TV Shows Go Dark as Showrunners Support Strike

Some Predict Strike Will Continue Through to 2008

As showrunners refuse to cross the picket line, with plans for a major rally set for Wednesday, sitcom and drama sets are going dark -- in some cases sooner than the nets and studios had anticipated.

"The New Adventures of Old Christine" could conceivably produce a seg this week -- but exec producer Kari Lizer shut the show down, as star Julia Louis-Dreyfus hit the picket lines in support of the scribes. Fox's "Back to You" was set to return from hiatus today, but that table-read was scrapped, and it appears the show won't return until the writers do.

Also already dark: Fox's "'Til Death" and CBS' "Rules of Engagement." And it doesn't appear as if much is getting done over on NBC's "The Office" either.

Even shows still in production will likely go dark in the next week or two, as those remaining scripts are shot, with nothing left in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, latenight TV remained dark Tuesday as word leaked out that "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" have told their support staffs they would be laid off in two weeks, barring a strike settlement. "Late Show with David Letterman" has also put its staffers on notice.

A high volume of exec producers are refusing to cross the picket lines even to perform non-writing duties on scripts that have already been completed. That's forcing shows to shut down sooner than the webs expected, even under the strike scenario.

Some are predicting the strike will go into 2008. Contracts for DGA and SAG expire in June.

"My gut tells me at this point that it's going to be a long strike," said Alan Brunswick, a former AMPTP staff counsel now with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. "Both sides at this point are too entrenched for it to end quickly. I want to be wrong about this one, but the two sides are so angry with each other that it's probably going to be awhile."