As new episodes fade, TV facing a long winter

AS NEW EPISODES FADE, TV FACING A LONG WINTER
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Gary Levin]
A writers' strike that has slowed the flow of new TV shows is threatening to linger well into next year — and force more lasting changes in Hollywood that determine what we watch and when, at home and in theaters. If the Writers Guild of America strike isn't settled by early in the new year, the absence of new scripts will narrow the pipeline of movies headed to theaters starting in late 2008. For the top broadcast networks, the impact would be more immediate: The rest of this TV season could be a virtual washout, cluttered with reality shows and repeats as the networks run out of fresh episodes of sitcoms and dramas. The development of new shows for next season already has come to a standstill, jeopardizing the calendars for networks' lucrative ad-selling ritual in the spring and their traditional rollout of new shows in September. Meanwhile, a wide swath of the entertainment business in Hollywood and beyond is — or soon will be — unemployed, with tens of thousands of makeup artists, truck drivers and others caught in the strike's crossfire.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20071213/1a_cover13.art.htm