay the picture: three tubes for the chrominance signal which provided the colours and one tube for the luminance signal which produced a monochrome picture.[[/labelnote]] and switched off the color signal on their telecine machines (used for [[VideoInsideFilmOutside filmed location footage]]).

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' had its normal 22 episodes cut down to 16 for the third season, with the last few episodes time-jumping through how long Dean had left.

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' suffered from the strike. Season 3 changes the plot radically, by having Earl be in {{Prison}}, and Season 4 saw Earl spend half of it in a coma. The episodes that were done were {{Bottle Episode}}s, which ended up tanking the ratings. The show ended after Season 4, on a {{Cliffhanger}} concerning the identity of Earl Jr.'s biological father. WordOfGod said it would have been a celebrity, and also that the series would culminate in Earl finding out that he had inspired other people to create their own [[ListOfTransgressions lists]], with Earl deciding that his work was done, but that never materialized because of the strike and the way the show ended.

Because TV involves [[UsefulNotes/UnionsInHollywood unionized people]], and unionized people sometimes go on strike. When the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) goes on strike, this largely shuts down the Hollywood process, since writers are needed for script rewrites on-set and act-er, teamsters aren’t keen to cross picket lines (in fact, they have it in their contract that they’re immune to punishment should they honor any picket line). Strikes come as a result of bargaining falling apart with management, as represented by the UsefulNotes/{{AMPTP}}. As a result, a lot of shows hit by the strike may suffer through having a large batch of their [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unproduced scripts and stories slashed]].

Most notable for the fact that ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' had recently aired its famous “Who shot J.R.?” season-ending cliffhanger, and the strike meant viewers had to wait five months rather than three to find out who the shooter had been. Extra-strong measures were taken to prevent the solution from leaking, including filming shots of just about every member of the cast and crew, including J.R. himself, pulling the trigger.

'''1987 Directors’ Strike'''

This one is the WGA’s longest strike (March 7–August 8), over reduced residuals for hour-long series and foreign reruns.

* The biggest event resulting from this strike was that it marked the beginning of the end of the daytime SoapOpera in America. When this happened, the soaps were left without their most experienced writers, and the quality of the shows nosedived as the networks brought in inexperienced nonunion writers who often weren’t familiar with the material. Even after the old writers came back, the damage done by five months of crappy writing was catastrophic. The soaps were ''still'' recovering when, in 1995, there came the O.J. Simpson murder trial, which not only knocked the soaps ''completely'' off the air for weeks, but provided viewers with [[IfItBleedsItLeads a real-life soap opera]] to enjoy. Daytime soaps, which were once ratings juggernauts, never recovered, and as of now the few daytime soaps that haven’t been canceled yet (with decades-long runs) face the risk of it.

* ''Series/SmallWonder'' had an episode about a strike at Ted’s company.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' gave a ShoutOut to this strike in “Last Exit to Springfield” where Homer recalls the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant strike of ’88.

The strike was also the first of its kind to take place in the era of the Internet. As a result, writers had a more direct line of communication with fans/the general public, which led to unprecedented public support. When Creator/JossWhedon announced a “Meet Joss Whedon” day on the picket lines, fans streamed in from as far away as Australia.

* Creator/MichaelBay supposedly wrote much of ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' while Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were on strike.

* Sam Hamm handed in the script to ''Film/{{Batman}}'' only days before the strike started. Due to the strike he could not do any rewrites (British writers were hired instead) and many things were changed from his screenplay of which he disapproved.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' didn’t escape strike action. That season saw “Shada” ultimately cancelled after strike action prevented the second and third studio session from taking place, although in that case it was a tube strike, not an industry one. The completed portions were released on VHS in 1992, and eventually done as an audio drama for the Eighth Doctor in 2003. Scriptwriter Creator/DouglasAdams [[RecycledPremise reused the concepts he originally came up with for this serial]] for what eventually became ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency''.