Though it doesn’t mean the strike is anywhere close to being over, the writers and studios will return to the bargaining table on November 26.

As a stipulation for restarting negotiations, the WGA demanded that the studios would offer more in the way of new media than they had previously. Likewise, the AMPTP would only come to the table if the WGA genuinely wanted to make a deal.

In an email to the WGA members, WGA president Patric Verrone said:

“This announcement is a direct result of your efforts. For 12 days I have repeated that a powerful strike means a short strike. …Now it is equally important that we now prove that good news won’t slow us down, either. We must remember that returning to the bargaining table is only a start. Our work is not done until we achieve a good contract and that is by no means assured. Accordingly, what we achieve in negotiations will be a direct result of how successfully we can keep up our determination and resolve.”

Don’t expect much information to come pouring out of these talks…both sides have agreed to a media blackout.

I’d be interested to know how quickly things could get rolling again should the talks go well. It’s probably too late for shows like 24 and Lost, which are only weeks away from their scheduled premiere, to get back up on time, but I wonder if some of our full-season programming, like Heroes and Office could come back in some kind of limited run before May sweeps.

Sure, I may just be overly optimistic. It’s pretty likely that these issues won’t be resolved for a while, but I’ve seen the future, and it’s full of reality shows like My Dad is Better Than Your Dad. And that scares me.

(Source: Variety)