Drew Barrymore has hit “pause” on her talk show’s controversial return amid the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike — and other shows have followed.
The short story: The actress and TV host was hit with backlash when she announced her show would return for its fourth season on Sept. 18. That’s because the Drew Barrymore Show employs WGA writers — who write monologues, jokes, intros, sketches and questions for the guests, among other things — and they have been striking since May. The WGA considers the show a struck show. Barrymore went ahead and taped anyway last week, as WGA writers protested. On Friday, she posted a video apologizing to writers and unions, but was committed to her decision that the show would premiere as scheduled. The video was slammed and Barrymore deleted it. Then, on Sunday, just one day before the premiere, Barrymore did an about-face. She announced her decision to “pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over.”
Other shows followed in pausing premieres: Monday was to be a big day for daytime with multiple shows returning after summer break. The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Talk, which also both also employ striking WGA writers, pulled the plug on their premieres on the heels of Barrymore’s decision. Sherri Shepherd’s eponymous show did return Monday as scheduled, but she does not employ WGA, so hers is not a struck show.
Sherri celebrated its return on Monday:
The BEST TIME IN DAYTIME is back!!!
— 📺 SHERRI 📺 (@sherrishowtv) September 18, 2023
Barrymore bears the brunt of the backlash: Barrymore has been the object of ire over the last week, but she wasn’t alone in her plans to return. As we noted, The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Talk were also going to return. They backed out after Barrymore was slammed. Meanwhile, The View — which also employs WGA writers — has continued to air both last spring and now this season. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg told the audience in May that their show is “different from most other shows,” because they are an interview-heavy program with off-the-cuff segments like “Hot Topics,” as a way of explaining why it is staying on the air. They said they’ll not have scab writers, so they won’t be “as slicked up” as they typically are with their WGA writers. However, it’s still a struck show and the WGA has protested outside The View’s studios many times since the strike began.
WGA is protesting outside of The View’s NYC studio on Monday:
Meanwhile, like Sherri, Live with Kelly and Mark as well as the Tamron Hall Show don’t employ WGA writers, so they returned to the air this month. Kelly Clarkson’s show, which does have WGA writers, has not announced its return date.
Making it more complicated is that SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing Hollywood actors in their contracts with studios, is also on strike now. However, daytime talk shows (as well as soaps, reality shows and news programs) are under a separate contract — the “Network Code” — so Barrymore and other SAG-AFTRA members are clear to perform their daytime hosting duties. Actors can appear as guests on the daytime talk shows as long as they don’t discuss or promote work covered by the struck television, theatrical or streaming contracts. That said, many are opting not to appear in support of the striking unions.
As for Barrymore being called out, when she’s one of several shows, Indiana University’s Alicia Kozma told Yahoo Entertainment that it can be attributed to the “privileged position” of the host/actress.
“She’s someone who was born into a legacy Hollywood family and intergenerational wealth that was really, in large part, helped, created, maintained and regenerated because they were in unions,” explained Kozma, who heads IU’s Cinema. “Her father, grandfather and she have been protected by unions, and in large ways their generational wealth has come from the active participation in unions, so I think there is — at least certainly online — a pervading feeling of hypocrisy around the move.”
