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Sources who attended Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show taping today got an earful of complaining from the comic host about his dealings with the Writers Guild. This was his show’s first day back after its strike hiatus and Jon’s jawing came prior to taping. That’s when audience coordinator Teri Abrams, and then Stewart in more detail, talked about how they joined with cable channel Comedy Central to lobby the WGA to accept the same deal that the writers guild made with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. Stewart told the audience that he was turned down by the WGA last Thursday.
It was apparent that Stewart was completely flummoxed by the Guild’s decision and questioned the logic behind the rejection. But what the audience wasn’t told, however, is that the two situations are very different: Comedy Central, a division of Viacom, owns Stewart’s show, whereas Worldwide Pants owns The Late Show with David Letterman as well as the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Viacom is one of the 8 biggest members of the AMPTP which is refusing to bargain with the WGA at present.
During the pre-show, Stewart became serious and said he believed what the writers want is important and he supports them all the way. Asked what he did during the strike hiatus, he said without the show he’s just an old guy yelling at the TV.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Jon Stewart is an overrated blowhard anyway. Personally I’ve quite enjoyed not having “The Daily Show” on the air for the past couple months. This way I don’t have to hear an entire writer’s room go on & on about what happened on last night’s episode.
That is if there were writer’s rooms right now anyway.
And that is if I had a writer’s room to show up to anyway.
I’m going to cry myself to sleep now.
At the end of the day all the only allegiance these guys have is to themselves. Jon, Ellen, Oprah, Leno, Colbert, Kimmel…they’re SCABS. In essence they are saying “f-k you” to their writers.
I am WILDLY angry at Stewart and Colbert. They obviously wrote stuff for their shows tonite – otherwise how could they have video clips at the ready! SHAME! SHAME on them both. They’re scabbing against their own writing staffs! I’m through with both of them. I was a HUGE Daily Show fan. No more. Finito.
Actually the daily show was very funny tonight. Funnier than it has been in a while. All of the late night shows have been funny actually. Well all but Letterman but he can have a thousand writers and his same tired shtick and irritating noises will never be funny.
I understand the WGA’s logic, but considering how huge TDS is on the internet, getting them on the deal I would think would be huge. I would have thought The Daily Show would rank up there with Lost and The Office for internet “gets”.
I don’t know…I can see advantages both ways. Having JS with writers attacking the studios every night wouldn’t suck either.
Ok, am I catching something that no one else is or am I missing something. Jon said that his parent company agreed to deal with the WGA and the WGA declined. He even said that they thought he was crazy but he talked them into it anyway. So, is he making that up or did the WGA really turn down an opportunity to turn a show associated with Viacom. Honestly if we are counting coup here, Viacom is a huge kill for them. The WGA should be falling all over themselves to turn any one of those shows. I mean, if the strategy is divide and conquer then why aren’t we picking apart the alliance using a popular show that is partly owned by a huge hold out?? WHO were they negotiating with anyway?
“Notice the lack of grandstanding statements made my the DGA in the lead up to their negotiations. They are handling themselves with distinction and class; something so rare in this town.”
Most DGA members are not above-the-line Directors, they’re UPAs, 1st and 2nd ADs, etc. In the dust-up over residuals, it is important to remember that those people — who make up a lot of the DGA membership — don’t get residuals in the first place. Big deal, star Directors who are DGA may get residuals, but their points off gross are where their real money comes from (and the large up-front fees that stars can command). DGA therefore has little incentive to negotiate a contract that deals with residuals, which is a major sticking point for WGA’s negotiations. DGA isn’t making grandstanding statements because they are a weaker guild (believe it or not), with less on the line, and therefore have less incentive to drive a hard bargain. DGA will probably cave on many points that are important to WGA, leaving WGA (and SAG, soon enough) in a bad negotiating position by setting a weak precedent.
Many WGA and SAG members (particularly the large numbers of members of those guilds that aren’t stars) live off residuals for extended periods of time in-between assignments, which is not the case for DGA members who don’t even get them. So WGA (and SAG) are negotiating for a part of the contract that is relevant to the lives of large numbers of their members, whereas DGA has different priorities.
Looking to DGA as a class act hides the reality of the fact that they are a weaker guild, with less on the line, and therefore less of a reason to try to drive a harder bargain with AMPTP.
Oh, Jon. Can’t you learn from Conan? You don’t need writers. In fact, your show might even be better without them.
I can totally relate to Stewart’s frustration, and I applaud him for not taking the ‘politically correct’ route of blindy agreeing and mutely acquiescing with everything WGA does. Anyone demanding unquestioning obedience makes me uncomfortable. Stewart has every right to express his incomprehension about the non-deal, that does not make him a scab. Personally, I don’t understand WGA’s decision, either. ComedyCentral was willing to make concessions that would have went against Viacom’s stance, and the WGA said they want to fracture the AMPTP small company by small company. So, it’s OK for the WGA to give United Artists a separate deal, which splits them from their MGM parent company, but it’s not possible to do the same for ComedyCentral, splitting them from their Viacom parent company? I don’t get that logic.
I still don’t get the distinction. CBS benefits from new episodes of Letterman & Ferguson since their writers are now back to work, i,e., they get to sell ads and promote other CBS shows, even though CBS is a struck company. How is that different from NBC benefiting from the Golden Globes or Viacom benefiting from Comedy Central/Stewart/Colbert?
Personally I think he should have let his entire production staff from both shows get fired, what a bastard.
Nikki, you’re missing the point here… We have Jay Leno openly breaking the strike rules and pushing it in our faces… We have the guild who’s looking the other way, not wanting to take on Leno. At least Jon, for the most part, defended the writers… As for his not getting an interim deal, I think someone has to explain to him that his company, Viacom, won’t allow him to sign a deal like that… The guild would love to sign Viacom… with it comes networks and cable companies. And let’s not forget the Daily Show is a huge money maker with Internet downloads… one of the biggest… Viacom surely doesn’t want to share in that revenue. D.
Doesn’t he understand they will only cut side deals with small independent companies like UA… wait, that doesn’t sound right.
I’m sorry, but I think a lot of people here have it wrong. Jon Stewart wants to get the same agreement as Dave’s company (as I’m sure the other hosts do). People shouldn’t get on Jon for being frustrated. I commend him for still doing a show within the strike rules. Same for Kimmel and Conan.
Leno on the other hand keeps plowing along breaking the rules and acting as a scab. And he’s getting away with it.
He is selling out the cause of his own writers by writing his monologue in clear violation of the strike rules.
WGA- I thought you were going to put your foot down? Since you haven’t, Jon Stewart and all the others might as well start writing their own material because the WGA leadership isn’t willing to enforce their own rules.
Stewart is such a phony. He claims to admire union organizer Eugene Debbs, but he plays the scab when his own pocketbook is threatened–not much different than some corporate raider. Jack London wrote a story called “Dream of Deggs, about the day the workers stopped producing. Jon just keeps making money Viacom, making him Eugene Debbs worst nightmare.
Stewart is a typical democrat-hypocrite. He’s 100% conservative all the way when it’s HIS money on the table. That’s the essence of being a dumocrat.
So when the WGA makes a deal with WWP isn’t it CBS that benefits the most? When they make a deal with a small compnany like UA won’t the distributers really be the big winners?
If those of you that are calling Stewart, Leno, Kimmel and Colbert would look at the WGA rules then you would know that they are allowed to write for themselves if they are the ones that read the jokes on screen.
Truth is that Stewart (and Colbert to a lesser extent) punctured and made fun of a lot of the WGA’s postions and weren’t just pointing the finger at the Alliance.
How are the situations very different?
Because Dave owns the company that produces the show for a network?
That’s your definition of very different?
Seriously?
Although Comedy Central does own a percentage of TDS, Stewart has ownership via Busboy productions. That’s somewhat different than a show completely owned by one of the big 8, and his ownership was the reason he was able to get CC to agree to go along with the WGA’s demands. I would think that someone who has enough leverage to get CC to come to the table (and did) would be a valuable move to give an interim agreement to. I understand the WGA’s position on the big 8 but in this case I think it was a missed opportunity.
Jon Stewart, who is your idol? Well, mine just plunged from grace.
I don’t find anything arrogant or selfish in Young & Verrone’s stand. If selfish means acting in the best, strategic interest of the writers & the fair deal we deserve, then the word selfish is sufficient. Stewart can justify going back to work w/out writers all he wants; his lack of eloquence is expressing himself justifies why he needs them.
Uh, Elliott — you do REALIZE that the Writers Guild handled themselves with class throughout the summer… and that the companies kept putting off and avoiding negotiations? Until the 11th Hour, when the companies gave the WGA their opening offer, and it wasn’t even a status quo offer, it was an enormous, contract-wide rollback?
Please. I agree with you: distinction and class are rare in this town, and we certainly didn’t see it on the part of the companies when the WGA was trying to negotiate in good faith.
It’s so incredibly disappointing to see Jon Stewart like this. I mean, this is one of the smarter guys on TV. The fact that he doesn’t get the difference between his show and Letterman’s is just astounding. I mean, he doesn’t own his own show, plain and simple. If the WGA starts making deals with individual shows, the whole purpose of divide and conquer is lost. We’d essentially be helping Comedy Central and Viacom and taking away any chance of pressuring them to come back to the negotiating table. Just because the logo for your company is at the end of the show, it doesn’t mean you can make an interim agreement with the guild. Why don’t we just make deals with J.J.Abrams and David E. Kelly? Because their companies are just loan outs to the bigger companies. Worldwide Pants is not. Perhaps people like Jon Stewart (who have some leverage on the networks they work for) should be putting their energy into convincing their ultimate bosses to negotiate a fair deal instead of trying to point fingers at the WGA. It’s going to be so hard watching him knowing this is the kind of person he is at the end of it all.
I used to think Jon Stewart was smart. Now I know it just his with the sharp minds and wit. PLEASE could one of his writers pen something logical for this prompter reader?
Why are all these so called WGA/Writer supporters whining to get back on the air without their writers? The truths is the Daily Show was non-union for so long because Jon Stewart dragged his ass in helping to get his writers under the WGA umbrella.
Now we know why…Jon Stewart is an asshole.
Letterman – Conan – Ferguson and Maher…could one of you call this fool and school him on how to act.
Perhaps the comments to which you refer weren’t aired, but I watched the show and Stewart was extremely supportive of the WGA. There were a few oblique references to his disappointment at not being able to make a deal, but mostly it was AMPTP bashing (unabashed?).