Okay, now Drew Barrymore’s show is coming back

Now that the writers strike is over, television can return—including The Drew Barrymore Show, after all the drama. To recap: Barrymore announced in September that her daytime talk show would return during the strike despite being a WGA-covered show. The decision faced immediate and intense backlash, and though Barrymore initially doubled down, eventually she ceded to pressure and decided not to move forward with the fourth season premiere. Within two weeks, the writers guild made a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to send its members back to work. Et voilà: Barrymore is back.

The new premiere for The Drew Barrymore Show is October 16, almost exactly a month after the previous premiere date, which was set for September 18. After the WGA deal was made, some onlookers joked that Barrymore just had to hold out a few more days and she wouldn’t have tanked her own reputation. Others, however, lauded Barrymore for listening to the striking writers and apologizing for her actions. Some even speculated that the intense backlash against such a beloved figure is part of what drove the AMPTP back to the table, a glaringly visible sign of the solidarity and support the WGA received during its strike.

Barrymore isn’t the only daytime television personality making her return. The Kelly Clarkson show also set a date for its premiere, which will take place in the production’s new home, New York City. That series also returns on October 16, and will reportedly take advantage of its location to bring in exciting surprise guests. “We can’t wait to welcome a vibrant audience to join us in studio. There will be lots of surprises and plenty of giveaways,” showrunner Alex Duda said in a statement (via Entertainment Weekly). “Kellyoke fans can expect to see Kelly and her band perform impromptu duets with our 30 Rock neighbors and talent from Broadway, plus more ‘Songs & Stories’ episodes with artists such as Pink, Garth Brooks, and Chris Martin. We’ll also do our signature ‘Good Neighbor’ segment, highlighting everyday people doing extraordinary things in their communities.”

The Kelly Clarkson Show hadn’t set a premiere date for its fifth season, so the American Idol winner didn’t endure the backlash that Barrymore did. The show did have its own offseason drama, however, when a number of employees alleged a toxic workplace environment behind the scenes. While Clarkson wasn’t specifically implicated in those allegations, Duda and other producers came under fire for their treatment of staffers. In a statement, Clarkson promised there would be leadership training for all senior staff to “ensure we are all being/becoming the best version of ourselves.”

With the SAG-AFTRA strike ongoing, shows like Barrymore’s and Clarkson’s can’t host the typical celebrity guests coming on to promote acting projects (unless they’re independent productions with interim agreements from the guild). Guests can, however, talk about projects that fall outside the SAG-AFTRA sphere, so talk shows will no doubt continue to be star-studded affairs, one way or another.