The Hollywood writers’ strike has been going on for months and Bill Maher is apparently running out of patience.
The talk host has announced that his “Real Time” show will return to the air without a writing staff, a move that is already drawing outbursts from the left on social media.
In announcing the news, Maher said one of the reasons he is doing this is to support his staff, many of whom are struggling financially.
Deadline reports:
HBO’s ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ returns without writers
Bill Maher returns to work without his writers.
The comedian said on social media on Wednesday that Real Time with Bill Maher will return to HBO. The show returns with an original episode on Friday, September 22 at 10 p.m.
Maher will be the first late-night host to return to the airwaves, but if the Strike Force Five podcast hosted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver is any indication, they won’t be join him quickly.
It’s a controversial move considering his show is written by a team of late-night writers, who are currently in the fourth month of their strike. Other talk show hosts like Drew Barrymore faced wrath from writers, while The Talk was singled out today at CBS Radford while doing a run-through.
Maher posted the following message on Twitter/X:
Real Time is unfortunately coming back, without writers or writing. It’s been five months and it’s time to get people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and I hope they are addressed satisfactorily, but they are not the only people with issues, problems, and concerns. Despite some help from me, a large part of the staff is struggling. We were all hoping this would end after Labor Day, but that day has passed and still nothing seems to be happening. I love my writers, I’m one of them, but I’m not willing to lose an entire year and see so many people suffer so much at the bottom line. I will honor the spirit of the strike by not providing a monologue, desk piece, New Rules or editorial commentary, the written pieces I am so proud of in Real Time. And I’ll tell the audience up front: The show I’m going to do without my writers isn’t going to be as good as our normal show, period. But the core of the show is a ready-made panel discussion that aims to cut through the nonsense and predictable partisanship, and it will continue. The show will not disappoint.
Real Time is unfortunately coming back, without writers or writing. It’s been five months and it’s time to get people back to work. The writers have important issues that I sympathize with, and I hope they are addressed satisfactorily, but they are not the only people…
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) September 14, 2023
This will be perceived as a huge blow to the strikers. It will seem like the world goes on without them.