I was just looking at all the shows and how many episodes have been filmed already and it looks like we only have 2 to 3 more episodes per show left! After that, I wonder how long we'll have to wait to see the shows again??
I didn't see an article I just was looking at each show at epguides.com. It lists the episodes that have been filmed for each show and when they will air. Most of the shows will be airing up until the first week of December and then they have no more episodes that have been filmed.
EW should have all the latest. The last issue I picked up off the stands (which was only like a week or so ago) said they'd have continuing coverage of anything strike-related.
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I feel like I just found out that my favorite love song was written about a sandwich.
Executive Producer Damon Lindelof Says: "Indeed, it would appear that we are in the endgame of the strike. Personally, I couldn't be more psyched to be part of this union. Like any negotiation, some parts suck and some parts surpassed my wildest expectations for what we could accomplish, but most of all I'm left with a feeling of pride.
"As for Lost (pending the actual lifting of the strike, which we vote for on Tuesday), a game plan should begin to manifest by the end of the week. All I can say is that Carlton and I and the rest of the writers have every intention of making sure you guys get more episodes this season beyond the eight already completed. How many and how they will be aired is a conversation we'll be having with our bosses, but as soon as we've got a plan, we'll tell the fans first."
What We're Hearing: Lost's actors are on standby, and the show is expected to produce more episodes this season. Fingers crossed! The bigger question is who'll keep the golden Thursday at 9 p.m. time slot once those Seattle Grace docs also return...How 'bout we put Sawyer and McDreamy in a cage and let 'em duke it out? ('Cause we know who'd win...)
I just got back from the big WGA meeting at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles, and I am 97 percent sure of this for two reasons:
1. James L. Brooks, who has three Oscars, 19 Emmys, one measly Golden Globe and cocreated a little show called The Simpsons, told me, "I think we're gonna be good. I think the strike is over." 2. A kid named Jerome borrowed my pen so he could write down the phone number of a guy he was networking, because Jerome just lost his current jobas a strike assistant.
Check out our news story to get the exact timeline of what happens next, including when the TV business will be back at work (mid-weekish), but for my eye and earwitness report of what went on at the big show, read on...
Names and Numbers
* Recognizable faces in the crowd included writers Tim Kring (Heroes), Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men), Josh Friedman (Terminator), Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) and Marti Noxon, plus actors Ian Gomez (Javier from Felicity) and David Krumholtz (Numb3rs). * Big-deal writers on the dais inside included Lost's Carlton Cuse and Rain Man writer Ron Bass. * Nelson the nice security guard busted me for lurking too close to the building, but made up for it by sharing that organizers had counted approximately 3,000 attendees.
Inside the Hall
* Simpsons exec producer Tim Long described the meeting as, well, chatty, saying, "Writers like to talk, so there was not a Samuel Beckett-like economy of verbiage, more of a Joycean effluence...And if that quote shows up on your Website, I will be very impressed." * A snarky show runner pal armed with an iPhone reported in about the speeches: "They're reading that bidness off some paper cursed with a dull-as-s**t spell." * Battlestar Galactica writer and Buffy alum Jane Espenson told me, "It was great. I learned tons. There was a lot of math, but I was always kind of good at math, and it was inspiring and interesting. I think the deal on a scale of 1 to 10 is like an 8, but my 'hopeful meter' is all the way up at 10." * Two and a Half Men exec producer Lee Aronsohn mostly just enjoyed the snacks, "I loved the brownies. It was worth the trip just for that. I don't get any brownies at home."
Stopping Traffic: Two cars in traffic across from the Shrine collided at the exact moment that Carlton Cuse turned off the street into the parking lot. I choose to believe the drivers were Lost fans who got distracted.
Car Talk: Speaking of traffic, parking was the big drama of the evening, with the incoming writers spilling out of the Shrine lot onto every street in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Writer Reid Harrison noted, "I parked over by a [USC] fraternity house. When I get back I hope there are still wheels on the car." And not that you couldn't have guessed this, but based on the contents of the Shrine Auditorium parking lot, the Toyota Prius is the Official Automobile of the Writers Guild of America, West. The record for Priuses parked immediately adjacent to each other currently stands at five. Last but not least, the guy who drives the black matte-finish Lotus that looks like the Batmobile but sounds like a jalopy? He left about 15 minutes after the thing started. (Dude, if you want to be stealth, you've got the wrong car.)
Pinko Slips: Communists were distributing literature at the gate under the vague guise of being WGA helpers, but one wag who managed to duck the handout quipped, "Oh, god, the Scientologists are everywhere!"
Local Color: Saw an actual Shrine Auditorium Shriner in an actual rhinestone-studded red fez. I truly believed they were mythical creatures. I would have been less surprised by a unicorn.
Disavow Any Knowledge... Finally, just to resolve the raging debate, I can report that as of tonight, How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas are officially taking back what they wrote about the coat-check girl being the mother. "No, she's not," Carter told me. "We wrote that during the strike. Actually, we didn't write that at all. A scab wrote that."
It's getting to be bedtime out here, so I'm signing off, but check back tomorrow and Monday for more dish from the Shrine, including scoop on Scrubs, Friday Night Lights, Battlestar and Burn Notice!
The negotiating committee and the board came out to a full house at the Shrine Auditorium. They were met with a standing ovation. Standing ovations continued through the meeting as Verrone congratulated the membership on its efforts over the last three plus months. Bowman discussed what the nature of negotiations were like on the inside, where we started, and what we've gained. David Young went through the deal point by point. Then, the floor was opened for Q&A.
Verrone announced at the top of the meeting that we would have a 48 hour membership vote on whether or not to lift the strike. Members will be notified tomorrow or Monday by email or phone about the strike lift vote. Then, likely on Tuesday (details are still being worked out) there will be a time and place that the general assembly can meet and cast their ballots. Members will also be able to vote by faxing a proxy ballot to the guild. The votes will be counted, and if it passes - we go back to work - tentatively on Wednesday. We then begin the 10 day ratification vote on the contract. (I assume this will happen whether or not members vote to lift the strike, however it may be a cross-that-bridge scenario.)
During the Q&A period, members offered many congratulations to the Negotiating Committee for their tireless work. There were also concerns raised about the 17 and 24 day windows of free content reuse on the internet, the lack of larger gains for cable syndication, and other legal language questions. However, overwhelmingly the crowd was pleased with the trailblazing the NegCom had accomplished in New Media: distributor's gross, separated rights, and percentage-based residuals.
Overall, the atmosphere was very upbeat, more so than many had anticipated. At times it felt like a victory rally. In fact, as of 10:30pm, there was only one openly hostile question during the Q&A session. It focused on the 17-day window for ad-supported streaming. Interestingly, the man who posed the question (pointedly saying, "You guys blinked.") drew some applause at first, but then elicited groans as his anger rose and he refused to relinquish the microphone. Many members have grave concerns about the 17-day window, but not to the same extent as that gentleman, who stormed from the room amid uncomfortable chuckling. That was the only moment of tension in what was, on the whole, a very inspirational evening.
If you're a guild member expect a call or email in the coming days to notify you of the vote. If you don't think the guild has your current phone number or email address give them a call with your updated information.
WGA leaders have called a press conference for noon today at WGA West headquarters to discuss the tentative contract proposal reached with the majors and the status of the three-month-old writers strike. Members of the WGA West board and WGA East council are meeting today to finalize plans for the membership vote that is widely expected to end the strike, and the separate vote of membership to formally ratify the new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Skedded to speak at the press conference are WGA West prexy Patric Verrone, WGA West exec director David Young, WGA's negotiations committee chairman John Bowman. WGA East prexy Michael Winship will also be included via telephone.
Here is some great news for LOST fans. I know Lindelof already said that they were unsure of how many new episodes will get done and that they will do their best to get as many as possible completed.
However, in this interview and article with the AP he says that Episode 9 could be ready to air right after 8 and that I dont see why we couldnt deliver all eight remaining episodes. Of course it would depend on the TV schedule and ABC.
Here are the details
NEW YORK (AP) - Damon Lindelof is eager for some answers. An executive producer of ABCs mystery serial Lost, he should learn this week what his shows future holds as it closes out its fourth season.
Lost has been back on the air just two weeks. But the strike meant a planned 16-episode shooting schedule was halted after just eight episodes were shot. Fans braced themselves for no more this season.
But we very much want to come back and do as many episodes as possible, said Lindelof, who then listed a few issues that first need to be settled.
How many episodes can best serve our story? And what are the production realities? He noted that the shooting facility in Hawaii, 2,500 miles from his Los Angeles office, had been shuttered since Thanksgiving. The crew has dispersed, the huge cast has scattered.
The first new post-strike episode of Lost could possibly be ready for broadcast the week after episode eight appears, he said. There likely would be three or four more after that.
Could there be even more?
Id be surprised if the network wanted to air episodes deep into the summer, he said. But if all the pieces fell into place, Lost fans would be blessed: I dont see why we couldnt deliver all eight remaining episodes.
That kind of zeal should warm viewers hearts. Lindelof and the rest of TVs creative community seem delighted to be back.
Id be surprised if the network wanted to air episodes deep into the summer, he said. But if all the pieces fell into place, Lost fans would be blessed: I dont see why we couldnt deliver all eight remaining episodes.
Nope, but that would be nice. Now they're saying they're working on four or five more definately and the other three will go on next years. HOWEVER, they're saying they're ending the season with the cliffhanger they'd planned before the strike which poses the question of, are they sacrificing a part of the story we would have seen but now won't? They say they'd add the remaining three eppies onto next season, but how can they do that if they're ending it the way they'd already planned? OY! My head is gonna splode!
But, we've found ourselves in situation where we had eight episodes of story planned, and we're going to try to fit that into five hours of the show. Even though it's going to be very hard to execute, we felt like any less would be doing a disservice to the story we had planned. We really want to give the fans the best possible experience and ending that we can to Season 4.
What will happen to the three "lost" episodes? Will they roll over into next season's 16, or will they vanish forever? Cuse: Damon and I remain committed to producing the 40 additional hours of the show that we promised. We haven't figured out exactly when we'll put those other three on, but we're not eliminating them from the show. You will get those three episodes downstream.
I know it's early, but have you decided what will have to get cut from this season's arc in order to accelerate things? Are we going to lose some flashbacks and/or flash-forwards? Cuse: All those conversations will take place tomorrow when we actually start talking about story.
CBS has announced show return dates and number of expected new episodes to air in the remainder of the season. That's the link to the list. I'll post the one of most interest to this board.
Moonlight, April 11, 4 episodes
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I feel like I just found out that my favorite love song was written about a sandwich.