SAG members have in fact been working under the terms of an expired contract since June, when the AMPTP made them a "final offer" they didn't accept. A federal mediator stepped in, attempting to repair the damage and restart talks for a new contract, but yesterday's announcement represents the failure of that plan. According to the SAG statement, discussions reached a breaking point at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, so it's a pretty good bet that tensions were high.

Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform SAG members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.

We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement. Now it's time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.

In the current weakened economy, "the strength of a possible work stoppage" certainly carries with it no small amount of dread. To approve a strike, SAG will need a yes vote from 75 percent of its 120,000 members, and it's anyone's guess how that will go. Once again, the dispute is payment and union coverage for internet broadcasts of shows; SAG is seeking a better deal than the so-so ones garnered by the WGA and other Hollywood unions, but the AMPTP won't budge. Though SAG has not yet revealed when they will be sending out strike authorization ballots, it's clear that we are steamrollering toward that point. It doesn't seem like anybody is looking forward to a repeat of the writers' strike, or the Hundred Days of Sadness that had me watching Daily Show reruns.

Then again, some good did come out of the writers' strike as far as the viewing public is concerned: Without the buildup of Joss Whedon's frustrated creative energy, we wouldn't have Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. To be honest, though, I'd rather have Dollhouse — and a full slate of other new movies and TV besides, with crews and casts being paid what they deserve.

Hollywood actors guild to seek strike [via MSNBC, Associated Press]
Important Message Regarding Mediation [Screen Actors Guild]

According to Chud, all of the news coming from the show's Vancouver offices is positive:

[The entire writing staff] gathered this week to rewatch the completed season four episodes to get back up to speed, and now that the strike is completely and officially over, they'll be revisiting the outlines of future episodes and break those stories. There are still some details that will need to be ironed out - actor's deals may need to be renegotiated to get them secured past when their season four contracts end, for example - but the sets in Vancouver were never struck and the behind the camera types are raring to go and finish their epic story. I've heard that the show is firing on all cylinders in the season four episodes filmed to date, and I hope that three months away has given everybody new energy and perspectives to match the first half of the season.

Bionic Woman fell victim to sub-standard writing, but remains a show littered with potential, especially in terms of the caliber of actors on board and the premise - which I still believe is awesome.

Bionic-Blog, a BW fansite, responds to a New York Times piece about the carnage that the WGA strike has had on television shows by arguing that the show was let down by bad writing and too much money:

I'm not saying that I want to see less cool special effects - a sci-fi show like BW needs it's share of 'razzmatazz', but I think creators should first focus on getting the foundations right and then build from there...I guess my main question after reading that article, is does having too much money over-complicate things for the networks? Obviously it's all relative and it's different for each show, but it could be argued that both BW and Heroes fell victim to trying to do too much too quickly? Obviously the writing was at fault for this, but perhaps having such huge budgets also contributed to the confusion?

Bionic Woman & the Post-strike Landscape [Bionic Blog.com]

He writes:

Comic-Con is gonna get slammed this year, one way or the other. Even if the strike is over by the third week of July, the TV season's shot to hell and if production doesn't start toot sweet, next season will follow suit. And TV is a big part of what pushes the media stuff at Comic-Con: Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Lost—even perennials like Babylon 5 and Buck Rogers still draw modest crowds. But what would Comic-Con look like without the casts and crews of flicks like Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, Watchmen, Star Trek, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Spirit, The Wolfman, Land of the Lost, and G.I. Joe—all of which could be expected to strut their stuff in San Diego?

To heck with award shows... How will the strike affect Comic-Con [EW]