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Now that almost all the other late night hosts are returning right after the new year, the latest news is that Jon Stewart (a WGA member) and Stephen Colbert (also a WGA member) are headed back into the studios on January 7th. The good news is that this could make the 2008 Presidential race that much more interesting. The bad news is that the shows won’t have available to them the WGA writers who would make the shows that much more interesting. Both late-night shows were shuttered after the Hollywood writers strike began seven weeks ago. The comedy duo join late night hosts Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel returning behind their desks on January 2nd.
Only David Letterman, whose Worldwide Pants owns both his The Late Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, is trying to get back on the air with writers by asking the WGA for an “interim agreement”. On Friday, leaders of the striking writers guild confer with Dave’s production company. My latest info is that WWP’s Rob Burnett is flying to Los Angeles tonight to personally meet with the WGA “because he thought this was too important to just leave up the lawyers,” an insider tells me.
Here’s the Comedy Central announcement that is slowly beginning to circulate:
” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will resume production on January 7 with both shows returning to air that night without their respective writing staffs. The January 7 return follows a scheduled two-week, end-of-year hiatus that was previously built into the shows’ production calendars. We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again.”
And then there’s this joint statement by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.”
Meanwhile, the WGA issued this response to the news: “Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they’ve come to expect. The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the AMPTP companies to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild.”
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Huh? Are JS and SC members themselves? Who will be writing their material? (I mean, they both are fantastic writers… but are they allowed to provide non-spontaneous “writing” on those shows?)
Just curious…
I want these guys back on TV as much as anyone else, but I can’t see how it’s possible to do either show without writers.
I’m at a loss as to how Jon Stewart could possibly come back and do his show considering he’s a WGA member. I don’t mean that he’s a scab for daring to return to work. I mean that his show is completely written and so I don’t see how he’s actually able to do what he’s been doing all these years WITHOUT a script.
And anything he writes is scab work because he’s a WGA member and there’s a writers strike, no?
They should have their writers as guests, and talk about all the funny jokes they’re not able to write.
Look, I believe that WGA hyphenates can and should engage in non-writing activities (directing, acting, catering) if and when they feel it is justified, but how can someone who uses words for a living NOT be writing as they go? Fashioning a joke in one’s head is writing. Even if you don’t open Final Draft and type it out.
I expect to see the same kind of venom and hate you all spewed at Ellen and Carson Daly in these comments now that your precious Stewart and Colbert are doing the same exact thing.
Annnnnnddddddd……GO!
I think both shows will rely much more on the interview segment — either doing two each episode or extending the usual one. I could even see Jon Stewart bringing his correspondents (all good at improv) and doing a roundtable type thing (that mocks that kind of show.)
All the authors of non-fiction books about politics must be ecstatic as they can finally get some publicity again! Not to mention John McCain, who has been on the Daily Show more than any other guest.
I can’t wait until all showrunners return to their shows without a deal.
I guess they’ll have to stick to doing only unscripted interview segments. Which have the dangerous tendency of turning into dead air if the guest isn’t up to it.
Of course this moves fits the AMPTP philosophy of: “We don’t need stories, scripts, or anything like that. All we need are highly paid stars.“
As soon as these guys set foot on the air the truth will out about what they think of writers and unions. And it’s not going to be pretty.
Huh. Isn’t anything either one says that’s not a direct question for a guest in essence…writing? In fact, the questions are typically scripted to lead to “amusing” anecdotes. In addition, improv is still writing, isn’t it – the lack of the page is semantics. And anyway, most improv is based on rehearsals with scripts. I don’t see how this works for Stewart at all.
Did he do a Speechless video?
Maybe he’ll be doing a 30 minute one on Jan 7th.
“Completely written?” Not the guest segments.
Ah, Guys, Johnny Carson never crossed the picket line because he was NOT a member of WGA so that bullshit won’t wash. You are crossing the picket line.
Just who is forcing you to return? Tell us, we want to know. Tom Short? Your IATSE Contract?
You are now handing The gloating Companies with a huge fuck you to the WGA, you see it in the trades already.
This makes me sick. I was okay with Dave if he had an agreement with WGA, but I won’t be should he return without an agreement.
If Johnny was a Member of WGA he would have never pulled this shit. He had principles. He would never reward a Company who treated him as we are being treated. He advised as much to Dave if I recall.
So, I hope your shows suck, as they should with no written material, no skits, no monologues and NO jokes. I hope your ratings suffer a bigger ratings loss than the funny, well written, higher quality reruns. And if there are any jokes just who is gonna write those jokes guys? If it’s you, you are a scab.
And who is going to appear on your show? Actors? The same brothers and sisters we are sacrificing for, the next group in line to be treated as we are?
Pat, Dave, John… You have lost this round boys… unless the Public refuses to watch this crap.
SAG, we are watching and waiting. Do not reward these asshole Companies. There is NO reason why you or these “WGA” Hosts need to support the Companies.
Shill alert! Shill alert!
No venom, just the truth. Jon Stewart, as a WGA member, is a scab for crossing the picket lines. I’m extremely disappoint in his cowardice. I don’t know what to think about Colbert. I guess he wanted his big salary more than he wanted to help his writers.
As both a fan of TDS/TCR and a supporter of the strike, I feel very conflicted about this news. On the other hand, I do respect the difficult situation that Stewart and Colbert must be in, being both writers and producers of their respective shows, and having a responsibility toward their non-writing staffs to consider.
It will be interesting to see how they handle their shows without their writing staffs. (My guess? Lots more interviews.)
a scab is a scab by any other name – ellen, jon, carson, stephen, jay, conan, jimmy – scabs all (the verdict is still out on davey but he’s looking awful scabby) – they will, when they go to the big green room in the sky, have to live with their what me worry choices… i, on the other hand, must choose to never watch the greedy scabs again…
Okay — let’s see how many people can pledge to never, ever watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report again?
We’re all in this together, right?
Let the count begin:
One.
There’s a specific AFTRA exemption that allows these guys to go back to work. They can’t perform (or write) anything that was prior to the strike written by the staff (which I think means basically no opening monologues, but they can interview guests and do whatever off-the-cuff quipping they usually do). I expect they will honor the rules set for this scenario by WGA and AFTRA. Not a great situation, but the scab-calling in this thread is misplaced. They are no more scabs than are say, DGA/WGA hyphenates who have been directing movies over the past two months but not writing on them.
sorry mike… unlike the DGA/WGA hyphenates who have been directing movies, they provide a “face” to the public by being back on the air that says f’ the guild, we’re back and we don’t care who gets screwed over so long as it ain’t us. i.e. they are scabs in deed. scabs who make a living pretending they are superior beings in all their cool cleverness. well ain’t they sumthin’ now. sure their mommas are dang proud.
AFTRA SMAFTRA, They are supporting the Companies and prolonging the Strike if their shows create an increase in Ad revenue for the Companies.
That means The Companies will benefit from their actions. It means they can wait it out longer and increase the damage to WGA, BTL Families, the local Economy, etc. That is big time scabby to me.
I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but I think the WGA should have given waivers to the writers of both these shows weeks ago. The writers of TDS and TCR are masters at skewering egos and throwing eggs at the “powers that be”… like the AMPTP. They could be bringing our fight to TV screens across the country four nights a week.
And frankly, I don’t care if it’s not fair to other writers (myself included). I’m not as good as these guys and granting me a waiver will not further our cause. I think probably 99.9% of us can admit that.
This is a battle for our livelihoods. These guys could be powerful weapons if we let them be. I’ll shed a tear for “fairness” when it’s all over.
Scab issues aside, format-wise these shows don’t work without writers and I would really be careful about asking studio audiences to cross the picket lines with me if I was Stewart. If they were my shows I would send the hosts on the road following the primaries doing interviews with politicos and regular folks to avoid the previously mentioned issues.
Okay, everyone, let’s hear the ‘scab’ talk now. Your two iconoclast heroes, both WGA members, are happily crossing the picket line and returning to their shows. Of course, you’re blaming Comedy Central for “forcing” them. With what, a threat to replace them with Carrot Top? I saw this coming a mile off.
Soon, they’ll both be requesting “waivers” to allow their writers to return to work (and they’ll get them). Everything else will fall into place, i.e. “well, since he went back, I guess I can too…” You think Stewart was going to give up hosting the Oscars? I don’t care if he hosts The Daily Show and bashes politicians everyday. He’s a hired employee, not Che Guevara.
This will all fizzle out by late-February after AMPTP strikes a New Media deal with the DGA and the WGA goes along with it.
Next time you throw a strike, don’t do it the way you’d write one for a movie. Just because it looks cool on paper doesn’t mean it works in real life.
None of these hosts is a scab (nor will Dave be a scab when he joins them witout his writers.) A scab is ONLY someone who is getting paid to WRITE for a signatory company during a strike. So hosts, guests, directors, musicians, caterers, camera men, talent bookers, etc. who work on a show or movie during a writers strike are NOT scabs.
Yes, the hosts are providing increased income for the studios at a time when it would help the WGA’s position for them not to do so, but they are also keeping hundreds of people employed (people who in Jay, Conan and Dave’s case have been with them for over a decade. Hell, with Dave for over two decades.) It’s a very tough decision they’ve made, but as all these hosts have been pro-writer for years, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.
And the reason Ellen and Carson Daly got so much heat (Ellen especially,) is that they were seen as going back awfully quickly– thus hurting the WGA’s position more immediately. But they were never scabs.
For Teamsters and other union members across the country, calling someone a scab is the worst possible insult you could throw at someone. A pity people on this board are so quick to use the term.