When Drew Barrymore revealed in May that she would stand down as presenter of the MTV Movie & TV Awards to demonstrate solidarity with striking Hollywood writers, she got a flood of support from fans and viewers.
The announcement that she will be bringing back her daytime chat show sans its unionised writers elicited a totally different reaction: Picketers protested outside the CBS studios in Manhattan on Monday, where the programme was recording the first episode of its fourth season, which is set to air next week. One guy carried a placard that said, “Drew the right thing.”
The network announced that “The Drew Barrymore Show,” a bright, interview-oriented programme that debuted in 2020, would return without written material “covered by the W.G.A. strike” — a similar approach taken by some other talk shows during the dual writer-actor strikes that have shut down much of Hollywood. This month, “The View,” the daytime powerhouse, started showing programmes from its new season.
As “The Drew Barrymore Show” prepared to tape its first episode since April, a couple of dozen picketers from both the Writers Guild of America and the union that represents actors, SAG-AFTRA, marched outside CBS Broadcast Centre on West 57th Street, as audience members lined up along the sidewalk.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Barrymore, the actress turned presenter, justified the programme’s decision to resume, claiming that the show will be “in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.”
“I own this choice,” she claimed in the essay, adding, “We went live in the midst of a global pandemic.” Our programme was created for delicate times and has only functioned in response to what the actual world is experiencing in real time. I want to be there to do what authors do so well: bring us all together or help us make sense of the human experience. I’m hoping for a quick resolution for everyone.”
The Writers Guild of America said on X, the previously known as Twitter, that the programme was covered by its union and that “any writing on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ is in violation of WGA strike rules.”
During the four-month-long writers’ strike, several daytime television shows, like ABC’s “Tamron Hall” and “Live With Kelly and Mark,” have broadcast new material.
Cristina Kinon, a co-head writer of “The Drew Barrymore Show” who held a banner at the picket that stated “Drew’s WGA crew,” claimed she was one of three striking union writers on the programme and that they found out the show was resuming when production sent out a call for audience members.
“I’m disappointed,” said Kinon, who has worked on the programme from its inception. “I wish everyone in the industry could stand with the unions in solidarity.” However, everyone must make their own unique choice.”
Following reports on social media that two individuals were ejected from the crowd during Monday’s taping for wearing Writers Guild pins handed to them outside the studio, the programme claimed in a statement that they were not allowed to enter due to “heightened security concerns.” The show said that they will be given replacement tickets.
Late-night programmes, which rely heavily on writers, remain gloomy. During the last strike, which began in 2007, the presenters gradually returned after roughly two months, but their writers remained on strike. So yet, no one has chosen to do so.
Instead, five of the hosts, including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, recently launched a podcast dubbed “Strike Force Five,” with earnings benefiting the staffs of their respective programmes.
Part of the outrage stems from Barrymore’s decision to step out as presenter of the MTV Movie & TV Awards early in the strike. The chat show had already gone on vacation for the summer, according to Kinon, but she had been engaged in crafting Barrymore’s content for the awards event until the host chose to pull out.
Barrymore said on Instagram that she decided to leave down as MTV presenter because the programme “had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with, which was studios, streamers, film, and television.”
“I did what I thought was the appropriate thing at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers,” Barrymore said in a blog post. “However,” she said, “I am also making the decision to return for the first time in this strike for our show, which may have my name on it, but this is bigger than just me.”
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