TVSquad

A few TV Squad readers contacted me to know how the strike will affect TV show spoilers and if columns like Spoilers Anonymous would vanish at some point this winter.

The short answer is that spoilers will be quite rare this winter if the strike last beyond the Holidays but not gone since a few series that already shot all or part of their upcoming seasons (e.g., The Shield, Greek, Monk, etc.) will start airing new episodes in spring time. As for the long answer...

• Since there will be no new scripts handed in during the strike, we (I include here TV Squad, Michael Ausiello from TV Guide, Kristin from E! and sites like SpoilerFix.com and Spoiler TV) will get less and less "exclusive" spoilers. Those are the spoilers from anonymous sources, on set people, etc., that were not released officially by the show, network or actors. Spoiler sites and columns usually get spoilers during the production of new episodes, so once all episodes have been shot, spoilers will die down a bit.
• Official spoilers (for example, network descriptions of upcoming episodes and previews) will be released as long as there are new episodes left to air.
• We will still get spoilers from cast and crew when they give interviews about upcoming episodes. Of course, those will stop coming in when all episodes have aired.

If we take Bones as an example, "exclusive" spoilers will still come in for about three weeks since the show is still shooting and wrapping up production (writers completed 12 episodes). In December, this type of spoilers will die down. We will get official spoilers (network descriptions, previews, spoilers released in interviews) until mid-January at which time episode 12 should air. After that, there will be no more spoilers until two or three weeks after the writers resume work. This process will repeat for every show. So, as you can see, since most shows currently on the air will have aired all their episodes either before the Holidays or during February sweeps, spoilers will not be pouring in during the winter.

Spoilers Anonymous columns may suffer from a dry spell. We may actually need to have SA meetings and a 12-step program to cope with the spoilers withdrawals! Let's hope it won't last too long.