Entertainment

From the moment the writers' strike began, Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood Daily" emerged as a major source of information about the stalled negotiations and reactions from observers at all levels of the entertainment industry. But on Monday, the LA Weekly columnist posted a weary entry, closed the blog to comments, and promised to return refreshed on January 22.

We at 23/6 agree that Ms. Finke deserves a rest—mostly because it gives us a chance to pick up the strike coverage mantle and run with it. We've enlisted our own team of reporters to bring you the news from the front lines of the strike for the duration of Ms. Finke's hiatus. Check back daily for the latest updates from 23/6's Diurnal Hollywood Countdown.

by 23/6's Chief Hollywood Correspondent

EXCLUSIVE: Writerless Guthy-Renker Infomerical Returns to Late Night

BREAKING: Jessica Simpson and her blemish-free skin will be crossing the picket line along with Jay, Conan, Jon, and Stephen, now that it's been confirmed that the Guthy-Renker Proactiv Acne solution infomercial will be returning to the late night airwaves without writers.

Simpson released a statement saying "It would be so cool to come back with our writers, so that they can tell me what 'ambivalent' means." A statement from the WGA West is pending, once they find someone in their organization who can talk to Jessica Simpson without either blushing or trying too hard to seem cool.

The infomercial, which airs on the Lifetime network at 2:30 a.m., has been dark since the strike began, but had always done very well in the important demo of "18-24 year old women who fell asleep during the 2 a.m. airing of 'Intimate Portrait: Nia Vardalos.'"

Since the late night titans have gone back on the air, the writerless Leno has continued to beat Letterman in the ratings, and insiders predict that the Proactiv Solution informercial will go back to regularly trouncing Fox's Talkshow with Spike Feresten, owing to the fact that Feresten's booked guests are normally not famous enough to land infomercials.

Does this mean we are going to see other late night infomercials returning to the air? In the early days of the strike, Ron Popeil was a regular fixture, handing out chicken from his Showtime Rotisserie oven. Matthew Lesko also made daily visits, shouting promises of "FREE MONEY," until people realized he was just reading from the AMPTP's "Internet Downloads Playbook."

UPDATE: A Guthy-Renker spokesperson has told me that they also tried to get a side deal with the Guild, but before I could get any details, she forced me to address my combination skin and sold me a 3-Step System Gift Pack and a tube of Daily Oil Control with Aloe.

LATEST NEWS: I have a glow to my skin that says "Hi there, I'm beautiful." Might need to take some days off to explore this newfound sense of outer beauty/inner power.