Answer after the jump! (more…)

Golden Globe-nominated actors and presenters won’t attend the televised award show Jan. 13 because of the writers’ strike, the Screen Actors Guild announced Friday.

“After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross Writers Guild of America picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters,” said SAG president Alan Rosenberg. “We applaud our members for this remarkable show of solidarity for striking Writers Guild of America writers.”

The announcement plunges into turmoil the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual awards show and its star-studded parties.

“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike,” Jorge Camara, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday.”

The WGA has voted against a waiver to allow its writers to work on the show and said members would set up picket lines. Before the SAG announcement, NBC had said it still planned to air the show despite the picket threat.

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Jay Leno and his network NBC are embroiled in a battle with the striking writer’s union over whether the talk show host violated union rules by writing his own monologues.

Leno, who was back on-air for the second time last night in more than a month, was criticized by the Writers Guild of America for writing and delivering his own material.

According to NBC, though, Leno is permitted to write his own monologue. While the guild’s contract expired Oct. 31, says NBC, the current agreement allows that “material written by the person who delivers it on the air” is permissable.

Guild representatives say that Leno is in violation of either “strike rules” or writing while the guild’s contract is expired.

Of the returning late night hosts, Leno was the ratings leader, followed by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, both of whom gained viewers since before the strike.

Said Leno of the monologue controversy, “We are following the guild thing. We can write for ourselves.”

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It seems presidential candidate Mike Huckabee apparently knows enough about Hollywood culture to poke his nose into Jamie Lynn Spears’ teen pregnancy, yet claimed he was “unaware” he was crossing picket lines appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“The Writers Guild is disappointed that Mike Huckabee crossed the WGA picket line today at NBC. We welcome the statements of support he has made for striking writers, but we ask him to respect our picket lines in the future and urge the media conglomerates to return to the bargaining table to make a fair deal that will put writers and the entertainment industry back to work.”

Does anyone know how many NBC producers live and vote in Iowa? Can’t be that many.

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It took ‘em a while, but NBC is finally handing out a few back-nine orders — and methinks you guys will be very pleased with the recipients.

Sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock has picked up Chuck and Life for the full season. (Sorry, Jaime Sommers.)

What Chuck and Life have lacked in ratings might, they’ve more than made up for in buzz — a fact I’m reminded of every time I peer into my Ask Ausiello mailbag. That’s not to say that either show is tanking in the Nielsens. Chuck is holding its own in a tough Monday timeslot, while Life is showing signs of just that Wednesdays at 10 pm. In fact, last week it built on its sagging Bionic Woman lead-in for the first time in viewers and adults 18-49.

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I gave this show a try…but it was SO stupid!  I quit recording it ages ago, and that’s really saying something.

In its first dramatic move since the beginning of the Writers Guild strike, NBC has fired “nearly the entire production staff” of its struggling, late-night staple, “Saturday Night Live,” sources told Page Six.

One tipster says, ” ‘SNL’ laid off all their staff until further notice. Their production staff, even long-term employees, were let go.” Another source confirmed that “90 percent of the ‘SNL’ staff was fired.”

And while The Washington Post reported yesterday that NBC might lay staff off at Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show, “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “Last Call With Carson Daly” – all of which immediately went into rerun mode on Nov. 5 – those staffers would at least get paid for two more weeks. But an insider confirmed to us that “SNL” staffers got no severance.

Although no official announcement had been made as of last night about firings at any of NBC’s late-night shows, multiple sources confirmed to us that “SNL” staffers learned of their axing yesterday morning. Reps for NBC declined comment.

Despite being scrooged out of their Christmas-season paychecks, the “SNL” crew still has a big heart. Playbill reports that the cast plans to perform a nontelevised show tonight at the New York Upright Citizens Brigade Theater on West 26th Street. Ticket proceeds from the sold-out performance, which was produced by Lorne Michaels, will benefit the Writers Guild’s strike fund.

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