Real Time With Bill Maher is set to return to the airwaves, albeit without the services of its writers. The host himself announced via Twitter on Wednesday that "Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing." After a five-month hiatus, Maher believes it is time to bring people back to work. Know more interesting updates from dailypopmix.com.
Appreciation for the writers
While he sympathises with the writers' important issues, he acknowledges that they are not the only ones with problems and concerns. Maher further notes that much of the staff is struggling and appreciates his writers, but he is not willing to sacrifice an entire year and see so many below-the-line personnel suffer.
The HBO program is scheduled to resume on Friday, September 22nd at 7:00 PM PT, without a pre-written monologue, desk piece, New Rules segment, or editorial segments, as stated by Maher. He added that the show, which will be performed without his writers, will not be as good as the regular one.
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A formal statement was released
However, the core of the program is an impromptu panel discussion that aims to cut through the nonsense and predictable partisanship, and that will continue. The show will satisfy. The Writers Guild of America has issued a statement indicating that it will picket strike shows in production during the strike.
The WGA expressed disappointment in Bill Maher's decision to return to the air while his Guild was on strike. In a more detailed statement posted on Twitter/X on Wednesday night, the WGA stated that if Maher proceeds with his plan, he must honour more than the spirit of the strike.
Proceed without infringing
The statement asserts that, as a member of the WGA, Bill Maher is bound by the strike regulations and is prohibited from providing any writing services. It is challenging to envision how Real-Time can proceed without violating the WGA strike rules, and consequently, the WGA will be picketing the show.
The decision to recommence production of Real Time coincides with a surge of daytime talk shows resuming without writers as the writers' and actors' strikes persist. The Drew Barrymore Show was the first to resume, and on Monday, it attracted a group of picketers when it resumed filming in New York.
The performers proceeded with their performances
On the same day, three other shows - The Talk, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Sherri - announced their return to the air. On Wednesday, a rehearsal taping for The Talk was met with approximately 50 WGA picketers.
Real-Time is the first major late-night series to resume broadcasting amidst ongoing work stoppages, following the example of late-night hosts such as Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, who continued their shows without writers' assistance during the 2007-2008 strike.
Confronted with the prospect
Presently, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night With Seth Meyers remain off the air. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike for 135 days, while SAG-AFTRA has been withholding its labour for 61 days.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, these strikes have resulted in the closure of most Hollywood productions, leading to a loss of 17,000 jobs in the entertainment industry in August alone. Some industry members are now facing the threat of eviction. Crew union-organized food banks have assisted thousands of individuals, with no end date for the strikes currently in sight.