Backlash: Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Hudson, other daytime talkshows postpone premieres
What's the story
The ongoing historic writers' strike has led to the postponement of several daytime talk shows, including The Jennifer Hudson Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, and CBS's The Talk.
Jennifer Hudson's syndicated talk show—distributed by Warner Bros.—had originally been scheduled to make its new season premiere on Monday (local time).
However, in response to the backlash from striking writers and netizens, Hudson herself reportedly advocated pausing the production of the show.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Despite the strike's challenges, certain talk shows like ABC's daytime talk show, The View have managed to continue production.
However, this talk show maintains that the work performed by their striking writers is irreplaceable and has not been taken up by other staff members or temporary replacements.
Notably, the strike has resulted in mounting criticism, putting pressure on talk shows to reconsider their season premiere schedule.
Backlash
Backlash forced premiere date revisions
All three shows, The Drew Barrymore Show, The Talk, and The Jennifer Hudson Show have a history of being signatories to the Writers Guild of America's minimum basic agreement and have previously engaged WGA writers on their staff.
The initial wave of criticism began when Drew Barrymore announced her show's fourth installment premiere set for Monday (September 18).
However, in response to the backlash generated by this decision, she issued an apology and opted to postpone the premiere.
Twitter Post
Barrymore issued an apology post-backlash
We said it wasn’t too late to do the right thing, and we meant it. Thank you, @DrewBarrymore for standing with us. #WGAStrong pic.twitter.com/NCCgOvWMf4 — David Slack (@slack2thefuture) September 17, 2023
Controversy
Striking writers questioned the decision to announce premieres
While major criticism was directed at Barrymore, it's important to note that striking writers also raised questions regarding the choices made by The Talk and The Jennifer Hudson Show to announce their Monday premieres.
Notably, Hudson's show made this announcement several weeks ago.
WGA picketers had been actively targeting The Talk outside CBS Radford studios ever since the show's return was first announced.
Details
Meanwhile, talk shows that didn't employ WGA writers continued productions
Another daytime talk show, NBCUniversal's The Kelly Clarkson Show—which is also a signatory to the WGA, is currently in the process of relocating its production from Los Angeles to New York.
As of now, it has not announced a premiere date.
Meanwhile, several additional daytime programs, such as Live with Kelly and Mark, Tamron Hall Show, and Sherri—hosted by Sherri Shepherd—do not employ WGA writers and are proceeding with their regular production schedules without disruption.