Ellen and W's Girl...Sort of

PRESIDENT BUSH is never too busy for his little girl, JENNA BUSH. He accepted a phone call from his 26-year-old daughter on Tuesday while she taped an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that aired yesterday. Jenna called her parents at the request of ELLEN DEGENERES, although she was a little worried about disturbing her mom and dad. When they reached first lady LAURA BUSH, DeGeneres introduced herself and said, quote, "I wanted to say hi to daddy." Sure enough, President Bush got on the line, wishing the audience a Merry Christmas and telling Jenna he loved her. He also said he wasn't angry about the call.

Jenna Bush stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote her book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope.

Strike, Strike, baby

Today marks the 11th day of the writers' strike. While there's no public sign of an imminent deal with producers, there continue to be developments on shows being affected by the strike. Here's the latest news:

* ELLEN DEGENERES has bailed on plans to bring her show to New York City next week. Striking writers had promised to show up and protest her decision to remain on the air during the work stoppage. Instead of appearing in the Big Apple, DeGeneres will continue to tape at her studio in Burbank, California. Though DeGeneres, who is a member of the Writers Guild, has come under fire for continuing to tape her show, Telepictures, which produces The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has released a statement saying she's contractually obligated to make original episodes since hers is a syndicated program and not owned by a network.

* According to the Hollywood Reporter, employees of The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson will continue to be paid through the end of the year, even if the strike is still going on at that time. Both late night programs are owned by DAVID LETTERMAN'S Worldwide Pants production company. The decision would make the production company the first and only to hand out paychecks during the strike. According to the Hollywood Reporter, checks will continue to be distributed in order to reassure employees worried about bringing in an income during the strike.

* Fox has elected to continue making new episodes of Family Guy without creator and executive producer SETH MACFARLANE, who is taking part in the strike. Several episodes that MacFarlane had already begun working on will be completed without him, the first of which is slated to air this Sunday. The last new episode done completely with MacFarlane aired last Sunday. It will be particularly interesting to see how episodes without MacFarlane's input turn out, since he provides the voices of many primary characters, including Peter, Stewie and Brian.

* One area in which the writers' strike may not have an impact is coverage of awards shows -- at least not yet. This weekend's American Music Awards, hosted by JIMMY KIMMEL, should go on as scheduled. The show's producer, BARRY ADELMAN, says since everyone knew a strike was on the horizon, the ceremony was pre-written before the work stoppage began. Still, Adelman does admit any topical joke Jimmy Kimmel makes will probably be ad-libbed by him

Ellen and the Scabs...well

While ELLEN DEGENERES hasn't publicly shed any tears over the writers' strike, the union is trying its best to make her feel bad about continuing production of her talk show. The eastern branch of the Writers Guild of America has vowed to picket her show when it tapes in New York next Monday and Tuesday. Referring to DeGeneres' emotional conflict over the adoption of a dog last month, the WGA East said, quote, "We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day."

DeGeneres did not report to work on the first day of the strike, but later taped a show that aired Friday. She acknowledged the strike on the episode, saying she would not perform a monologue in support of her writers. The producer of The Ellen DeGeneres Show claims that DeGeneres is not breaking strike rules since she's performing her own material. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or AFTRA, which represents TV personalities such as DeGeneres, also defended the comedian. She's a member of both AFTRA and the Writers Guild.

The major late-night talk shows have aired repeats since the strike began last week. An executive producer for The Tonight Show said in a statement Friday that it has considered using guest hosts in place of JAY LENO. When asked about that report yesterday, Leno replied, "I hope not."

Several primetime series have also felt the effects of the strike. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scrubs creator BILL LAWRENCE says several episodes for the current season, which is the series' last, have yet to be written. He also says he earlier turned down a request to write a rushed finale to wrap the series in the event of a strike.

What's the Deal?

ELLEN DEGENERES will be the first celebrity spokesmodel on NBC's Deal or No Deal. That's right -- it looks like Ellen will don a dress to be among the 26 briefcase-bearing beauties for her good friend, Deal or No Deal host HOWIE MANDEL. TV Guide reports that the show will be taped November 9th to air sometime in January 2008. Will Ellen be holding the million-dollar briefcase? Heck, more important than that: Will Ellen really wear a dress? Ellen's fans may -- or may not -- find out first, since Degeneres will bring her own film crew to the game show set, and tease her audience with a segment next month.

In other Deal or No Deal news, TV Guide reports that mid-December will bring "What's the Deal?" week, with the show airing every night with special guests and surprises. On December 12th, the accounting staff on the NBC comedy The Office guest stars, and ANGELA KINSEY, BRIAN BAUMGARTNER and OSCAR NUNEZ will all remain in character for the game show and assist a contestant who has trouble with numbers. And if you needed another reason to tune in to "What's the Deal?" week, all 26 ladies will be wearing bikinis every night.