The environment over at The Ellen DeGeneres Show continues to be less than felicitous.

Former WB star Keri Russell has canceled an upcoming appearance on the daytime chatfest, reportedly in protest of the decision to keep producing new episodes while its Writers Guild of America-bound employees are out on strike.

Russell, whose promo schedule in advance of her new film August Rush will probably be lighter than usual because of the walkout, was supposed to be a guest on Ellen when the show tapes in New York later this month.

In an angry statement Friday, the WGA East vowed to picket Ellen's studio in the Big Apple—a threat that the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists didn't take lightly to, calling the WGAE's public outcry "a misstep that threatens to frustrate the solidarity of organized labor on a cause that we should all stand together, and stand up, for."

In response to AFTRA's response, WGAE executive director Mona Mangan wrote Saturday in a letter to AFTRA national executive director Kim Roberts Hedgpath that the matter was between DeGeneres and the WGA, and wasn't meant to be an attack on another union's protocol. (DeGeneres is a member of both.)

"Beyond any issue of membership, there is the obvious ethical issue, which is clearly present in Ms. DeGeneres' decision to write and produce a show without writers in the face of an industrywide walkout by 12,000 writers," Mangan wrote.

"Such a decision cannot be redeemed by your spirited and eloquent defense. I understand that AFTRA cannot call upon Ms. DeGeneres to respect our strike. But the Writers Guild can and must."

With the big news from the picket lines Monday being the "Will Poop for Contract" t-shirt worn by Greek scribe Jessica O'Toole's nine-month-old son as the scribes marched alongside their little ones, reports from the trenches continued to focus on the what-ifs.

When The Office airs its final new episode next week, to be joined by other popular series sooner rather than later, the strike might finally hit home for audiences. But their inconvenience will really be nothing compared to what's hanging in the balance for both established show runners and writer-producers with deals but no scripts.

Networks and studios may choose to cut the dead weight and exercise their opt-out clauses rather than stick with the newbie talent for the duration—and that goes for both writers and actors, who could be suspended with half-pay for five weeks and then either reinstated or given the boot.

Knowing that some of their contracts hang in the balance, as well, Screen Actors Guild members will join the picket line at Universal Studios on Tuesday.

Among those expected to show up in solidarity are Ben Stiller, Lisa Kudrow, Camryn Manheim, Brad Garrett, George Lopez, Minnie Driver, Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn, as well as stars from CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Dirt, Mad Men, Numb3rs and more.

The unwelcome hiatus will also be tough on series such as Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock that are still struggling to find an audience and could be hurt by shortened seasons. And what happens to shows that are signing off in the spring?

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence told the Hollywood Reporter that he won't cross the picket line, but will somehow figure out a way to cap off the NBC sitcom's seventh and final season.

"I will use all my leverage to end this show properly, even if it means I have to do all the voices myself and call people up to read it over the phone,'' said Lawrence, who has 11 out of 18 scripts completed.

If the strike, which started Nov. 5, continues and everything on air now is in repeats by January, it may be the time to catch up with the first season of Damages on DVD.

Reversing the recent trend of doom and gloom, FX announced Monday that it has ordered two more 13-episode seasons of the low-rated yet critically acclaimed legal thriller, in which good and evil come only in shades of gray. Rose Byrne and Tate Donovan have signed on for both seasons, joining scene-stealer Glenn Close, who FX smartly tied down for six seasons before the series even aired.

Of course, because of the strike, it's unclear when exactly Ellen will put her plan to take down Patty Hewes into action. Production would ideally kick off early next year, but it's possible the actors will have to start penning their own lines for that to take place.

FX, which suspended The Shield showrunner Shawn Ryan's contract last week, is hoping that DVD sales and Golden Globe and Emmy nominations will boost Damages' profile.

But then there's the question of what sort of shape awards season will be left in after the strike has ripped through Hollywood.

While there was already talk of what the absence of union writers might do to the Academy Awards telecast in February, Variety pointed out Monday that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences could see far fewer Emmy contenders if the strike continues well into 2008.

According to ATAS rules, at least six episodes of a series have to have aired during the proper time period to merit Emmy consideration—meaning summer shows, like Damages, and what's on now are good to go. But producers will have fewer episodes to choose from when deciding what to submit, leading to less competition in the writing, directing and technical categories.

And midseason shows such as 24, whose premiere Fox put on hold until it could show an uninterrupted "24-hour day," could be ruled ineligible altogether. Similarly, if Lost's opening eight episodes suck, there go its Emmy hopes, as well.

Then again, June's a long way away, and a strike can't last that long, right?

As industry analysts and insiders pondered that very question, and as WGA members took to the picket lines for a sixth day, the Alliance of Motion Picture & TV Producers tried to defend its honor via full-page ads in Monday's trades.

In ads headlined "Setting the Record Straight...," the AMPTP pointed out that WGAW members raked in more than $260 million in "record-breaking" residuals in 2006, including royalties from permanent and pay-per-view digital downloads.

"When the WGA went on strike, an offer to pay writers for Internet streaming was on the table," reads one ad.

"If they think success is putting thousands of people out of work, I’m appalled," Nick Counter, the alliance's chief negotiator, told the Los Angeles Times.

"They should spend more time finding a solution they can give us...The only way they can do that is to put down their picket signs and come back to work and abandon their take-it-or-leave-it bargaining stance."

Contract talks broke off last weekend when negotiators failed to reach an agreement on the WGA's demands for higher DVD royalties (they took the stipulation off the table in the 11th hour) and a cut of the revenue from ad-supported digital content.

David Young, the WGA's chief negotiator, has said that the union has always remained open to further talks, despite the signs and slogans.

"The notion that negotiations stop because there's a strike is not only counterintuitive, it's senseless," he told the Times.