Deadline: ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ Sets Return With Writers

Story from Deadline:

Not wasting any time, just a couple of minutes after the WGA announced that the strike is ending, Bill Maher revealed that his Real Time will return this week. It will be the first late-night show to come back.

“My writers and Real Time are back! See you Friday Night!,” Maher wrote on X.

The news comes after the WGA Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board and WGAE Council all voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the tentative agreement the studios, which was sent to the guild’s membership for a ratification vote. The strike was to officially end at 12:01 a.m. PT Wednesday.

Maher initially planned to bring his late-night show back “sans writers” on Sept. 22, saying that it was “time to bring people back to work”. He made the announcement Sept. 13.

After a major backlash, including WGA calling the decision “disappointing” and revealing it would picket his show, Maher on Sept. 18 said that he was postponing the program’s return.

At the time, he cited optimism around talks between the WGA and the AMPTP for his change of mind.

Daytime talkers The Drew Barrymore Show, The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Talk also delayed their planned returns around that time

Real Time with Bill Maher, which has been renewed through 2024 by the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network, is exec produced by Maher, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, and Billy Martin. Chris Kelly is co-exec producer, Matt Wood is producer and Paul Casey is director.