On Friday, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) voted an overwhelming 90.3 percent to authorize a strike if a deal was not reached on their expired contract. The strike is scheduled to begin Monday at 12:01 a.m. The talks have halted between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) due to WGA's demand for a share in the profits of "residuals" that the networks receive, such as Internet downloads and DVDs. The AMPTP insists that writers get paid a flat rate and that there is no need for negotiation on residuals.

When the strike happens, all production on scripted TV will come to a halt. Topical shows, whose content is generated from daily headlines, will be the hardest hit. Fans of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show and other late-night programming will immediately be put into reruns.

Scripted TV shows will be affected in the weeks to come as production comes to halt. Once the episodes that have already been produced are aired, the networks will have to make a decision whether to run encore episodes or eliminate the shows from the schedule. Unfortunately for WGA members, the lack of new episodes will not be a factor to November "sweeps," which determine each network's advertising rates.

A strike also affects new shows being developed or re-launching in mid-season. "Lost" fans may be alarmed that there are only eight episodes ready to go, despite promises from the network that 16 shows would air uninterrupted. "24," which is already suffering production woes due to the California wildfires, is reported to have only six episodes finished.  

Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly") recently announced that he's working on a new show that could be ready for spring or fall, but that the particulars are in the air because of the strike. Whedon told TVWeek: "I will be good to go the moment we are in agreement with the studios. But I won't pick up a pencil while we're not."

The studios have announced several times that "screens will not go black"; their solution is simply to roll out reality TV shows until a deal can be reached.

In anticipation of the strike, movie studios have fast tracked their money-making blockbusters. But without the help of WGA members for script rewrites coupled with the rush to enter production, many are afraid that next year's summer blockbuster line-up may suffer. Mark Noman, co-writer of "Shakespeare in Love" told USA TODAY earlier this month: "There will be, in a year, a spate of hastily thrown together movies. They will suffer from having gone ahead with incomplete scripts that haven't gone through the level of care they normally would. They will be less than exciting movies -- boring movies."

A final meeting has been called by a federal mediator to try to avoid the strike. One can hope that the ensuing media frenzy brings enough attention to the talks that both sides are willing to compromise. But if not, there is a silver lining to this cloud -- at least Flava Flav will have work.