Hollywood writers strike: What does that mean for my favorite shows?

On Monday, Hollywood writers began a strike. Its implications will be both immediate and far-reaching when it comes to your favorite shows. While the full damage depends on how long the strike lasts and what studios do, here's what we know now.

Late-night shows like 'The Tonight Show,''The Late Show,' and 'The Daily Show' immediately stopped running this week since writers come up with new material each day. Last week, Seth Meyers already said: “If you don't see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly, and that I will be heartbroken to miss you as well.”

In the last writers' strike in 2007-2008, the hosts stayed off air for at least two months, even though the strike lasted 100 days. David Letterman got back early by coming to new terms with the union, while Jay Leno started winging it and doing his own monologues.

In the same vein, weekly shows that blend current affairs with entertainment and comedy will be forced to run repeats too. That includes shows like 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' and 'This Week Tonight' with John Oliver. Regular news programs won't be impacted.

'Saturday Night Live' also relies on writers to come up with fresh new material each week, which means the show won't be able to go on. When a three-month writers' strike was called in 1981, the season ended in April, which is likely to happen now.

Parts of daytime TV will also feel the impact of the writers' strike. CBS's 'The Talk' is going dark after running a batch of previously taped episodes. NBC's 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' also hires unionized workers, but has a bank of shows, so shouldn't be as effected.

Since 'The View' is mainly an interview and chat show, they aren't as reliant on writers and will continue. However, on Tuesday, Whoopi Goldberg warned that the show won't be as polished as usual. "You’re gonna hear how it would be when it’s not, you know, slicked up,” she said.

Game shows like 'Jeopardy!' do use unionized writers to write clues and other content. However, the shows are taped months in advanced (and five shows per day!), so there's a big bank of content to draw from. But if the strike goes on too long, the upcoming season could be affected.

Soap operas, which tend to pump out episodes every weekday, usually have about one month of episodes pre-written. But when those run out, viewers may be out of luck. Or, as in the last weekend, they'll keep pumping out episodes by using non-unionized writers.

It depends on how long the strike lasts, but according to the New York Times, the strike won't become apparent until the end of the year. The strike also comes just as some shows wrapped filming for the season like 'Law & Order: SVU,' though others like 'FBI' had just one week left to shoot, so they could be affected.

During the 100-day 2007-2008 strike, many shows had shortened seasons. Take 'Breaking Bad,' for instance. Season one had just seven episodes compared to the 13 in the other seasons.

Image: Breaking Bad, AMC

We've all been desperately waiting for a favorite to release a new season. But we may have to extend our patience for the strike. In 2007-2008, the seventh season of the blockbuster show '24' was pushed back a full year, though Fox released a two-hour movie to bridge the gap.

While 'House of the Dragon' scripts were just turned in, the co-creator of the series 'Yellowjackets' tweeted that writing for season 3 was halted after "exactly one day of progress."

Although many studios have already been going cancel-crazy to cut down budgets after a pandemic spending spree, more shows might get the chop because of the strike. During the last strike, several shows already hanging by a thread were axed like 'Cashmere Mafia' or 'The 4400,' despite the season 4 cliffhanger!

The 1998 writers' strike helped popularize shows like 'Cops' and 'America's Most Wanted.' And the last strike from 2007-2008 prompted another boom in reality TV shows like 'Big Brother' and 'Celebrity Apprentice' to plug the holes in programming times.

While reality producers are not generally unionized, staff from shows like '90 Day Fiance' have organized with the Writers Guild of America. And with a glut of already filmed programming, reality TV producers told the LA Times that there hasn't been a scramble to get new reality shows going… yet.

Besides replacing shows with unscripted American content, writers' strikes have historically meant a boom for international shows and international writers (like Canadians). On the last Netflix call, the CEO said, “If there is [a strike], we have a large base of upcoming shows and films from around the world.”

Image: Squid Game, Netflix

According to the New York Times, film studios work around a year in advance, so movies scheduled for release this year are already finished shooting. However, during the last strike, some complained because half-finished films were rushed or written by non-unionized writers, which many say led to bad films like 'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.'

Image: 'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen,' Paramount Pictures

For the first time in 15 years, Hollywood writers have decided to go on strike. The decision was made after six weeks of negotiations with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount Plus, and Sony.

The labor dispute involves the Writers Guild of America unions, which represent around 11,500 professional writers in TV and film in the US. During the last strike in 2007-2008, the strike caused an estimated $2 billion in economic damage.

The union said big Hollywood companies have turned unionized workers into a “gig economy.” “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “day rate” in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters… they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession,” reads the union statement.

On the flip side, the studios say this is not the best time for a major change in how writers are paid. Share prices have plummeted, advertising is dropping, and companies like Disney are in the midst of massive layoffs.