'The Talk' Scraps Return Plans Amid Hollywood Strikes

The ladies of The Talk will not be talking after all. After CBS announced Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O'Connell, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, and Natalie Morales would be returning to the studio for new episodes that would begin airing Monday amid the ongoing WGA strike, the show's return has been paused, with CBS confirming in a statement, per Deadline, "The Talk is pausing its season premiere scheduled for September 18. We will continue to evaluate plans for a new launch date."
 
Produced by CBS Studios and heading into Season 14, The Talk went dark in May as members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) officially began their strike. As the show already had a batch of previously taped original episodes, those episodes aired throughout the first few days of the strike before The Talk officially went dark. However, more than three months into the strike, The Hollywood Reporter reported last week that The Talk was set to return to TV. Sources noted that the show is primarily unscripted and only has one writing position on its staff of around 150 employees. The sources added that "no one will be handling this writing role during the writers strike and hosts will be ad-libbing."
 
The decision to postpone The Talk's return comes after Drew Barrymore announced that her self-titled talk show would not be returning Monday. Barrymore initially announced on Sept. 6 that her show would be returning for Season 4 on Sept. 18. Following fierce backlash from the WGA and actors, Barrymore reversed course and confirmed that her talk show would remain dark.
 
"I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over," Barrymore said. "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."
 
Similarly, The Jennifer Hudson Show, which was originally set to return to TV for its second season Monday, has paused production. Meanwhile, Bill Maher recently announced that his talk show, Real Time with Bill Maher, will re-start production without writers, returning with an original episode on Friday, Sept. 22 at 10 p.m.
 
The current Hollywood strikes began on May 2 with the WGA, which represents more than 11,000 Hollywood TV and movie writers, after the organization failed to reach an acceptable agreement after six weeks of wage negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) also began a strike on July 4. The organizations are asking for fair contracts, "minimum earnings to simply keep up with inflation," and protection of performers' "images and performances to prevent replacement of human performances by artificial intelligence technology, among other demands.