Remember when a new television season started in September? Not this year.

Looking forward to big-budget blockbusters coming to a theater near you next summer? Maybe not.

You've always heard great things about "Breaking Bad" or "The Wire" but you never got around to watching it? Now's your chance.

And it might be a while before you know how many Emmys your favorite show eventually takes home. The awards show, as with much in the TV and movie industry, is also very much uncertain right now.

But what you can count on is more reality shows, and maybe game shows, and probably more opportunities to binge shows that have already been on.

That's because about 160,000 actors who belong to SAG-AFTRA are about to go on strike, joining more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America who have been on strike since May 2.

Prepping for the long-haul

Some movies are already complete, of course, like "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," and set to hit theaters.

But any pipeline of new shows is already slowing to a trickle.

Data from film permits in California indicates that production of most shows and movies already has been halted by the writers' strike. Even though movies typically have a script in hand when they start shooting, revisions and changes mean a writer is usually needed while production proceeds.

Now with actors also going on strike, most remaining production will stop. The exception will be independent movies that are not associated with one of the major studios.

One group of television shows that will continue to produce new episodes is the traditional daytime soap operas. The writers of those shows are typically nonunion, and the unionized actors work under a different contract than the one that expired at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Wednesday.

But most other actors will stop working as soon as the union's government board votes to go on strike later Thursday. Rank-and-file members have already voted 98% in favor of authorizing a strike.

Actors will not be doing publicity for movies that are being released, including appearing on the red carpet at movie premieres or doing interviews on podcasts. Of course, the writers' strike brought an immediate halt to new episodes of U.S. late night shows, so the opportunity to do that sort of publicity was already limited.

How long will it last?

What isn't clear is how long this will continue. There are hopes in the industry that since writers and actors are out at the same time, that will put pressure on the studios to improve their offers and get everyone back to work sooner rather than later. The last time the writers and the Screen Actors Guild, the precursor of SAG-AFTRA, were on strike at the same time was 1960 — so long ago that Ronald Reagan was the SAG president leading that strike.

But everyone agrees the industry is going through unprecedented change as the ways that the public consumes shows are changing rapidly, and the economics are changing with it.

Disney CEO Bob Iger didn't seem to suggest there will be a solution in the near term, in comments Thursday morning.

Video below: Hear from SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher

"They are adding to a set of challenges this business is already facing that is quite frankly very disruptive," said Iger, who is set to receive more than $25 million in compensation this year, about SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild in an interview on CNBC. "You have to be realistic about the business environment and what this business can deliver."

But the unions say their members are suffering because of the changes in the business, like the shrinking amount of broadcast residuals in the age of streaming, and they've been pushed to the point where they can't accept what the studios are offering.

"The studios and streamers have implemented massive unilateral changes in our industry's business model, while at the same time insisting on keeping our contracts frozen in amber," said a statement from Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's chief negotiator, issued early Thursday morning. "The studios and streamers have underestimated our members' resolve, as they are about to fully discover."

So don't expect to see the return of many of your favorite shows any time soon.

LOS ANGELES —

Unionized Hollywood actors on the verge of a strike have agreed to allow a last-minute intervention from federal mediators but say they doubt a deal will be reached by a negotiation deadline late Wednesday.

"We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement," the Screen Actors Guild -American Federation of Radio and Television Artists said in a statement Tuesday night.

Video above: A Writers Guild of America member weighs in on the possibility of an actor's strike

The actors could join the already striking Writers Guild of America and grind the already slowed production process to a halt if no agreement is reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The sides agreed to an extension before the original contract expiration date on June 30, resetting it to Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

Growing pessimism surrounding the talks seemed to turn to open hostility when SAG-AFTRA released a statement Tuesday night.

It came in response to a report in Variety that a group of Hollywood CEOs had been the force behind the request for mediation, which the union said was leaked before its negotiators were informed of the request.

The AMPTP declined comment through a representative. It's not clear whether federal mediators have agreed to take part, but such an intervention would presumably require more time than the hours left on the contract.

"The AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process," the SAG-AFTRA statement said. "We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal."

Issues on the table in the talks include residual pay and the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence.

"General Hospital" actress Sonya Eddy has died, the show's executive producer confirmed.

"I truly loved her, not only as an actress, but as a friend," Frank Valentini wrote on Instagram.

Eddy played the no-nonsense nurse Epiphany Johnson on the soap opera. According to IMDB, she appeared in 543 episodes from 2006 to 2022.

Eddy's acting career began in the 1990s with stints on "The Drew Carry Show," "Married... with Children" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."

Her fans were shocked by the news of her passing, posting tributes online. Actress Octavia Spencer wrote, "The world lost another creative angel. Her legions of @generalhospitalabc fans will miss her."

Eddy's cause of death has not been revealed. She was 55 years old.