‘The Jennifer Hudson Show’ and ‘The Talk’ Join ‘Drew’ in Return to Production Amid Strikes

The Jennifer Hudson Show (Credit: Debmar-Mercury)

Now that The Drew Barrymore Show has resumed production, other daytime talk shows plan to follow the show’s lead, despite the ongoing Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Both Warner Bros. syndicated The Jennifer Hudson Show and CBS’ The Talk are returning to production, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

Hudson’s show falls under a WGA contract and will get back to work without writers, sources told Variety. The Talk will also move forward without union writers.

Related StoryCalifornia State Treasurer Urges Hollywood Studios to ‘Promptly’ End Crippling Writers and Actors Strikes

Talk show hosts are covered under a separate SAG-AFTRA contract than actors and can continue to work.

Debmar-Mercury’s Sherri is returning to production as well, but is not a WGA show.

Drew Barrymore stunned Hollywood on Sunday, when she announced her show would be resuming production.

“I own this choice. We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind,” Barrymore wrote in a statement on Instagram.

The actress, who is also an executive producer on her show, faced backlash on social media from members of both unions.

The WGA responded with a statement saying, “The Drew Barrymore Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on The Drew Barrymore Show is in violation of WGA strike rules.”

WGA members, including Barrymore’s union writers, began picking outside the show’s New York-based studio early Monday morning.

Some audience members who attended the show’s taping spoke to reporters and said they were kicked out of the studio by security for wearing pins and shirts supporting the WGA Strike.


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