There's been a flurry of internet activity surrounding the future of LOST and other similar television shows recently, especially concerning the WGA strike. Not only is our favorite prime time drama in trouble, but other shows may be hitting it hard soon.
Most immediately affected will be the late night talk shows, such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" , and "Colbert Report". These shows depend on script writers for the material produced, and no script essentially means that the show cannot function. Other talk shows, such as "The Oprah Winfrey show," don't employ union script writers, and therefore will be unaffected. Yet others made provisions before the strike went underway, that will allow them to continue their current level of production.
NBC's "The Office" has shut down production, as of today. Several of the actors/writers joined in on the picket lines, and filming was forced to halt, leaving the attempt to fit in a final episode unfulfilled. No more episodes of the show are to be produced until the strike has ended. NBC has plans to show new episodes this Thursday, and on the fifteenth of this month. After that, however, the show is out of new material, and its future is uncertain.
As for LOST, fans have at least one thing to look forward to; eight out of the planned sixteen episodes for season four have been completed, hopefully in a presentable form. While no further tweaks can be made to the episodes, they will be ready to show in February, giving the fans at least something to look forward to. Lindelof and Cuse marched out to the picket lines, showing their support for the strike. Cuse had a teasing sign, dangling the answers to the show and suggesting that if fans wanted to see the mysteries resolved, the strike would have to be resolved first. For the fans that have waited patiently through a hiatus twice as long as that for a normal show, we can only hope that things will be resolved. Otherwise, we'll have only eight episodes to look forward to this season.
Speaking of the return in February, ABC is apparently unwilling to rearrange its current Wednesday lineup. Rumor has it that LOST will return Mondays at 8/7c, running it opposite other favorite shows such as "Prison Break."
For more information concerning updates for the strike, check out this WGA Strike Blog
