MM News

Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore is resuming her daytime talk show, despite the industry writers’ and actors’ strikes.

New York-based Barrymore, who says she completed last season’s episodes on April 20, two weeks before the Writers Guild of America strike began May 2, is back in action this week on new episodes, despite pulling out as host of the MTV Movie & TV Awards in May.

Now, the syndicated “Jennifer Hudson Show” and CBS’ “The Talk” are expected to resume production too, with new episodes airing September 18, said executives familiar with plans who declined to publicly confirm them. All will do so without using WGA writers.

“I own this choice,” she wrote in an Instagram post, for a show that may have my name on it, but this is bigger than just me, and will put a large production staff back to work, apparently as its star improvises without writers. The WGA announced plans to picket her studio on Manhattan’s West 57 Street. However, not all talk shows are the same: Some have remained in production, while others, in both daytime and late night are expected to remain “dark” for the duration.

Per WGA strike rules, most daytime talk shows are allowed to continue to run because a lot of them do not employ writers who are a part of the union. Two exceptions include The Drew Barrymore Show and The Talk, which went dark at the start of the strike and continues to play reruns, as do the late-night talk shows. Other daytime shows that also are airing originals include Tamron Hall and Live With Kelly and Mark.