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The dual WGA and SAG-SAFTRA strikes need to be resolved by the end of this month if scripted primetime fare such as 9-1-1: Lone Star and The Cleaning Lady are to return with new episodes in the 2023-24 TV season, says Fox entertainment president Michael Thorn.
Sources tell TVLine that it will take scripted shows roughly eight weeks to get back into production once the strikes are resolved.
“You’re going get to a point in the fall, in the late fall, where it’s going to be very hard to launch [scripted shows] within the traditional TV viewing season,” Thorn told our sister site Deadline.
Fox’s fall TV slate features one full night of scripted animated fare (on Sundays), while the rest of the week is rife with multiple Gordon Ramsay cooking competitions, new seasons of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Name That Tune and The Masked Singer, 9-1-1: Lone Star reruns, the new, David Spade-hosted Snake Oil game show, and, of course, Friday Night SmackDown.
It sounds like the studios have about a month and a half to engage in good-faith negotiations before losing an entire season of scripted television.
I remember during the last writers’ strike, studios leaned hard on reality television; but I’m wondering if reality television will be enough to keep the studios afloat as they try to keep their streaming services relevant.
In my personal opinion, reality TV will not be able to work as a streaming exclusive in the way a truly solid scripted show can; and I wonder how much longer the studios can drag their feet.