Neil Patrick Harris Avoids WGA Strike of New Variety Show with Twitter Guarantee

As NBC recently announced, Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting his own variety show next year for the network. As reported on Deadline, The WGA East was threatening to strike the upcoming series, unless its producers agreed to sign a guild contract guaranteeing that nonunion writers will not be employed. Harris himself is among the show's executive producers.

This morning, the Tony Award winner took to Twitter to assure the WGA East that only union writers will be used for the show, posting: "Know this: my variety show will absolutely be crafted by union writers. I've been assured by ITV that it will be a WGA show. Period."

As of yet, there has been no reaction from the WGAE or series producer ITV Studios America.

Harris currently co-stars in David Fincher's "Gone Girl." He recently finished a run on Broadway as the lead in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," for which he won a Tony Award for best actor in a musical. For nine seasons played the role of Barney Stinson on "How I Met Your Mother," for which he received four Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations.

About NPH's Variety Show:

Bringing five-time Emmy Award winner Neil Patrick Harris to the network, NBC has ordered a new primetime variety series based on the hugely popular U.K. format "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway," which was created by ITV Studios, Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. The series is an institution in the U.K., winning multiple awards, including two prestigious BAFTA's in 2014.

Harris, who has served as an Emmy and Tony Award host and was recently announced as host of the 2015 Academy Awards, will bring his multi-dimensional skills to the forefront of this new hourlong series.

NBC's new variety series will feature comedy sketches, musical numbers, mini game shows, hidden camera pranks on celebrities and appearances by A-list stars, based on ITV's U.K. format, "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway."

NBC has ordered 10 episodes from ITV Studios America, all of which will be filmed in front of a live audience. Neither an official title nor air date has been set.