TVSquad

24 may be on the back burner for Fox because of the writers strike, but ABC says it plans to air at least eight episodes of Lost in the mid-season. Lost executive producer and co-creator Damon Lindelof was on the picket line this week supporting his writers when he told Broadcasting & Cable about the network's plans. He said the eighth episode, which is already written, ends with a cliffhanger. So it could, theoretically, cap off a shortened season if the writers strike continues through the New Year.

Lindelof didn't say whether this changes ABC's plans to run the season straight-through starting in February. I imagine that if we only get 8 episodes of Lost next season, they'll probably air in February and then in May for sweeps. Just a guess, though.

Lost's other high profile executive producer, Carlton Cuse, was also on the picket lines this week. He had a sign that said: "Do you want to know what the island is?".

Yeah, I hate it too. The Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America staged a joint protest in Los Angeles yesterday over product placement. The two organizations have been united against the same cause since November. They picketed and chanted in front of a building in Beverly Hills where an advertising summit, sponsored by Ad Age, was taking place. SAG and WGA weren't allowed in the meeting, despite their requests to be allowed in. Both groups are pushing for regulations, or a "code of conduct" on product placement in television and movies. At the very least, they want more money for not only being storytellers but also advertising copywriters.

While Pepsi cans and Fed Ex trucks in the background are all strategically placed, the writers and actors have a problem when the powers-that-be require them to work products into a story or even write an entire story around a product.