Final Episodes of Scrubs May Never Air

If the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) can not come to an agreement soon with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), writers for NBC's hit show Scrubs may never finish out its final season.

"If the strike goes on too much longer there is a good chance they will never be written or shot and the series finale will remain in the mind of our show's creator, Bill Lawrence," said Scrubs star Zach Braff in a recent MySpace bulletin to his fans.

Braff recently gave the WGA an extra voice and a bit of humor by filming a short that can be seen here on YouTube, in hopes of attracting more people to the WGA cause.

Scrubs isn't the only show in limbo. Shows such as 24, Heroes: Origins (a working title of the Hero spinoff), and Lost, are also affected. 24 and Lost will air a partial season, and it looks like Hero's spinoff will be on hold indefinitely.

Late night shows are back on the air without writers, except for Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both of which have a full writing staff thanks to David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, ability to come to an agreement with the shows' writers.

What the members of the WGA are fighting for is reimbursement for shows that are sold on DVDs or downloaded from the Internet. As of right now they do not get compensated for downloads and are fighting a similar fight that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been fighting for years, ever since Napster met its demise.

In a statement given before the strike began, the AMPTP said, "We will not ignore the challenges of today's economic realities, the shifts in audience taste and viewing habits and the unpredictability of still-evolving technology."

Writers aren't asking for much, just a small 5% increase in pay when they are actively writing to cover ignored royalties. According to a former writer for Jag, an average guild writer makes about $65,000 a year when they are working. In fact, less than half of all WGA writers worked in 2007 according to their website. When they do work, it's only fair that they receive reimbursement for Internet downloads. No one wants to work for free.

For now, shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,The Colbert Report, Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien forge on without writers. Meanwhile, to show solidarity, members of the Screen Actors Guild are boycotting awards shows such as the Golden Globes and the Oscars along with members of the WGA.

With negotiations still on the table, it is unknown when writers will go back to work. Meanwhile, Scrubs fans might never find out who JD or Elliot end up with, we will never know more about Laverne's look-alike, and most importantly, we might never find out the Janitor's name.