CBS’ talk show “The Drew Barrymore Show” will return without writers despite to the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. This came as a bit of a shock considering the host took a very pro-union stance when the strike began in May.
“Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born out of their creation,” Barrymore said. She even backed out of hosting the MTV Movie & TV Awards, to stand in solidarity with the WGA. “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 at the time.
At the beginning of the strike, “The Drew Barrymore Show” was already on a scheduled summer hiatus. So the actress did not have to make a judgment call about her own flagship property until recently. A CBS spokesperson told Vanity Fair the decision to return during the strike doesn’t conflict with her earlier support of it. Since the talk show “will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike.”
But WGA spokesperson Jason Gordon believes those comments don’t hold up. “The Drew Barrymore Show is a WGA-covered struck television show. It has stayed off the air since the strike began on May 2nd, but has now (unfortunately) decided to return without its writers,” he says.
“The Guild has, and will continue to, picket any struck show that continues production during the duration of the strike,” Gordon added. Those picket lines will start September 11th, which is the first day that audience members will be brought into the studio for tapings. This means any employees and audience members will have to literally cross the picket line to get in.
While talk shows like “The Drew Barrymore Show” may seem off the cuff and spontaneous, they really aren’t. Things like opening monologues, skits, and interviews all use writers. (Do you really think studios would pay for writers if they weren’t absolutely necessary?)
The other issue here is the ongoing strike by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). To be clear, Barrymore is not in violation of this strike, even though she is a member of this guild. This is because the show is covered under SAG-AFTRA’s Netcode contract, which is not currently on strike. So as long as she doesn’t promote any of her old movies on the show, she’s not violating strike rules.
The same goes for any guests on the show that are members of SAG-AFTRA. Members are allowed to appear on talk shows, as long as they don’t promote any work distributed, produced, or financed by studios/streaming platforms that are part of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). For example, if Danny Trejo came on and talked about his favorite zucchini bread recipe, that is fine. But if he talked about/promoted “Machete,” that would be a violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules.
But again, anyone appearing on the show would be crossing the picket line for WGA, member or not. Because, while their goals may align, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are completely different entities with different rules and strikes. TV writer and former WGAW Board Member David Slack has offered a concise breakdown of the different between the two on X (formally Twitter).
New episodes of “The Drew Barrymore Show” will begin airing on CBS on September 18th.
