As you’ve probably heard by now, the Writers Guild of America went on strike last night, the first time television’s wordsmiths have walked out since those halcyon pre-Seinfeld days of broadcast greatness. How does this affect you? Well, if you’re a fan of soaps, talk shows and the fake news, let’s put it this way: You’re not going to be happy. It will take a little longer for lovers of scripted sitcoms and dramas to feel the bite, but it’s coming — those shows tape farther in advance, but if this continues, they’re going to run out of material, too. (Maybe the producers will fill in, or maybe YouTube will pick up the slack, or maybe we’ll all just take breather and go, you know, outside.) The blogosphere is abuzz with all the latest developments. NYMag.com, for instance, printed a wonderful pic of Tina Fey on the picket line outside Rockefeller Center, and The Los Angeles Times ran a handy chart as to which shows would suffer and when. Here are two of the more interesting items:

According to Portfolio, Jon Stewart has offered to pay his writers their salaries for the next two weeks. He’s also offered Stephen Colbert’s writers the same. The idea is to ensure that the writers don’t feel any pressure — financial, or, we guess, otherwise — to settle for a bogus deal. Perversely, this makes us want to elect Jon Stewart to office. Jon Stewart, we love you and your crazy principles!

Sadly, however, the strike also means that Amy Winehouse’s Saturday Night Live debut is probably off. It would have been nice to see the beehived Brit attempt to recover from her performance at MTV’s Europe Music Awards, but wishes are cheap and writers are not. The Rock was set to host. Surprisingly, we’re more torn up about not seeing him on SNL than we expected.

Above: As the news sinks in, Amy shudders in horror. Blake, on the other hand, appears to be feeling the effects of the ether. [Image: Getty]