Drew Barrymore has hosted her talk show since Sep. 2020.
Drew announced plans for the show to return, despite the SAG and WGA strikes, in an Instagram post on Sep. 10, 2023.
The WGA has announced plans to picket Drew’s show.
Drew Barrymore will return to her talk show very soon! The actress, 48, announced that her show would make it’s return later in Sep. 2023 in an Instagram post on Sep. 10. While she announced that The Drew Barrymore Show would be back on air soon, the actress faced backlash as the WGA and SAG strikes are still continuing. Despite her plans to comply with union rules to not promote struck material, the WGA has still announced that her show returning will be in violation of the strike rules.
Ahead of the show’s return, here are all the details you need to know about when it will be back on air, and the controversy surrounding its return.
Drew Backs Out of MTV Movie & TV Awards Amid Strike
Season 3 of The Drew Barrymore Show ended back in April before the writers’ strike began in May. At the time, Drew was tapped to host the 2023 MTV Movie and TV Awards, but she backed out in solidarity with the strike. She said she’d return for the 2024 show. “I have listened to the writers, and in order to truly respect them, I will pivot from hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards live in solidarity with the strike,” she said in a statement at the time, via Variety.
Drew explained her reasoning further in her post announcing her talk show’s return. “I made a choice to walk away from the MTV, film and television awards because I was the host and it had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with which was studios, streamers, film, and television. It was also in the first week of the strike and so I did what I thought was the appropriate thing at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers,” she wrote in her Instagram post.
Drew Announces Her Show Will Return
Drew revealed her plans for her show to come back on Sep. 10. “I am also making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me,” she wrote, after explaining why she backed out of the MTV Movie and TV Awards. “I own this choice.”
After explaining that she wouldn’t speak about struck movies or shows, she gave more of her reasoning for the return. “I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience,” she said. “I hope for a resolve for everyone as soon as possible. We have navigated difficult times since we first came on air. And so I take a step forward to start season 4 once again with an astute humility.”
The WGA Announces Plans to Picket ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’
The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on “The Drew Barrymore Show” is in violation of WGA strike rules.
— Writers Guild of America, East (@WGAEast) September 10, 2023
While Drew said that her show was “in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind,” the WGA had a different response. “The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ is in violation of WGA strike rules,” the guild wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ Season 4 Premiere Date
The Drew Barrymore Show will return on Sep. 18, 2023, per CNN. Other daytime talk shows such as The View, Tamron Hall, and The Kelly Clarkson Show have continued amid the strikes.
