Unscripted TV Community Fears Strike Impact: “It’s Not Going To Be A Carefree, Hot Girl, Reality Summer”
deadline.comThe 2007/08 writers strike is widely credited with helping to ramp up the presence of unscripted television on broadcast and cable.
This year’s labor action, however, is not expected to have the same positive impact that the last writers strike did, and a confluence of events could mean that many of the top non-scripted shows are also hit. “It’s not going to be a carefree, hot girl, reality summer,” one producer told Deadline.
Some of the popular game shows are already WGA productions. Jeopardy!, for instance, is written by WGA writers. While the long-running daytime prepares its questions in advance of a season, the worry is that a long strike would hit these types of shows, not to mention talent, such as hosts like Mayim Bialik, could want to show solidarity with the writers.
We’re already hearing of efforts from some writers on other unscripted shows to unionize with the team behind one long-running cable hit currently in talks with the WGA to become union members.
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