Monday Morning Brew: Writers go on strike, celebs run NYC marathon...

Good morning...
Well, it has happened. The entertainment industry's writers have gone on strike after talks broke down last night just before the deadline. How long it will last, no one knows. We'll feel the pain right away without our daily fixes of Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jon Stewart - among others - since their daily shows are heavenly dependent upon writers every day and the hosts themselves are part of the writing staffs.
Writers have locked horns with producers over revenue from content on the Internet and electronic devices and want a bigger share of DVD revenue. On his show on Thursday, Letterman called producers "cowards, cutthroats and weasels."
Some of our favorite prime shows could run fresh episodes through February if the strike persists but it's a case-by-case basis. Patrick Dempsey, for example, told Entertainment Tonight over the weekend that "Grey's Anatomy" has been behind schedule and does not have as many shows in the can as it should.
"The problem is that we're not that far ahead scriptwise," Dempsey said. "I think we'll have enough shows that take us through Christmas, and after that we'll see if that's the season or not."
McDreamy added that the strike is "going to be very bad for television, certainly. The season will be wiped out if [the strike] continues for too long...My concern is not so much for myself really, because I'll be alright, but I think how long this strike lasts is going to affect a lot of people that are living paycheck to paycheck -- they are going to be damaged profoundly by this, and I think that's a real tragedy. I think a lot of people and a lot of families are going to be in a difficult place in their lives; hopefully we can come to some sort of understanding and resolve this soon enough that it doesn't affect those people."
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There were a couple of familiar faces among the masses running the NYC marathon on Sunday. Seven-time Tour-de-France champion Lance Armstrong ditched the bike for this race and completed the 26 mile event. Meanwhile, Katie Holmes also completed the course and at the finish line it was, of course, photo op time with hubby Tom Cruise and their baby Suri.
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AS BRITNEY'S WORLD TURNS: We have learned that the spectacle that is her personal life has not hurt Britney Spears' album sales. Her new CD is a shoo-in to debut in the number one spot on the Billboard charts after selling briskly in its first week out...Meanwhile, TMZ.com reports that Britney was out Saturday night and ran into Kevin Federline's attorney in their custody case. Only in L.A....
Was watching "Entertainment Tonight" and there was the still cute Valerie Bertinelli, who was a child star herself, going off on Britney: "I mean, how many times do you have to go to the gas station or Starbucks when you know the paparazzi are out there? Stay home, put your underwear on and take care of your children."
Then she gets sweet again: "Here I am judging again, I don't know this girl...I have an imagination of what life might be like, because I had a lot happening when I was 25, too."
Greg Hernandez craves a daily fix of celebrity news the way some
people need their daily cup of joe. He's made it his mission to show
up to as many Tinseltown events as he's allowed into, to talk to any
famous faces that don't run from him, and to give readers several
daily shots of the day's breaking news.