Spoilers may slow down

Spoilers from your favorite television program may slow down, according to those closest to the rumor mill biz. TVSquad is saying that shows will only have "exclusive" spoilers for as long as the show is in production. So those of you who have to hear what's going to happen next on LOST may have to wait a little while.

Note that you're talking about long term spoilers here. The spoilers that come a few days before the episode airs are from post-production people, as well as shows that are airing in the spring such as LOST, Monk, Psych and The Shield. Otherwise, the spoiler well will be drying up soon.

CONFIRMED: LOST to be split in half.

It seems that, unless the strike ends quickly and abruptly, Season 4 of LOST will be eight episodes, half of the original order, and 24 episodes will air in 2008 in a fashion not unlike, say, '24', according to Kristin on E! Online.

Damon Lindelof had this to say:

"It's as much of a conclusion as, say, Ana-Lucia and Libby getting shot. An eight-episode season is an incomplete season, and I am not going to try to spin it any other way."

So there you have it, it seems pretty much certain that LOST will be broken up and the more days pass the less likely it is '24' will be on before September.

News Roundup for 11/7/07

A show by show roundup of today's news involving popular TV shows:

24 became the first non-talk show to be officially delayed by the strike. According to a press release reported on in Broadcasting and Cable, "24" has been forced to delay its season premiere. Worse yet, ODI is reporting that, if the strike does not end by the end of this month, Season 7 could be canceled. Apparently, Janeane Garofalo is on the picket line and may not show up for work.

Meanwhile, B&C is also reporting that LOST will go ahead with a truncated eight episode season in 2008, much to displeasure of almost everyone involved on the show. Take this quote from Wednesday's Ask Ausiello:

"Damon [Lindelof] and my concern about running the [eight] episodes we will have made is that it will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down. There is a mini-cliff-hanger at the end of Episode 8, but it's like the end of an exciting book chapter; it's not the end of the novel. Damon and I didn't write [the ending of Episode 8] differently [with the looming strike in mind]. We wrote it to be the ending of Episode 8." - Carolton Cuse

With that in mind, we turn to Heroes, which was planing on ending a 11-episode arc anyway. So will NBC be stopping the series there? No, says Greg Grunberg in an interview with BuddyTV. It seems that the scripts are 100% finished through episode 13, and that they are finishing 11 right now. While Grunberg says that the network has the choice when to show the next two episodes, but the last hiatus didn't do Heroes any favors...

Also, don't expect the web-comic to continue during the hiatus, either, says TVBlend.

Perhaps the worst news of all come from The Shield where The Mercury News is reporting that Shawn Ryan, the creative force behind the show, will not participate in the filming of the series finale due to the strike. Ryan, who also created The Unit, was a member of the WGA negotiation team.

Also on Day 3, show-runners of several hit shows including LOST, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Grey's, Law and Order: SVU, Six Feet Under--as well as Joss Whedon and and Ryan all joined the picket lines, according to Variety. The story also says that Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy is refusing to do any work on his show but Fox is trying to continue without him--which should be interesting as he does many of the voices on the show. (For you Grey's and PP fans, there are three or four episodes of each written and ready to shoot).

The Office also came to a halt because Steve Carrell refused to cross lines. (NC Times)

And producers looking for scabs won't be able to look to Canada. The WGC said it will not accept work on US productions, according to The Globe and Mail.

Meanwhile, Ellen will go back to work for her show, sans writers, EW reports. If there's anyone who could wing it, it'd be Ellen, but this will be a test for other daytime hosts to see if they can be successful without writers. Meanwhile, EW is also reporting that you should expect studios other than Paramount to stop renewing and ordering episodes of shows... which means that even when the strike is over, there will be a scramble to fill the schedule with something other than Big Brother and Skating With Celebrities.