The writers' strike is officially over

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

The movie and TV writers' strike effectively ended Tuesday night as union members voted overwhelmingly to go back to work today. Now programmers are busy getting back to business after a dry spell that deprived viewers of new episodes and networks of ratings.

"I'm relieved; I think everybody is," says CBS chairman Leslie Moonves. "We want to get our regular schedule back up there as soon as we can," with four to six episodes of most dramas and up to eight episodes of comedies by April.

NBC will have new episodes of its comedies and several dramas (though some will wait till fall), and is weighing whether ER and Friday Night Lights will continue: "Both are shows we want to keep alive," says NBC co-chairman Marc Graboff.

For how long is uncertain. Most network won't extend scripted series into June; they'd rather bank episodes to get an early start to fall.

But executives say the three-month writers' walkout will hasten at least temporary changes in the TV business.

There's added momentum to extend the rollout of new shows, de-emphasizing the traditional September premiere week; to reduce the number of costly pilot episodes programmers pick from in setting their new lineups; to cut back on rich development deals with writer/producers; and to scale back some of the lavish May presentations to advertisers in New York, where fall schedules are announced.

Some of these changes would have happened anyway: NBC plans a gradual launch in late summer, just after the Beijing Olympics.

Fox has four series yet to premiere that it hopes will "cement an audience … so we don't have to go and have everything ready for fall," says Fox chairman Peter Liguori. "It's really more slowly baked development with an eye toward spring" and American Idol.

"There's a desire to change how we do business, and that's been accelerated by the strike," says Graboff. "Do I think realistically it's going to happen now? No. I think it's going to be a process. It's in the interest of a lot of people in Hollywood to maintain the status quo. "

But Moonves believes "a lot of these things will stick. We'll be learning lessons. You'll say, 'Gee, that's a more economical way of doing business, and it works just fine.' "

A shortened window to develop new fall programs — and a decision by some networks to delay returns of this season's new crop until then — will reshape the year, prompting fewer new shows than usual.

"Will pilots be scaled back? Undoubtedly," says Moonves, who says CBS "possibly will announce more blanks in our schedule in May" if pilots aren't completed in time.