Drew Barrymore has caved to critics and paused her TV show until after the strikes are resolved.
Now the question is will other daytime talk show hosts follow suit?
Kelly Clarkson. Jennifer Hudson, Tamron Hall, and The Talk are all scheduled to return this week. The Talk is the only live show, and it remains to be seen if they will have an audience in the studio. My feeling is they won’t. There’s been no way for the public to book tickets, and CBS is likely worried about audience members becoming boisterous during the proceedings.
Barrymore wrote on social media: “I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over. I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today. We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”
Barrymore had to give in to the Writers Guild — and to SAG — if she wanted to keep any reputation. After declaring her show would go on, she then issued an apology on Instagram. The apology appeared so vague and insincere, and self serving, that her publicist made her remove it. That made things worse.
Drew’s only choice now is to join the picket line tomorrow, which I’m sure she’ll do, to try and spin this disaster.
As for the other talk shows I mentioned, we’ll see what decisions they make today. The daytime talk shows are covered under a different contract than the night time shows. Technically they can proceed, but only with scab writers. Some, like “The View” and Kelly Ripa’s show, say they’re not using writers and just playing it off the cuff. Soap operas are using scabs but if they don’t, their audiences will vanish, they argue, and the shows will be cancelled.
Keep refreshing.
