The Talk Delaying Season Premiere Due to Strike Backlash

CBS daytime talk show The Talk will not premiere its new season on Monday, September 18th as planned. On Sunday, the network announced that The Talk is delaying its premiere, an announcement that comes in the wake of Drew Barrymore’s announcement to pause the return of her own talk show on Monday amid backlash and criticism with the ongoing Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes. A new premiere date for The Talk has not yet been announced.

“The Talk is pausing its season premiere scheduled for September 18,” CBS said in a statement (via Deadline). “We will continue to evaluate plans for a new launch date.”

It had been announced last week that The Talk planned to return on Monday. The announcement prompted picketing by the WGA outside the show’s CBS Radford studios in Los Angeles. The Talk had stopped airing new episodes back in May at the start of the writers’ strike.  The Talk is hosted by Akbar Gbajabiamila, Amanda Kloots, Natalie Morales, Jerry O’Connell, and Sheryl Underwood and, when it does debut a new season, will be entering its 14th season.

Drew Barrymore is Also Delaying the Return of Her Talk Show

On Sunday, Barrymore also announced that she will not be resuming production on her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. Barrymore had announced last week that production would resume on the show without its WGA writing staff. The decision was met with near-universal backlash from both fans and the entertainment industry. On Friday, Barrymore posted an apology video on Instagram attempting to explain her decision, but it, too, was met with criticism and was soon taken down. Barrymore’s announcement on Sunday notes that she has “listened to everyone” regarding the matter in making her decision.

“I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s premiere until the strike is over,” Barrymore wrote in a post on Instagram. “I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today. We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon.”

Why is The WGA Striking?

The WGA have cited a slew of reasons for the strike, which began on May 1st and has already had a domino effect on the larger industry. The union hopes to see improvements in residuals from media streamed online, as well as additional benefits and safeguards against artificial intelligence potentially being used to write stories instead of real writers. According to reporting from last month, WGA representatives have told the AMPTP that even if a deal is closed with the WGA, the writers will not start work until the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors strike is also resolved. 

What do you think about the decision for The Talk to delay their season premiere? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.