As a fan of television, I can tell with certainty that 2023 has been among the oddest and most trying years we’ve ever had.
For the first time in 63 years, both authors and actors went on strike this year, crippling the entertainment sector and halting all production. Scripted shows were abruptly forced to end, and those that would typically have started filming in the summer for an autumn return were postponed indefinitely.
Fortunately, after almost 150 days, the WGA strike has come to a close after the union reached a new deal with the AMPTP. With the writers’ strike over, production can finally begin on the upcoming seasons of several hit shows and networks are wasting no time in getting shows back up and running!
As October begins, the biggest studios in the game including Warner Bros. TV, ABC Signature, 20th Television, CBS Studios, Universal Television, and HBO are rushing their biggest hits back into production. In fact, in the first week of the month, more than two dozen of the biggest shows in television are slated to resume work with writers’ rooms starting up.
According to Deadline, the list of shows set to enter production is expected to expand in the days ahead as studios finally start work on their biggest scripted series now that the writers can begin working on scripts. However, the initial wave of shows kicking off production unsurprisingly features some of the biggest shows on air.
TV shows beginning production again after the WGA strikes:
9-1-1
Abbott Elementary
Alert
Animal Control
Bob’s Burgers
The Cleaning Lady
Criminal Minds: Evolution
Euphoria
Family Guy
FBI
Fire Country
Ghosts
Grey’s Anatomy
The Last Of Us
Law & Order
Law & Order: SVU
The Mole Agent
NCIS
The Neighborhood
Quantum Leap
Rescue: Hi-Surf
The Sex Lives of College Girls
The Simpsons
The White Lotus
Yellowjackets
Young Sheldon
The hope in opening writers’ rooms for television’s biggest hits is that the writers can begin crafting scripts for the upcoming seasons as the first key step to bringing series back into the fold. This should help pave the way for filming to begin in the weeks ahead once the actors’ union has inked a new deal of their own, at which point actors can begin filming on projects again.
As the WGA strike’s effects persist, more series should be added to the list above as networks try to start production on the newest seasons of their most popular shows in preparation for 2024. In other words, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally in sight, and it won’t be long before some of our favorite series return after months of disappointing updates.