It’s not an end. It’s not even necessarily an end in sight. But it’s the only way for the end to start. Tonight, the WGA and the AMPTP released a joint statement saying the striking writers and struck studios are going back to the bargaining table on Nov. 26. They say no other details will be revealed. Except on Deadline Hollywood Daily, I’m sure.
In other news today, NBC has picked up the until-now web-only series quarterlife from writer/producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (My So-Called Life, thirtysomething), presumably to fill a gap in their scripted schedule after Christmas — ironic, since shows that go the other way, from television to Internet, are at the centre of the current WGA strike. I haven’t seen it yet, and I’ve heard lukewarm things about it, but everyone’s ready to pounce on the first major web-to-television transition so there will be a lot of eyeballs on this one, including mine.
The stranger news is that ABC has ordered a full-season, 22 episode pick up of Dirty Sexy Money, just when it was starting to appear as though a show’s full season this year would consist of whatever scripts were completed before the strike. ABC is either sweetly optimistic or covering all options or … you know, I can’t even think of a nefarious alternative.