The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were unable to come to terms on October 30. The issues in dispute are over the residuals and distribution of shows. If no agreement is made, the writers will strike beginning Monday, November 5.

For prime-time shows this means fans will likely be watching reruns of their favorite shows until the strike ends and new scripts can be written.

Daytime soap operas, however, face a much harsher reality if the strike continues for more than a few weeks, as they cannot run repeats. The last writers strike was back in 1988 and lasted for five months. Daytime shows did their best to drag out their current storylines as long as possible, but were eventually faced with hiring inexperienced writers. Many critics believe daytime soap operas suffered sufficient quality in their scripts, which in turn caused a decline in viewers. If this current strike continues on for any great length of time, daytime television could be facing some serious trouble.