TV Shows Affected By The WGA Strike: ‘Cobra Kai’, ‘Yellowjackets’, ‘Abbott Elementary’, More

There was come old-school writer cred on the picket line outside the Fox lot in Century City today. David E. Kelley, he of the 11 Emmys and 30 nominations, is a veteran of multiple WGA strikes going back to 1988. Introducing himself as “David E. Kelley, old writer,” the Love & Death creator — whose many credits also include Big Little Lies, Big Sky, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Undoing, The Practice, Ally McBeal, and Picket Fences — told Deadline why he’s striking this time.

Picketers gathered outside Warner Bros. in Burbank today found themselves buoyed by a unique presence: Flavor Flav. The hip-hop icon-turned-reality star showed up to cheers from the assembled WGA supporters.

Late-night comedy shows were shut down on the very first day of the ongoing Writers Guild’s strike, but many of their now out-of-work writers are banding together to put on a weekly YouTube Channel show alternately titled “Picket Tonight” or “The Jokes You Love from the Picket Signs but We’re Saying Them Out Loud.”

EXCLUSIVE: UK company Architect was recently founded by sales executives Calum Gray and Max Pirkis, together with Patrick Fischer and Richard Kondal of financier Creativity Capital.

This year’s Honorary Palme d’or recipient Michael Douglas received a lengthy standing ovation as he cruised on stage in Buñuel theatre to chair a masterclass session where he broke down his career as an actor and producer.

“The Watcher” is set in New Jersey — and as it turns out, residents there are intently watching “The Watcher.”The product review site PerfectRec has revealed which Netflix series every state is obsessed with, based on May data from Google Trends and IMDb rating information.California’s pick was “Cobra Kai,” while Hawaii tuned into “Emily In Paris,” despite critics calling the meme-able series “boring.”Fittingly, people in North Carolina frequently watched “Outer Banks,” while those in Iowa streamed “Love is Blind.”“Stranger Things” was tops in Utah. In fact, the Duffer Brothers thriller was the most-streamed series in 2022.Netflix, citing Nielsen ratings, said the drama was the most-watched English TV show within its first four weeks of release, with its latest season scoring 1.35 billion hours of view time in the first 28 days.The series, which premiered in 2016, is slated to end with Season 5.Production plans are unclear amid the Hollywood writers strike.Fans are disappointed that their favorite band of monster-fighting teens will be no more, but actor David Harbour, who plays Eleven’s doting father figure, Jim Hopper, said it’s time for a curtain call.“I think it’s a great show, even if I wasn’t in it,” the 48-year-old actor said in February.

Peabody Awards and unspecified changes to the Tony Awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Showtime’s hit drama The Chi, which films entirely in Chicago, has paused production on its upcoming sixth season, effective today. The decision was made Monday after a second consecutive day of shooting was disrupted by WGA strike-related picketing.

Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros. and others. On the WGA side, writers are seeking better pay, streaming residuals, safeguards against AI technology that threaten to replace their work, among other issues amid the rise of streaming services.Since the strike was announced, a number of films and TV shows have shut down production in solidarity – or because they can’t move forward without the involvement of writers.

Fran Drescher. While on Sirius XM’s “The Julie Mason Show,” the actor teased that the possible November special could “maybe” become a backdoor pilot. She also highlighted the importance of SAG sticking with the Writers Guild of America during the WGA strike.

As you have no doubt already heard, the WGA is on strike right now. Just over a week into it, this strike has already caused quite a few disruptions, with productions being halted and development coming to a standstill.

The Peabody Awards revealed their 2023 winners in entertainment and for a number of programs it’s a welcome boost for their Emmy nomination prospects. Apple TV+ had three programs honored: “Bad Sisters,” “Pachinko” and “Severance.” HBO landed two winners in “We’re Here,” a rare non-fiction selection, and “Los Espookys,” a program the network disappointingly canceled in December.

When are things not strange in Hollywood? Should we be surprised that there is always some industry or world crises crashing an awards season? Probably not, but it’s been quite a long time since a work stoppage affected the Primetime Emmy Awards. And, as we’ll discuss later, that means while writers form picket lines, actors and directors are still engaged in that Emmy nomination fight.

Another TV shoot has been disrupted by striking writers, Michelle and Robert King’s supernatural drama for Paramount+ Evil, which has been filming its fourth season at Brooklyn Stages in Brooklyn.

Yellowjackets has returned for a second season, and some of its horrifying scenes have left fans wondering if it’s all based on true events.Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the mystery thriller series follows a girls’ football team in 1996 who, while travelling to a tournament in Seattle, crash-land in the Canadian wilderness and are left stranded for nineteen months. Between their attempts to survive, the show also jumps to their adult lives in the present day.Early episodes in the second season have introduced the show’s first acts of cannibalism, which were teased in the first run of episodes.The series’ first season received seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards last year, including Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci.Tawny Cypress, Ella Purnell, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sophie Thatcher, Sammi Hanratty and Juliette Lewis also star in the series.New additions to the cast for season two include Lauren Ambrode (Six Feet Under) as the adult version of Vanessa Palmer, Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as the adult version of Courtney Eaton, and Elijah Wood (The Lord Of The Rings) as citizen detective Walter.While the show itself isn’t based on a true story, creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson have confirmed that it was partly inspired by two real-life events: The Donner Party and the 1972 Andes Flight Disaster.The Donner Party was a group of 19th century American pioneers who attempted to migrate to California from the Midwest on wagons.

“You make billions/pay us some!” striking Writers Guild of America members chanted on the street of New York today near where filming was going on for Showtime’s Billions.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer When A.C. Bradley was hired to write on the 2022 Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel,” part of her job entailed going to set every day to help with re-writing scenes on the fly while the show was being filmed. “It was a mixture of everything from wanting to add new characters into the show to needing to change things because of location,” Bradley tells Variety. Just one example: The day the production was set to shoot a chase sequence at Marriott hotel, she helped to add a beat where the chase entered the kitchen because it was nearby. “Why not use what you have?” This kind of scenario is, of course, no longer possible during the ongoing writers strike. “Pens down” means no WGA member can write or change scripts whatsoever, before, during or after production. In many cases, that has meant that showrunners have left their shows entirely, like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay or “Cobra Kai” executive producer Jon Hurwitz. Other writers rooms have shut down in advance of production on their next seasons, like “Abbott Elementary” and “Yellowjackets.”

You are reading an exclusive WrapPRO article for free. Want to level up your entertainment career? Subscribe to WrapPRO.David Mandel isn’t one to sugarcoat. It’s a trait that appears in his work, from the vicious insults of “Veep” to the intentionally reprehensible characters at the center of HBO’s “White House Plumbers.” It also emerged when TheWrap asked the longtime series creator his thoughts on the currently unfolding WGA strike.

Chelsea Handler is standing with the WGA strike — “obviously.” The comedian told TheWrap as much during an interview promoting her “Little Big Bitch” comedy tour, which will see Handler headlining the the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver on May 10 for SeriesFest.“Obviously, I stand with the writers, absolutely, and the WGA,” Handler said. “It’s unfortunate that it has to come to this.”To Handler, sharing profits and offering better deals to writers seems like an “obvious move” for large corporations that “make tons of money.” “The trickle-down economics don’t necessarily work. So I think it’s the only fair thing to do, and hopefully it’ll be over sooner than later,” Handler said.The actor and writer also spoke about potentially taking over “The Daily Show” after Trevor Noah left the late-night show in December.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor As the Writers Guild of America goes on strike, late-night television has been put on pause, including NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which is on an indefinite hiatus. Multiple sources confirm to Variety that, in the unlikely event the strike is resolved in the coming weeks, “Succession” star Kieran Culkin is scheduled to take the stage at Studio 8H on May 13, with musical guest Labrinth, while “The White Lotus” star Jennifer Coolidge is set to close out “SNL’s” 48th season with Foo Fighters. This would have been Culkin’s second time hosting following his season 47 appearance. After being brilliantly imitated by “SNL” cast member Chloe Fineman, Coolidge would have made her long-awaited debut on the show.