Strike gets Ugly: America Ferrera joins Hollywood's brightest stars on picket line

America Ferrera lead the charge as her fellow cast members joined in the picket in LA, while Desperate Housewives Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria were back for the second day running.

Silver screen stars Robin Williams and Holly Hunter turned out in support, along with X Files star David Duchovny.

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Eva said yesterday: "We are done, and we'll be on the lines supporting you."

"I have a whole crew that will have a terrible holiday season because there's no resolution."

"I care about people losing their homes, I care about my hair and makeup artists who can't make ends meet."

Producer Alexandra Cunningham said Tuesday that Desperate Housewives will stop production on Wednesday after running out of scripts.

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Shows that have already been completed will not last until Christmas, she said.

"It's unfortunate. We want to get back to work," Cunningham said.

Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy each have four new episodes to go.

Meanwhile 24 has become the latest casualty of the strike.

Fox has confirmed that the seventh series of the popular drama starring Kiefer Sutherland - will be delayed indefinitely according to US reports.

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The award-winning show airs in the UK on Sky One and was due to begin in January.

Sitcoms that will stop the cameras include Back to You, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, which will not return from a planned hiatus, said Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television.

Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said production also stopped on her CBS show The New Adventures of Old Christine.

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In addition, Til Death, which airs on Fox, and Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, all on CBS, will also end filming, according to people familiar with production of the shows who were not authorized to be quoted and requested anonymity.

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Network officials referred calls to the individual companies producing each show.

It was not immediately clear how many of the programs might already be finished.

The sitcoms are typically written the same week they are filmed, with jokes being sharpened by writers even on the day of production.

The disclosures came during the second day of the strike by the Writers Guild of America against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Pickets returned to studios in Los Angeles and New York.

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"It is a very serious business," said Larry Wilmore, a writer on The Daily Show, explaining that protesters were marching "so we can get back to being funny."

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus also joined the protesters.

"I'm really here because I'm a union member," she said, explaining she belongs to the Screen Actors Guild and her husband is a member of the writers guild.

"If we prevent them from working today, that's a small victory," she said.

Striking writers at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank were joined by several "ER" cast members, including John Stamos, Maura Tierney and Mekhi Pfeiffer.

Stamos said the cast was planning to raise money for crew members who might have trouble making car and mortgage payments if the show eventually has to stop production.

ER executive producer and creator John Wells said, "The issues will effect everyone in the industry - the writers just happen to be first."

The walkout immediately sent late-night comedy shows into reruns.

It was not expected to have an immediate impact on production of movies or most prime-time TV programs.

Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and many TV shows have scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.

While scripted shows suffer from the strike, reality shows could flourish because they don't use union writers, despite an aggressive attempt by the writers guild to organize the staffers on the programs.

Viewers could also check out more entertainment on the Internet, ranging from user-generated fare on YouTube to professionally produced shows such as "Quarterlife."

Writers have not gone on strike since 1988, when the walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $US500 million.