It's a writers strike but actors play a major role

AT the start of the writers strike last November, everyone had a good laugh when Entertainment Weekly did a big cover story illustrated entirely with pictures, not of writers, but TV stars like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Marg Helgenberger and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno. (The magazine did run a photo of "30 Rock" creator Tina Fey, but she was identified as "showing her solidarity" with the strikers, not as one of their own.)

By Patrick Goldstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer