https://themessenger.com/entertainment/why-drew-barrymore-is-getting-the-most-hate-for-filming-her-talk-show-during-the-strikes
The Drew Barrymore Show returned to production, breaking solidarity with the WGA strike. Here's why people are so upset about her decision.
Drew Barrymore Had a Simpler Way Out of This Mess: Daytime Hosts Could Lose Their Shows if They Don’t Work During a Strike
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/drew-barrymore-daytime-talk-shows-wga-strike-1235725462/
In other words, this was a business decision — and not one that Barrymore made alone. Hosts like Barrymore are under contract with major media production companies to perform their hosting duties, and like any regular job, they eventually have to show up to work. Syndicated talk shows are typically required to deliver 35 to 40 weeks of new episodes to their station partners. If they don’t, they can lose their show.
“We have 200 clients that we have to deliver original episodes to. It’s not a network show,” a daytime talk show employee says. “With late night, you have one client: the network.”
Now, shows like “Drew” and “Jennifer Hudson” could have pushed back their premiere dates and reconstructed their yearly roduction schedules, in hopes that the strikes would soon come to an end. But with no end seemingly in sight in the current WGA and AMPTP impasse, local stations — and advertisers — are expecting original content this fall from the shows for which they are paying a hefty license fee to carry.
“In theory, you could push back your debut, if you’re concerned about the strike,” says Frank Cicha, executive vice president of programming for Fox Television Stations, the station group that carries many national syndicated talk shows, including “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” But, he adds, “there are already more repeats than anybody needs, so the idea of your main talk shows not coming back, that gets a little scary.”