Late-night shows are set to return beginning October with the official end of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike as of midnight Wednesday (September 27; 04:00 UTC).
This also meant "Strike Force Five," the podcast created by five late-night talk show presenters - CBS's Stephen Colbert, NBC's Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, and HBO's John Oliver - is also scheduled to wrap up as it had served its purpose of assisting staffers who are on strike.
"This is the Strike Force 5 signing off and the Late Night 5 signing back on," the announcement concluded in an Instagram post.
The 12-episode podcast only lasted for a month, as per The Hill.
Other talk shows are also set to resume production in the coming days and weeks after several attempts were made, especially Bill Maher, Drew Barrymore, and Jennifer Hudson, to name a few.
Read Also: SAG-AFTRA Authorizes Video Game Actor Strikes for Higher Pay, Better Conditions
As WGA Strike Ends, SAG-AFTRA Likely to Keep Picketing
In response to its new tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), WGA shared the 96-page memorandum of agreement on its website, as well as a summary of the key provisions studios and writers have agreed upon, particularly safeguards against the excessive use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Meanwhile, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), who went on strike two months into their WGA counterparts', are yet to end their own picketing until the AMPTP and video game firms would offer the union a fair deal. According to Deadline, the two parties might come to the negotiating table at the heels of the WGA deal, but a SAG-AFTRA representative noted that they were yet to schedule and confirm the dates when negotiations would happen.
What is Strike Force Five?
Strike Force Five is a podcast created by late-night talk show presenters as a way to provide a financial boost to the staffers of their respective shows who were participating in the four-month-long strike. It was also an outlet for the presenters to keep audiences entertained while their staffers ran the picket lines.
However, not everyone was impressed by the five presenters' attempt to entertain people while their staffers were on strike.
Last August, Oliver Bateman wrote a piece on UnHerd, urging podcast listeners to boycott Strike Force Five, saying that their effort to demonstrate their versatility and camaraderie amid the strikes "faltered" in execution. Adrian Horton also wrote in The Guardian about how the five prioritized chemistry over substance, while Primetimer's Brianna Wellen noted that the short-lived podcast revealed just how unrelatable they all were.
Related Article: Writers Strike Ends as Hollywood Companies Agree to Pay Bonuses for Successful Programs
