The Big Bang Theory Writers look set to strike

The Writers Guild of America looks set to order its 12,000 members to go to the picket lines today after the old writers' contract expired without any agreement on a new one.

The WGA wants its members to receive more money from DVDs and Downloads of their work but the studios say that the money made from those alternative mediums is helping to finance rising production costs and so they can't afford to give writers a greater cut.

If the strike is called later today then production on The Big Bang Theory (and other scripted programming) would likely come to a halt. In the event of a lengthy strike, CBS may struggle to fill its schedule with the limited number of episodes completed, forcing them to take scripted programmes off air.

With new shows typically having less episodes in the can than the returning shows, newcomers like The Big Bang Theory are likely to be early casualties of a prolonged strike.

If the show is off air for an over long amount of time then viewers might not come back.