Couch potatoes, keep your bunny-eared slippers crossed: new TV shows may be on their way, eventually.

Striking Hollywood writers are set to meet face to face this week with studio executives including News Corp’s Peter Chernin and Walt Disney Co’s Robert Iger for the first time since their contract talks collapsed on December 7.

Informal discussions may be aimed at sketching the broad outline of a possible settlement of the strike, now in its 12th week, which has Hollywood wringing its hands over whether the strike could, or should, be enough to postpone the Academy Awards.

Chernin and Iger led management in unofficial discussions that paved the way for last week’s deal between the studios and the Directors Guild of America.

In a surprise reversal, the union for the screenwriters has decided to spare the February 10 Grammy Award show from picketing that could dampen the recording industry’s highest honors.

(Reuters)

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