Nikki Finke, the reporter extraordinaire of the WGA strike, was sidelined from Deadline Hollywood Daily by the flu just as the informal talks began. She’s back, and posts a massive update on the progress of the talks. Bottom line: The WGA’s leaders are going to try to get the guild’s board to endorse the deal [...]

…but reports are coming in from just about everywhere that the writers and the producers are getting very, very close to a deal. To anticipate your question: I don’t know. To anticipate the next one: I don’t know that either. We’re all wondering what the end of the strike–if the strike is ending–will mean for [...]

Mix yourself a Manhattan and fire up a Lucky Strike, baby: Mad Men is free to go back into production on its second season. The Writers Guild announced another interim side deal, this time with Lionsgate studio, which produces Mad Men as well as Weeds. One of the feared side effects of the strike is [...]

I traded e-mails about this with Tim Goodman a while back, and he beat me to blogging on the subject, but I’m not too proud to be late… So the strike is going to end. Maybe sooner, maybe later, but it will end. Your shows will return. But will you still care? Peter Krause? Who [...]

I almost don’t want to jinx it by writing about it, but there are a couple signs this morning that there really could be progress toward ending the strike. First, the Writers’ Guild announced that it would not picket the Grammy Awards, a goodwill gesture that the already ratings-troubled awards show sorely needed. At the [...]

…any AMPTP bigshots who don’t believe a strike can do any long-term damage to the TV business might want to note Erich Van Dussen’s comment from an earlier thread: For some reason the primary debates bore me this year, and I’ve never watched AI: I prefer getting my entertainment from talentless performers who are already [...]

Last night, on The A Daily Show, John Oliver filed Our Dead Planet, this brilliant, and seemingly news-pegged report on the imperiled Earth: That John Oliver! He’s hilarious! He’s ingenious! He’s… um.. he’s on strike, isn’t he? In fact, Oliver is not only a striking writer but has been one of the most high-profile presences [...]

Let’s start with the bad news: The Golden Globes ceremony has been cancelled. Now the good news. Well, actually that was the good news. But here’s the more news: There’ll be a press conference instead! The Globes ceremony had seemed doomed for some time, owing to the writers’ strike and the subsequent Screen Actors’ Guild [...]