It's Day Three of the WGA Strike, and things are getting serious. Production on some scripted sitcoms and dramas is already coming to screeching halt -- despite the fact that completed scripts have yet to be shot.

Sitcoms which have already gone dark are: The New Adventures of Old Christine, Back to You, 'Til Death, and Rules of Engagement. And with Steve Carrell refusing to cross the picket line, The Office has shut down for business, as well.

Meanwhile, Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit) have publicly stated that they won't perform their showrunner responsibilities either. Without their showrunners, these high profile dramas will most likely cease production earlier than networks expected.

The last writers strike lasted 22 weeks and played all kinds of havoc with favorite television shows. That was back in 1988, before the reality television genre really hit the big time. This time around, an extended strike may give us more reality shows (much to the chagrin of non-reality fans).

According to the Hollywood Insider Blog at EW.com, CBS and Allison Grodner (executive producer) might be putting together the first ever winter version of Big Brother, a summer reality mainstay.

As if I didn't already have a dozen reasons to love Tina Fey, here's another: she has actually joined the writer picket lines in New York City.

While several celebrities have spoken out in favor of writers (most notably David Letterman on his show last week), this is the first celeb I've seen on the picket line. I wonder if more will follow.

Hmmm...I wonder if this could make it into an episode of 30 Rock? It's the perfect plot for them, really. Maybe the writers can be on strike and Jack decides that he and Liz can write the show themselves, or maybe Jack hires a bunch of scab writers who screw up the entire show. Hopefully someone from 30 Rock is filming Fey on the picket line.

According to Variety, the WGA has scheduled a meeting with the networks and studios on Sunday in a last-ditch effort to settle the impending strike. The strike is set to begin on Monday.

Going through the details of the article, it does seem that the WGA demands are not that unreasonable. It's very difficult to make it as a writer in Hollywood. There are many egos to contend with.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• We all know what happened to Jerry Seinfeld after his show ended, but what happened to Man Hands, The Drake, Susan Ross, and Crazy Joe Divola?
• Tim Goodman has a podcast interview with David Duchovny.
• With this writers strike, could the Heroes season finale actually air in December?
• Don't worry, High School Musical fans: Vanessa Hudgens is going to be in Part 3.
• Here's a new way advertisers are trying to sneak past all you commercial-skippers. Actually an old way.
• MSNBC isn't happy with something Tucker Carlson said on his show.

Some interesting news coming out of ABC today, one of which is a surprise, the other of which isn't:

First the non-surprise: Both TV Week and Kristin Dos Santos at E! Online are reporting that Pushing Daisies has been picked up for the rest of the season. That means 22 episodes of non-contact cuteness from Ned and Chuck. Ratings for the first three episodes have been solid, and -- at least based on the fun third episode -- worries about how the show might operate with budget restrictions have been so far unfounded.

The surprising ABC news: The former Ms. Veitch is also reporting that three more scripts have been ordered for Bruce McCulloch's Carpoolers, bringing the total order to 12 episodes. Despite the pedigree, the show hasn't been all that impressive so far either in quality or in the ratings. This makes me wonder if ABC is ordering more scripts in case there's a writers' strike.

This is getting serious.

Both sides are still far from agreement on a new deal, and a strike by the Writers Guild of America could start in a couple of weeks (the last offer was rejected by writers). That means that scripted shows (Lost and House, for example) and late night talk shows would suffer the most. Some shows have a schedule that means they won't be affected that much, like The Simpsons, but most other scripted shows will be hurt in some way. As for daytime, Martha Stewart wouldn't be affected at all, but The View uses union writers so that should could be hit. (The View uses writers? So that means a writer actually puts those words into Elisabeth Hasselbeck's mouth?)

No, this isn't some programming move to get rid of reality shows (though I think it's worth exploring). It's actually a strategy in case there's a strike in Hollywood.

And that strike is looking more and more like it might become a reality. It sounds like hyperbole, I know, but the two sides are really far apart, and we're closer to a strike than we've ever been. Writers want more money for DVD sales and other forms of media. At one point they were going to work under their old deal until the end of this season, but now things have changed. The networks have been stockpiling on scripts and orders for reality shows just in case.

In case you haven't heard, there is the possibility of a writers strike in early 2008, and TV networks have started to buy more and more scripts ahead of time just in case.

ABC has Section 8, which is described as being about "everyday people with exceptional neurological abilities recruited to work for a secret branch of a government agency" (again? *sigh*). NBC passed on the show because it was too much like another show they have about ordinary folks with powers (hmmm...The Biggest Loser?)