‘Desperate Housewives,’ ‘The Office’ & More Affected By Writers Strike

Its only day two of the Writers Guild of America strike and already its impact has been felt on television.

After last minute talks over DVD royalty shares proved unsuccessful on Sunday night, hundreds of writers took to picket lines in New York and Los Angeles.

Immediately, late night shows including Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show,” the “Late Show With David Letterman,” the “Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” went into repeats but now, more shows are following suit.

On Tuesday morning it was announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” would be broadcasting a rerun from September.

Late night shows weren’t the only ones affected. ABC announced today that their Lucy Liu fronted new drama “Cashmere Mafia,” which was set to premiere November 27, was being held indefinitely. Production on “Desperate Housewives,” will shut down for the foreseeable future according to a show spokesperson.

Additionally, Fox’s “‘Til Death,” and “Back To You,” Warner Brothers’ “The Big Bang Theory, “Two and A Half Men” and “Notes From The Underbelly” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” with Stephen Colbert, have all stopped production according to sources.

New NBC show “Heroes: Origins” has been shelved, presently.

“The Office,” is also close to shutting down. Show runner Greg Daniels, told TV Week, star Steve Carell is behind the strike.

“We’re trying to shut down ‘The Office,’” Daniels said. “We have the star of our show and the entire writing staff behind us.”

Daniels told TV Week that none of the show’s actors, some of which are also writers on the show, including B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling, have crossed the picket line.

“The Office’s” Rainn Wilson called in sick on Monday.

Steve Carell did not report to work on Monday, though his reps did not comment on whether it was due to the strike, Reuters reported.

Ellen DeGeneres however has resumed shooting her daytime talk show. Ellen took Monday off to show her support for the strike. She resumed taping the “Ellen” show on Tuesday, a rep for the show confirmed to Access Hollywood.

Ellen isn’t the only star to make a stand for the strikers. On Monday Jay Leno left the NBC gates in Burbank, California, and brought the strikers just outside, a host of doughnuts.

Several streets away Julia Louis-Dreyfus grabbed a picket sign and joined the march of workers outside of Warner Brothers.

In New York City, Tina Fey, a former staff writer at “Saturday Night Live” turned sitcom star, grabbed a sign herself, and walked with the strikers. “SNL” cast members Amy Poehler and Seth Meyer were also spotted. Actor John Leguizamo joined a line elsewhere in New York.

Online, Jamie Lee Curtis, blogged on the Huffington Post, of her support.

“I am for the writers. They are the starting point for any movie or TV project so without a writer, there is no content,” she wrote, before joking she had one “beef” with the strike – “the slogans they are chanting are so poorly written.”

Another “30 Rock” star, Alec Baldwin may not have appeared on the picket line, but he too blogged on the Huffington Post about the importance of writers.

“As an actor who has worked in film and television since 1980, I have always been pretty clear about the fact that we are nowhere without the writers in our industry. And that goes beyond the scary concept of a world of unscripted reality TV. Television and film writers are responsible for some of the greatest literature in the history of our society,” he wrote.