Is ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ season 4 still returning despite the backlash?

Thinking back to the alien, far-off world of about six months ago, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could have called that the internet would rise up, almost as one, against Drew Barrymore. It’s one of those things that, removed of any context, comes off as a middling Cards Against Humanity turn or the sentence that an emergency room patient says right before being diagnosed with a brain bleed, not a dark possible future involving accusations of scabbery and the perceived evils of the E.T. kid.

But here we are, deep into what might just be the fourth straight year of 2020, and everything remains terrible. By way of example: The ongoing writing and acting strikes have brought Hollywood grinding to a halt. We are, experts estimate, mere weeks away from a television lineup consisting of nothing but those blooper reels that they play in bars where people break their spines on trampolines. Well, that wouldn’t be the only thing on the air — despite everything, word came down that The Drew Barrymore Show would be coming back.

The announcement drew criticism from fans of workforce solidarity and fair pay for a day’s work. All across social media, Barrymore was accused of being a scab for her willingness to return to work for a proposed fourth season premiere on Sept. 18. 

When will The Drew Barrymore Show return?

As the planned premiere date approached, it became more and more clear that crossing the picket line would undo all of the aw-shucks charm that The Drew Barrymore Show had accumulated over its previous three seasons. Thus, the embattled host was forced to take a step back and make a statement.

Per Barrymore’s statement, the 48-year-old Santa Clarita Diet star has reassessed the need for The Drew Barrymore Show to premiere amidst ongoing volatility in the industry. Without the “way forward” that Barrymore hoped to find, plans for the future of her award-winning talk show are very much up in the air. It appears that the series, like most shows that don’t involve watching a drunk socialite throw food at another drunk socialite, won’t return until the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have reached a conclusion.

Meanwhile, programs and films rumored to cross the picket line remain some of the most contentious corners of showbusiness, regardless of scope. Reports that General Hospital was employing non-union writers became another point of internet volatility over the summer, despite the fact that they had the perfect excuse: Forgetting that there even was a strike, due to amnesia.