Now Barrymore Isn't Resuming Talk Show

Host reverses course after backlash over restarting before strikes end
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 17, 2023 11:35 AM CDT
Barrymore Show Won't Resume During Strikes After All
Drew Barrymore attends Variety's 2022 Power of Women: New York event at the Glasshouse in May 2022 in New York.   (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

After saying Friday that "there's nothing I can do or say in this moment to make it OK" while facing a backlash for relaunching her TV talk show during Hollywood strikes, Drew Barrymore decided that maybe there's one thing. She announced Sunday that The Drew Barrymore Show won't resume just yet. "I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over," the host posted on Instagram, per Variety. "I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today. We really tried to find our way forward."

The show began taping again on Monday while members of the writers and actors unions picketing outside, per the Washington Post, some chanting, "We expect more from Drew Barry-more!" Two audience members wearing pins reading "Writers Guild on Strike" said they were asked to leave. Barrymore posted a video apology for the flap on Friday that was later taken down, and other actors urged her to rethink her first decision. Other daytime shows have resumed taping, though not all of them are back on the air yet. Tamron Hall and Live With Kelly and Ryan, for example, are not prohibited by writers guild rules from producing new episodes, per the AP. The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Talk return Monday.

Among nighttime programming, Bill Maher has announced that his weekly HBO is returning without writers, but the late-night shows on the major networks have stayed dark. Barrymore's production company had said her show would be completely ad-libbed. The head writer for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert welcomed Barrymore's latest decision Sunday with a post on X. "This is really great," Ariel Dumas wrote, adding that Barrymore's show "decided to do the right thing. I hope The View and others will follow suit." (Read more Hollywood writers' strike stories.)

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