Bill Maher Reverses Decision to Resume Talk Show Amid Strikes
The post Bill Maher Reverses Decision to Resume Talk Show Amid Strikes appeared first on Consequence.
Bill Maher has reversed course and is pausing the return of his weekly HBO show Real Time amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
With the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer set to restart negotiations later this week, Maher announced on Monday that he will hold off resuming production “for now.”
“My decision to return to work was made when it seemed nothing was happening and there was no end in sight to this strike,” Maher said. “Now that both sides have agreed to go back to the negotiating table I’m going to delay the return of Real Time, for now, and hope they can finally get this done.”
Last week, Maher announced that, despite the ongoing strikes, new episodes of Real Time would begin airing on September 22nd. “It has been five months, and it is time to bring people back to work,” Maher said in a previous statement. “The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and hope they are addressed to their satisfaction, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns. Despite some assistance from me, much of the staff is struggling mightily. We all were hopeful this would come to an end after Labor Day, but that day has come and gone, and there still seems to be nothing happening. I love my writers, I am one of them, but I’m not prepared to lose an entire year and see so many below-the-line people suffer so much.”
Maher promised that he would “honor the spirit of the strike by not doing a monologue, desk piece, New Rules or editorial,” the written pieces of the show, and focus only on its panel discussion.
Maher’s about-face comes a day after Drew Barrymore similarly caved to pressure and postponed plans to resume her own daytime talk show.
Revisit our explainers on the WGA strike and SAG-AFTRA strike.
My decision to return to work was made when it seemed nothing was happening and there was no end in sight to this strike. Now that both sides have agreed to go back to the negotiating table I’m going to delay the return of Real Time, for now, and hope they can finally get this…
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 18, 2023
Bill Maher Reverses Decision to Resume Talk Show Amid Strikes
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