'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … 
THURSDAY 4TH UPDATE: Leno Writes Own Monologue Again! WGA Denies NBC Claims That Jay Had Union OK & Guild Would "Look The Other Way"
THURSDAY 3RD UPDATE: LENO/WGA: WHAT'S THE REAL STORY? NBC Claims Jay Asked For & Received WGA Permission To Write Monologue At Secret Monday Meeting With Guild President Verrone
THURSDAY 2ND UPDATE: NBC Claims "Leno Can Write Own Monologue"; WGA Says He Can't But Doesn't Want War
THURSDAY UPDATE: I had a feeling this controversy not only isn't going away but will probably deepen over the next days -- and it has. The Writers Guild Of America just confirmed that "a discussion took place today between [its member] Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a violation of the Guilds’ strike rules." Leno admitted last night on the air during his first show back from strike hiatus that he wrote his own monologue. That's a huge problem because it violates the strike rules of one of his unions, the WGA, which is currently on strike and picketing NBC and Leno's Tonight Show. Meanwhile, early ratings for late night TV's return show that Jay scored a 5.3 rating and 12 audience share in the nation’s 55 largest markets for his best ratings in two years, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno’s ratings were up 47% over what he achieved before the strike. Meanwhile, David Letterman's Late Show had a 4.3 rating and 10 share, or 39% better than his pre-strike average. I don't find this surprising, since Leno had been consistently beating Letterman for years and TV viewing habits don't change overnight. Plus, there was the "car wreck" phenomenon at work and audiences may have wanted to watch how The Tonight Show would fare without writers. I can't help but think that Leno knows full well he could lose viewers if he stops his topical monologue altogether (which is what Conan O'Brien appeared to do last night). So will Jay keep writing his signature stand-up opening? Stay tuned.
WEDNESDAY PM: Leno did deliver what was a funny monologue. So the big question was who wrote it: WGA members or scabs (i.e. the usual contingent of joke writers who hang out around Jay's kitchen table)? Leno addressed that very issue during the monologue: "You know what I'm doing? I'm doing what I did the day I started. I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, 'Honey, is this funny?' So if this monologue doesn't work it's my wife's fault," he explained. "We are not using outside guys. We are following the guild thing... We can write for ourselves..."
Earth To Leno: That's not the way the WGA interprets its strike rules as spelled out here: "The Strike Rules, among other provisions, prohibit Guild members from performing any writing services during a strike for any and all struck companies. This prohibition includes all writing by any Guild member that would be performed on-air by that member (including monologues, characters, and featured appearances) if any portion of that written material is customarily written by striking writers." (See my previous: WGA Reminds Returning Jay And Conan: No Monologues.)
Now the question is what will the WGA do about it? The irony is that Leno last night sounded so proud of the jokes he claimed to have written for his monologue. Jay's in a tough spot, to be sure: after years of beating Dave week after week, Leno could fall to No. 2 now that he's doing The Tonight Show without his writing team because NBC won't bargain with the striking writers. Whereas Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants owns The Late Show (not CBS) and negotiated an interim waiver from the WGA allowing Dave to return on air with his writing team intact. Sure Leno's ratings may stay the same or even go up as audiences anticipate a potential on-air train wreck. But can they stay there? Will America's late night viewing habits change? And will NBC suffer?
What makes the situation even trickier is that Leno has been very supportive of his own picketing writers and the entire WGA since the strike began two months ago (see photo above) by delivering food and drinks to the scribes walking the line. So the WGA, which has made it clear it's picketing NBC and not Leno, may not want to make an example of a high-profile member like Jay for breaking its strike rules.
Loading ...
Go Jay!!!
I agree that fair is far, but UNIONS RUIN AMERICA!
Now’s the time to pull Jay in to the Guild, ask him if he was being honest in what he said about having written his monologue and if he says he did write it, he must be brought up on charges… Those are the rules… And to flaunt that on TV is to thumb his nose in the face of all writers. Shame on Jay. D.
Leno is two-faced, and into himself to even read WGA contracts. From sources, he definitely doesn’t “jay-walk” his talk!
I am in full agreement with Leno..”HE” is the star and “HE” is who is responsible for his family and their welfare..”HE” is doing what any hard working AMERICAN would do..He is “WORKING” even though nobody else wants to!
To hell with the unions! Go, Jay, go!
If the WGA targets Leno, they’ll make a martyr out of him. Then any gains and/or leverage they have received from the Letterman deal will be lost.
What they should do is simply ask Leno not to mention that he is writing anything on the air, even if he is. That will make this news story die quickly.
Leno is writing his own jokes and being funnier than a team of writers working for Letterman. Does the WGA really want to point out that one man could do the job of several writers?
Someone has to have some common sense here.
<<>>>
Are you kidding me? Workers are just supposed to rely on the benevolence and the good nature of the faceless global conglomerates who employ them? Sure.
He did better without the writers… let ‘em eat cake.
So the union claims to own Jay Leno. Get real. The show is Jay Leno. It’s all about him and his talent. If he can do the song and dance as well as produce his own material…so be it. Fire the writers and they can simply find a job somewhere else.
If Jay does not write his own stuff, how is he supposed to go on the air to support the 160 non-writers, who need income to support their families. Does he have to make it up on the fly? The union rules seem to be crazy — that a man cannot write his own material. I guess Jay will have to give all teh writing duties to his wife!
Let’s get the two sides together and get this thing negotiated like grown people.
2 faced?……. how about 2 1/2 faced!!!
I empathize with the striking writers, but this is ridiculous to me. Leno has a show that employs a lot more people than just the writers. They aren’t on strike and have no way to make a living. They are caught in striker’s hell. Leno has a show to deliver. What about his contracts to perform a live show?
Send this mess to arbitration or settle it or pretty soon we the mass audience will move on to other things and you will be but a blip in our memory.
Brought up on charges? Is writing a joke against federal or state laws? Worst they can do is kick him out of the union (huge dissapointment, I’m sure).
Unions are a pimple on the ass of free markets.
World needs ditch-diggers, or in the writers case, Baristas.
Isn’t it odd that a comedian can’t write his own jokes in America? I think maybe the union is a little too full of its own importance.
Unions don’t ruin America. Unions are the reason for the 40 hour work week, workers compensation, child labor laws, decent medicical benefits and the list goes on. In this case the Guild is trying to pry a few bucks for writers from the billions of dollars corporations will make because of their efforts.
Jay’s “the” talent but he knows he cannot do the show without a team. Educate yourself before posting some thing stupid like to hell with unions and that they ruin the USA.
It’s hilarious that Politically Correct Jay trampled over his employee’s rights. I am sure it was unintentional. PC bimbos like Jay always see others’ rights through the prism of their own self-interests.
But it is ludicrous that we actually have a union for joke writers anyway.
Can the rest of the world do anything but stand back and wonder about us?
Whoa Nikki, FYI… this particular segment made the “Drudge Report”.(go check) Perhaps if Drudge is linking here, then the return of the Late Show hosts HAS upped the strike’s profile considerably.
Got to be kidding Me. Leno is the jerk here. Sure, lets pretend to bargan while the WGA is left in the cold. This is foolish, and Leno has just upped the stakes. I hope he cares.
charges against Leno?
For what?
Jay, take your WGA card, tear it up, and burn it.
I enjoyed the show last night. Great stuff.
I sympathize with what the WGA is trying to do in regards to being rewarded for internet and “other’ media income, but trying to strong-arm a media darling will quickly whittle that sympathy to ZERO.
idiots.
I watched Jay last night and taped Letterman to watch afterwards. Leno’s monologue not written by WGA writers was a lot funnier than Letterman’s, who was written by WGA writers. And with the exception of Robin Williams, who was the funniest I’ve seen him in a long time, The Tonight Show was better overall than the Late Show.
Strike? What strike? Go Jay!
Union idiots! Jay does a better job than his writers. I hope they stay on strike another ten years!
Leno’s a bum who hasn’t been funny in years.
(I can relate to that.)
Who’s your master? Money, Big Corporations or the Guild? You can only serve one.
If it’s thought, remembered, said but not written down, it’s not a violation.
There are some BIG holes in the “Strike Rules” that are very easily walked through.
Make a “martyr” out of Leno?!?!? Amongst whom? The 60-yr-old grannies who watch his show?
Write on Jay!
I’m “just” a viewer, squarely on the side of the WGA and it’s clear to me Jay Leno, whom I happen to like, did the WGA a gross disservice last night. Either his monologue was pre-written (and he admitted it was) which was a clear violation of WGA rules or he winged it, in which case he proved writers aren’t needed. Either way, he hurt the WGA last night.
What next?
“I couldn’t let 16 people put 190 out of work.” That’s why Leno has my support!
To those of you who say, “To hell with unions,”: because of unions, you have a 5 day work week, vacation benefits, eight hour work days, over time pay, holiday pay, our children aren’t working in sweat shops…I could go on and on. NO COMPANY EVER GAVE WORKERS ANYTHING OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS. It was the UNIONS that made this possible for you.
What promised to be a strike for a very fair reason is turning nasty. I hope the producers and the union end this fast because public and professional sympathy is waning. But here it is not the union that should be considered unfair – the producers are in fact the ones who need to negotiate fairly.
Good for Letterman for striking an interim deal and taking the high road, but also good for Jay for putting money back into the hands of all the other employees being affected by this.
Producers, please wake up. Union be careful, you are becoming a bit surly.
Going after him would be a bad move. Most people don’t care that Letterman came back with writers and Leno didn’t. They are just happy their favorite is back on. (99% of the people I know aren’t changing their viewing habits. They hate one and love another to the point that it won’t change.)
If the WGA goes after Leno and kicks him out, they’re leaving a man on the air who has been a big supporter free to do and say whatever he likes. Considering he’s run by NBC who’d love anything to stick it to the writers right about now, he’d have free reign to do and say anything. I don’t think hiring non-WGA writers would be too much of an issue; there’s always someone who’d want to work and I think working out a deal straight with Leno or NBC would probably be more lucrative (remember sticking it to the WGA). And remember, he’s leaving in a year anyways — standup comedians doesn’t need permission from the WGA.
Any hey, Leno without writers is funnier then Letterman with writers and if they go after him, they’d be admitting their own mistake about any of their late-night decisions.
Although it was never stated in the article, I’m assuming Jay is a member of the WGA. If so, then he obviously did violate the WGA’s strike rules. However, I agree with MutualDisdain that getting too tough with Leno would be an unwise move by the WGA. Jay is well liked by a lot of America and a lot of people know that his return to work has allowed many other people to resume their jobs. They should allow him to continue to perform his monologues, but just don’t mention anything about how they are created.
Wake up, people. Leave Jay alone. Jay was a stand-up guy last night. Being in an impossible situation and without the resources Letterman has at his disposal, he did the only thing he could that would not wreck the lives of 160 other, non-guild people. He went to work. He explained to the public very well why he was there, how he still supported the strike, and why he would continue to support the strike.
Attacking your most visible link to the viewing public is not just stupid, it borders on the suicidal. He can do more for your cause from his platform than any picket line simply because he can reach so many people and explain to them in terms they can understand just why they can’t see their favorite shows. He can ridicule the powerful producers who make obscene gain off your hard work.
Stop the Jay bashing. It doesn’t make him look bad and it reflects badly on you. Just how do you think the public views you – as heroic laborers against the machines of industry or a bunch of spoiled illiterate hacks who’ve been shoveling their sorry idea of dialogue and plot so long that they can’t understand why they’re losing our support? Think about it. You’d be surprised by just how fast you can lose our support.
Oh, and for the record – Jay was funnier than Letterman last night.
Good for Jay!
The writing’s on the wall. The WGA will fold by February because of their eroding support. The AMPTP knew this would happen and it seems to be right on schedule.
correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the union’s beef about DVD and Internet revenue, and wasn’t it the union that basically gave away those revenues because they looked at “money now” rather than “money later”?
Why is it that the union feels their members (such as Leno) must adhere to their union contract (agreement) but the union strikes because they don’t want to stick to the deal they made in regards to DVD and internet?
But I guess in a town where people drive a Prius to the airfield to board a private jet, hypocrisy is a way of life.
Of course he wrote his monologue- what was he suppossed to do? Play a Creed CD??????????? This is stupid. How can he be on the air with no words coming out of his mouth?
this why granting letterman an interim agreement was a dopey move. here come the ramifications. either we are on strike or we’re not. look for a major split in the guild beginning any day now. moguls win. game over.
WGA over played its hand and made a strategic blunder by cutting a side deal with Letterman–leaving Leno and the other late nighters no choice but to go back to work (or lose their audiences). This is the crack in the dike that the networks needed. The networks will not budge now–even if we have a full season of reality shows. Face it writers, you can be replaced and you will be if WGA does not back off and make a reasonable compromise.
Thank goodness someone is willing to work in Hollywood.
Unions ruin America? The depth of your ignorance is astounding… you forget the years of struggle for workers rights, safety, living wages, job security, etc… for the American Worker. The only people that do not like Unions are the greedy employers that would forsake all that was fought for over a few pennies.
Thank god for Unions, and the millions that struggled for the rights gained. Open an American history book. My goodness… would you rather they were chained to their desks for 14 hours a day making pennies? Move to China, they would love you there…
So it was OK when Letterman and Johnny Carson scabbed during the 1988 strike? And that Carson used scabs to write his monologue? Short memories…
To Ed, Mike whomever…
What Jay did WAS against the strike rules and the sooner he’s forced to go fi core (leave the Guild) the better. I’ve walked NBC and after a week of striking, Jay disappeared and we haven’t seen him since.
Hopefully, no reputable SAG member will cross the line, forcing Jay and his kitchen full of writers to make up 60 minutes of “priceless material” as he entertains America with interviews of people no one wants to see.
I was shocked to hear he had 19 writers! What a crock. How does it take 19 people to create 7 minutes of humor that all comes from the day’s news? Rarely is there anything organic. The network has probably realized they do not need more than three, bring back Rob, Salley and Buddy!
Jay actually DID NOT break the rules by writing his own material. The writers guild indicate that the opening of the Tonight Show Jay performs a “monologue”, Jay can call it his “opening act” and therefore is not in violation of the contract. I know it’s splitting hairs, but this type of thing goes on everyday in our court rooms. Sorry writers guild union, next time you better be ultra specific in your contract rules.
It would also be funny if all the non union writers got together, along with the national public and sued the writers guild union for ruining there lives because all there are on TV lately are re-runs. Don’t be to surprized if sometyhing like this does happen. I’m sure there are several capable law firms out their right now who would love the opportunity to start a class action suit against the writers guild union on behalf of the American public.
Jay just proved again that he is the funniest man in the USA. Keep up the good work, Jay!!
Im shocked at the uninformed yahoos posting on here. The writers on strike aren’t making the problem, the studios are. It’s not the writers who created this situation.
Unions are not the pimple on the ass of free market economy. But minds like yours are, lowest common denominators who file in line and believe they make a change by watching commercials. Listen, capitalism was built on the sweat of those who could not defend themselves, at wages that were ridiculous, slave wages, until Unions stepped in to defend the common man, just because you aren’t represented by a union doesn’t mean they’re work has not benefitted you.
It was the studios that last left the bargaining table, and the writers seek a return to negotiations. People, educate yourselves.
And also, calling Jay Leno a comedian is like calling an onion an orange.
I think it is rather insane that people fault unions for protecting their people. Unions helped to change the child labor laws in the US when corporations where exploiting kids.
Corporations have shown themselves to often do what they do best, make money at the expense of others. There needs to be a counter balance to their actions. Unions fill that role. Sure, they go overboard, sometimes, but so do the corporations. Stop drinking the Drudge, Limbaugh, Hannity Kool-aid and adopt a balance thought process people.
Please.
Look at these comments! AMPTP was up late last night!
Dave’s writers are being used as scabs.
Since when do the writers own Jay Leno? How idiotic to tell your star (the reason you have a job in the first place) that he can’t create his own stuff! What about the other people who depend on the success of Jay Leno to put food on their families’ tables? Is there life supposed to be crippled by this leach of a union?
I can see that the AMPTP shills are out in force, trying to pretend the whole country isn’t behind the WGA and the striking writers.
Do you actually believe what you’re saying? Or is this just a better paycheck than Jack in the Box?
Jay can’t pretend to support the writers and then turn around and cut their legs out from under them by scabbing for NBC. He came back as a host… HE IS STILL ON STRIKE AS A WRITER!!!
Or is he?
Is Jay a guild member himself? That is the defining
question. If not, he is NOT bound by guild member
rules.
Jay’s deal is ending and he’s going to be replaced by Conan. NBC doesn’t care if he goes down in flames in the process as it makes his replacement easier and a bigger deal. I suspect they’ll protect Conan from any of this stuff.
Jay should have been smarter. He doesn’t own his show so he should have stayed on strike until a deal was struck. If he was sued he’d become a hero which is not a bad way to go off into the sunset. I can only guess they offered to negotiate his contract after all or I can’t see why he would have gone on.
Maybe Jay out-sourced his joke writing to India or China? Some of them fortune cookies are dang funny. As for having the Union-hatin’, Bible-thumpin’ Huckabee on as his first guest, Leno really did cross the line. He wants to be all things to all people, but ultimately, it’s all self-serving, isn’t it?
The writers have a legitimate beef, but need to be more “creative”. Let Jay do his schtick, but as a union member have him promote its cause on the air. Should NBC Universal choose to fire Jay, then it’s on them.
Does everyone forget the reason for the stike is the unfair monetary division of profits paid writers versus what the producers are keeping?
Get some perspective people!
Blaming the WGA for the owners intransience just because Leno’s presence on television is missed is what allows the corporations to continue to reap huge profits at the expense of the working writer.
Let me welcome back the AMPTP shills from their holiday vacations. The message boards have lacked your acidic vitriol over the last two weeks without you. But boy, you’re out in force today. It’s just sad that this is what the AMPTP has resorted to to try to divide the union. Letterman back on the air with writers and A-list guests will help the WGA.
EARTH TO WRITERS: Maybe you want to spend the next year waving signs in righteous indignation but we want to watch tv.
Go Jay!
The environment today isn’t like it was years ago when the WGA last went on strike. Today the networks have more options than reruns. Reality shows and competitions are not covered by the writers strike and make more profits for the networks. Expect to see more shows like Survivor, American Idol, Dancing withthe stars as well as more sports, movies and special events. As time goes and the people the WGA has made unemployed start to grumble, the Union will be willing to Compromise.
Sorry, but Jay Leno has sucked rocks for years. Now it is just the time to see who is/was responsible.
How do the arm-twisting enforcers (union thugs) at the WGA define “writing?” Is Leno is free to perform, but “strictly prohibited” from jotting down a few thoughts about what he’s going to say beforehand?
This sort of techincal hairsplitting is simply nuts (albeit the traditional “union” way of looking at the world).
The WGA should be glad that Leno apparently intends lace his alleged “scab” program with pro-union propaganda every night. Going after Leno on a technicality is sure to create an anti-WGA backlash.
On the other hand, given the abysmal quality of most TV writing these days, most of the WGA membership apparently doesn’t care about public opinion.
SCAB
Let me see if I understand this. Jay Leno can go to Vegas, Reno or Tahoe, perform on a stage in front of a SRO crowd and use material that he wrote himself but put him in front of a TV camera and turn it on, he has to use someone else’s words just because an “organized” group of people say so? The WGA’a beef is with NBC et al. and not Leno as a person. The WGA has an ally in Leno so I wouldn’t think it’ll be a good idea to lose his support. If need be, Jay could forgo the monolouge and fill the whole hour with guest, interviews, music acts, headlines and “Jay-walking”. I’ll still watch him over Dave.
This isn’t just about the writers. There are thousands of entertainment professionals who are being punished because of this strike. People who can’t go to work to support themselves and their families because the writers are upset. Those are the people who are really going to feel the financial hurt of Hollywood…etc grinding to a halt. People love to protect the little guy from the big bad studios, maybe they should also protect the little guy from the writers union.
Stop hating on Leno. David Letterman got a pass because he cut a deal, or because he’s just more popular with the Hollywood crowd? I think it is just a fig leaf the guild did because they like Letterman more, and how can it be illegal for the guy to do his own improv monologue? Finally, don’t you all think Leno would have his writers back if he could make a deal like Letterman, whether or not the guild would accept that from him as opposed to Letterman?
Hmm, so does this mean that Jay can’t even come out and talk on his own show? Isn’t he in effect writing as he speaks even is he has not written anything before hand?
Unions are free market. Every bit of labor law and protection for any employee or worker today was hard fought going back to the time of Guilds. Slaves are not allowed to have unions.
Leno said last night he supports the writers and that they are right. If he believes this then he should honor the guild rules, which prohibit him from “writing any part of the show that would have normally been written by writers.” This means he can’t do a monologue. If he writes one, even for himself, then he is a strike breaker and scab, period.
The day that stand-up comics can’t write material for themselves is the day that socialists get to dictate what kind of comedy an audience can see or laugh at. The WGA is making a big mistake on this issue. Boo to WGA leadership. Go Jay!
Bring us a few more boxes of donuts, Jay. That’s the real sign of solidarity. Breaking the clearly delineated strike rules meant for ALL writers, that’s nothing compared to a couple of dozen donuts delivered the first day of the strike when all the news cameras were rolling. The corollary is clear: DONUTS HAVE A HOLE, AND YOU ARE AN A-HOLE.
Whole lotta union hate. Lazy this, lazy that, unions ruin blah blah
Such rhetoric out of such pimply, misinformed internet dweebs.
There are writers right now whose homes are being foreclosed upon because they can’t pay their mortgages. Call them “lazy” all you want, bitch about the other people getting paid all you want… when WRITERS don’t WORK, WRITERS don’t get PAID EITHER.
These people are striking in solidarity against an industry that doesn’t properly compensate them for their talent. If your precious television is so damn important, pay attention to what they want. It’s plenty reasonable. Dave Letterman seems to be willing to give it to them… why won’t the studios? Simple: GREED
Wow! A lot of people who seem to think that the union’s in the wrong here. Sorry, but it isn’t. Whether Jay likes it or not, he’s a member of the WGA, and he’s been trumpeting that fact since day one of the strike. And as such, he’s not supposed to be doing any writing for a struck company. NBC is a struck company. So whether or not he’s writing his own jokes, he’s in violation of the union’s rules.
It’s one thing to say “I support the writers.” It’s another to actually behave in support of them. (Just ask Mike Huckabee, who’s probably going to do poorly in today’s Iowa caucases, because he claimed to be in support of the WGA, yet crossed the picket line to appear on Leno’s Tonight Show. How self-serving is that?)
He was funny last night. Can he be funny every night until the writers come back? Something tells me “no.” So for everyone above who thinks he can maintain last night’s level of performance: one man can’t do the work of an entire writing staff, day in and day out.
As for what the guild should do: have a private meeting with Jay making clear the union’s rules and spell out what he did wrong last night. Appeal to his sense of fair play and ask him to do the right thing. Otherwise the guild’s giving Jay a free pass, sending the message that if you say you support the union yet don’t, nothing will happen to you. If he’s doing nothing wrong, then every writer-producer in Hollywood can go back to work today and write their own shows…
Leno’s in a tough position, but he was a fool to say he was writing his own material. This should be a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation. Now that he’s let the scab out of the bag, so to speak, the WGA has no choice but to go after him. This reveals Leno as a corporate tool, by the way. How disappointing.
Amazing the number of trolls on this site, incidentally., sucking the flatulence from the butts of their corporate masters.
Jay had one of his best nights in long, long time.
He worked hard and he was funny.
I do not know if it is a reflection of his Writers that I am sure are very talented people.
The Union and the Owners should find a solution and fast, because the American Public may loose their patience and strt getting the talented Congress involved.
Than you will see a real mess………………
I am tired of being griped at because the writers want more money….people have to work. In the real world when you feel cheated you either negotiate and make changes or move on. In the dream world of unions you are allowed to stretch out this crap and milk it for all its worth. In the beginning I supported the writers. Now it is just getting stupid. People are pissed at Leno for writing his own jokes. People are pissed at Huckabbee for crossing the picket line. GET OVER IT. People would be pissed if Leno had to fire his entire staff..so how does he win??
Unions Ruin America?!?! You got to be kidding! If it weren’t for unions, we would all be working for $4.25 hr and thats a fact! Without unions, companies wouldn’t share the wealth. If you don’t believe me look today. Hell, if we had a union at HRB when I worked there, I would still have a job now. Instead of them out sourcing the positions to Dallas because they could fill seats at $5.00/hr and brag about their stock going up $2/share!
Wow. Leno was funny last night for the first time in years. Maybe writers are over rated?
Just toss Jay from the Union!
Leno is the best late night on. All the rest suck. Can’t see Conan as a replacement. Stay on Jay! I understand guild people ONLY make over 100k a year!!!
Jay and his wife did great last night. Looks like the writers aren’t needed after all!
Oh please, like he’s REALLY writing his OWN material. Who are we kidding!?
The writers have already lost the support of the average Joe. Their strike has past the point where their gains would make up what they have lost by being on strike.
While I am no fan of Leno (never watch the late night stuff) it would be a huge mistake for the writers to go after him.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The AMPTP’s Troll Collection. Collect the whole set.
They’re all on display here today.
save unions, they created the american dream
Keep letting Leno write his own material. The show will be in the crapper soon enough. That guy and his material is old, tired and not funny.
Unions have the power to fine their members. And if Jay is kicked out of the union, then once the strike is over, he will be barred from doing any writing. At all.
Unions provide a safety net for the rights of workers. Look at this strike. The networks want to take the work of the writers and recycle it for profit in new media. All the writers are asking is to be cut in on the deal — it only seems fair.
Jay should apologize and not do any more monologues.
These unions need to go over themselves and agree to a deal already. Jay is hilarious and he needs to be back on the air with a full complement of writers.
Hollywood might support the writers, but America doesn’t
Jay is an inherently funny guy and was a standup comic for decades. I have met the guy, he really is funny. Funnier than his own writers, but hey they need a job too when they are not on strike that is. Leno is definitely funny enough to write his own monologue for the Tonight Show. I think Jay will have plenty of comedians on too so there be no “joke deficit”.
Jay is doing a service by keeping the Tonight Show on and keeping all his other employees working. And the Tonight Show band is the hardest working band in show business (with apologies to the late James Brown)
I understand the tough position the late night hosts are in, and I understand why they had to go back on the air to support all the non-writers on their staffs. However, as a WGA member himself, Jay Leno is technically a “scab” for writing during the strike. I know most people don’t care if he’s a scab or not as long as they get to watch an entertaining monologue, and they have every right not to care, obviously, but that doesn’t make Leno any less of a scab.
Face it, the leadership of the WGA has led it’s members down a dead end road. Performers are leaving the striking WGA members behind and they’re moving on. The networks will replace SITCOMS and other WGA product with reality shows, sports, and news magazines. Late night will morph it’s format into pure interview and talk, eventually phasing out pre-written material.
So, WGA, how’s that strike working out for you?
Jay should quit the WGA and just write his own stuff from now on.
LENO IS A WEASEL! IF YOU HAVEN’T FIGURED THAT OUT YET, YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T NOTICE THEY WERE RUNNING REPEATS EITHER.
HIS COMEDY WAS LAME WITH WRITERS. SO IT CAN’T BE MUCH WORSE WITHOUT THEM.
DAVID LETTERMAN IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE TRUE HEIR TO CARSON EVEN IF A MILLION MORE SHEEP DON’T KNOW IT EVERY NIGHT.
KW
You silly people who talk about unions. You should thank them for giving you rights as an american worker.
If the WGA knew what it wanted in this strike, it would make more sense, but asking for “downstream royalties on web media” means this will go on forever and tying up everyone else in entertainment over demands so vague they aren’t even negotiating makes no sense. Letterman has chosen to use this as a marketing opportunity (he is ‘the virtuous man’ and back on the air) — fine. Let others work and if the writers are as valuable as they think they are, people will be begging them to come back.
Jay should write his own stuff then have the writers to fall back on if he hits a block. I dont believe Jay needes the writers as much as they need him. He is super funny alone. I will always be a Leno fan. He is a good guy with some sweet cars.
Leno was great without the writers. He needs to sever his ties with the writers guild and move on with life!
jay and conan are dirty scabs.
Over and over I hear people parrot the excuse that Jay himself gives “what about the rest of my staff!”…what is different about his show and every other show out there? Heroes doesn’t have any other staff? If you follow that thin excuse out then what he’s saying is to not strike at all because someone might be hurt. That’s bull. Every other entertainment union has this same battle ahead of them, and they need to support each other. Jay is a scab. I’m in general a very anti-union Libertarian, but this is one of those cases that it’s needed. What the producers are doing is deplorable. Go writers, go!
Sounds like?
LOL!
I was really surprised when I saw the clip on TV this morning.
I mean, I expected that Jay Leno would scab. We all know how two-faced he is.
But I never thought he’d have the gaul to actually ADMIT to scabbing.
If the WGA doesn’t kick his ass out of the guild then the guild is even more of a joke than I thought it was. God knows if I sold a script to a struck company during this strike, I’d never be allowed in the guild and they’d do their best to blackball me from the biz.
But it appears that, so long as you make the WGA a shitload of money in fees, you can not only do whatever the hell you want but also give your fellow writers the middle finger by bragging about scabbing during a strike.
Only writers could make an issue of greed sound like an issue of oppression.
Only a media conglomerate would cut off it’s own nose just to spite it’s face.
It never ceases to amaze me how some people are so quick to blame unions for so much of what ails society. I would just remind these critics that unions are responsible for the 40-hour workweek, sick leave, annual leave, just to name a few of the benefits that too many of us take for granted.
How about asking why the networks and studios are so reluctant to pay writers a fair price for whay they create. It strikes me as convenient to point the finger at writers while studio and network execs receive compensation packages that most of us can only dream of. Are the execs going to have downgrade their lifestyle if they pay writers a fraction of the profits they generate?
Finally, as a member of a union, Leno is obliged by the terms of the guild’s contract, which is a legally binding document.
Folks, let’s not be so quick lay blame. Instead, let’s try to support those among us who are fighting for what is just and right.
I am writing my own comment here, wait, do I have permission, it it legal, what does my contract say? Never mind, I think the 1st Amendment trumps any WGA strike rules…
Having a strike going on, with now foreseeable end in sight, what do you want the guy to do, stare at the camera for half an hour. There are more people that work those shows than writers. It’s not like Jay didn’t show his support 100% by striking with the writers and supporting them on-air.
Bottom line like DL Thompson said, the show is about Jay Leno period. You can have all the writers and the best staff behind camera you want. If Jay Leno does not produce, ratings aren’t there and he’s gone and no one has a job.
All the people here saying “rules are rules” are probably people in unions themselves secure knowing they can never be fired just lounging around and doing just enough to get by.
Besides, Conan is funnier than both Leno and Letterman combined, and he makes most of the stuff up as he goes along on the spot.
Judging by the majority of the “Go, Jay!” posts, it appears Drudge’s idiots have flooded onto DHD again.
Jay feels an obligation to his crewmembers. Most below the line are contemplating selling their homes for what they can get and taking jobs in Nevada or New Mexico. This is a train-wreck of the WGA’s own making. Let them pick up the pieces as best they can.
What it seems people fail to realize is that if Jay stays off the air, the show will lose ratings, and advertising, and the network would have to pull the show, leaving the writers and staff unemployed.
Jay has essentiall bought the striking writers more time by keeping the show that actually pays them on the air.
They should let Jay keep doing their job for them until the strike is resolved.
Go Jay! I’m so happy that someone is looking out for all the non-writers in this industry who are out of work. This strike affects so many more 10’s of thousands of people than just the writers. Let’s end this already and get back to work!
If the writers want to withold their services, fine. But you want to drive thousands of other people into bankruptcy because of ego and childishness? Hope you enjoy a long cold winter on the picket line.
I wish more celebrities had the honesty and guts that Jay Leno has shown. Screw the unions!
Jay went back to work, deal with it. Jay cares about the OTHER people in this business (non-WGA members). The WGA have shown that they only care about themselves. Christmas break on unemployment rocks!
The tone of the comments section of this post reflects what happens when Nikki gets linked by Drudge.
I see all the union-hating Mike Huckabee supporters have showed up in the comments today.
By the way Huckabee fans, every pinko liberal I know is rooting for you in the primaries! Jimmy Carter’s foot corns would sweep Huckabee in the General. Go Huckabee Go!
Did anyone else read this article? Leno is a member of the striking union. When you join a union, you agree to follow union rules and support your brothers in a strike.
He’s a scab.
What? In order to write anything funny it has to be written by a union member??? So if Leno comes up with his own material it’s not funny because it wasn’t written by a union member? I’m confused…
“UNIONS RUIN AMERICA!” – Anonymous
You speak the truth with the courage a name like yours belies.
The multi-national corporations that refuse to bargain with the WGA are the real heart and soul of America. Without them, how would American workers get to pay sooo much for health care? How would American jobs ever reach the shores of India?
All that damn union keeps asking for is fair wages for honest work – pinkos!
You’re a patriot Anon – fight the power!
Jay is the reason people tune in. He should bring some WGA union people on the show, and have them try to get some laughs. Jay is good at what he does, obviously the union stooges are not.
I find it very interesting that there are so many comments here criticizing the WGA, and so few criticizing the AMPTP. It is perfectly clear to anybody who is paying attention that the AMPTP is not dealing fairly or negotiating in good faith. So what recourse do the writers have other than collective direct action?
All drama starts with a script. We need writers more than we need giant corporate media conglomerates.
Not much to add except “Amen!” to what Jinny wrote.
As a viewer who wants to be supportive and can agree that writers should be paid fairly for their material, I also think some of this is ridiculous. Maybe some guild rules need to be changed. The host of a show should be able to make up their OWN material, period. That’s just common sense. Personally I watch Letterman, but still…
Uh oh … a Drudge link means the right wing crazies are coming out…
I am not a fan of unions in general. I remember back in the early 70’s when the UAW struck at the International Harvester plant in my home town. They stayed on strike because they wanted IH to pay for the union member’s car insurance. A few months later IH shut the plant down and sent our local economy into the toilet for many years. But I fully support the WAG strike as I understand it. The future of entertainment profits will be in the form of so-called “on-line” broadcasting and that is what the producers are holding back from the writers. In the future we will all be paying for the shows we watch on an individual basis regardless of which media displays them; cell phone, pc, tv, etc. We are at the tipping point of technology here and the writers are correct to demasnd pay for the projects they contribute to no matter how they generate revenues.
Uhm, has anyone actually watched the Leno and Letterman show? I think anyone who is deemed “Funny” in life could work on those shows and make them funny. You know, think of a friend who is funny, who makes you laugh. Yup. They could do it.
What a dream to write jokes and put together skits and get paid for it!
The writers will be beat because it really isn’t that hard to write jokes.
Drama, movies, shows on the other hand – hard. Jokes? Skits? Not hard.
Leave it to the Leno lovers to not understand what this strike is all about & just blindly spout about their darling. Good grief, folks–do a little bit of reading on your own.
Clearly the WGA should blacklist Jay and all his friends…
I totally support Jay on this one. Letterman owns his own show, and the union will benefit from WP’s negotiations. Jay should not be expected to throw his franchise away or damage his legacy. NBC clearly won’t protect either one.
He could have been joking about writing his own stuff…I don’t know. I do know that he pointed out that you have a situation now at his show where 19 people are putting 168 people out of work bc they’re on strike.
The sad thing is Jay, however he got his jokes, was much, much funnier than Dave. Shining a light on the situation can only hurt the writers, as America sees how incompetent most of them are.
“World needs ditch diggers, or in the writers case, Baristas”
Did it ever occur to you, Mike and other anti-union folks on this page, that if people did not make decent wages they would not be able to go buy a coffee from a barista or own a car to drive on a road that might need a ditch dug?
Corporations were and have been SO benevolent over the years to their workers haven’t they? It is the unions, or the threat of a union, that make bad employers pay decent wages. It is also crazy laws like the minimum wage that make bad corporations pay at least poverty level wages. Why do you think the minimum wage was created? It was to MAKE corporations, kicking and screaming still, pay a somewhat decent wage! They didn’t do it otherwise.
Also…since those of you on this comment page think unions suck so much then perhaps you shouldn’t be able to have the things that unions fought to have created over the years like: a weekend, a 40-hour week, a minimum wage, employer sponsored healthcare, pensions, overtime. The list could go on and on with the bizarre, outlandish, progressive ideas that unions have fought for and won over the years.
If unions are so bad for workers how come employers fight tooth and nail against their existence? If you want the market to rule all then why not let the “market” rule in the case of unionization? That is to say let unions exist and thrive and if they are so bad then workers will refuse to join and be part of them.
Leno’s monologue was funnier that the formula jokes the writers come up with every night. The problem will be sustaining the high level of funny without those formula jokes.
There are strike rules, and Jay, as a WGA member, has admitted violating them. But most important is Jay’s statement that “19 people are putting 160 out of work.” Um… it’s the studios, and in this case NBC, who are threatening to put people out of work. I never thought Jay was funny, but I didn’t know he was also stupid.
If I could, I would vomit his donuts back in his face.
I agree with the union-busters! No health insurance or pension for anyone! No one should be able to support their family by simply writing stories that millions of people want to watch– Get a real job! And while we;re at it, let’s bring back child labor! Take that, Jackie Coogan!
- Nick C.
This isn’t complicated. Leno isn’t allowed to write material for NBC, a struck company and then go out and perform it. Period. I can’t write for a struck company either, and in my case, as with most of my fellow WGA members, financial disaster is beginning to rear up and clear its throat. No matter–we’re not writing for struck companies. Nikki says Leno has been “very supportive” of us striking writers by “delivering food and drinks to the scribes walking the line.” I love you, Nikki, but guess what? I can buy my own doughnuts, and I don’t need some noblesse oblige stunt like Jay zooming up on a Harley (or was it the new Indian Chief with classic valanced fenders?) to toss a few Krispi Kremes to the help before roaring away. We need him to walk the picket line with us, EVERY SINGLE DAY, which is his FORMAL OBLIGATION as a WGA member, just as it is mine. I know that he paid a few weeks of his staff’s salary, from his own (rather gargantuan) NBC paycheck–and the grudging way he tiptoed up to that gesture (see Nikki’s excellent coverage at the time) does not lessen his eventual generosity. But that does not innoculate him from his rather shabby decision to return to work without his writers, or from his flabbergasting decision now to perform scab writing for a struck company. Leno is a smart guy, famously atuned to the smallest nuance of showiz. It is hard to believe he didn’t know how serious such a breach would be, and how deeply resented. If you liked those Krispy Kremes and want to give him the benefit of the doubt, fine–he didn’t know. Now he does. What will he do?
This is exactly why unions are needed. Read the comments from the minimum wage lemmings who never had to fight for the rights they enjoy so much today. If these weak sheep had been around 100 years ago, we’d still have children working in sweatshops in America, and they’d be telling you how lucky they were to have a job.
I’m glad to see that so far common sense is prevailing here. Jay’s a professional stand-up comedian, it’s ridiculous to expect that he can simply stop telling jokes. I admit, I enjoyed last night’s show more than I have in a long time. Everyone expected him to fall on his face, and he did just fine! Let Kimmel and Conan write, too. This strike is NOT going to be won based on Late Night talk wars, and quite frankly the writers would be smart to let the awards show go on and let the actors give them some high-profile support.
Jay sucks. It’s amazing that he regularly beats Letterman, but then again, that just show how many dumb Americans there are that own TV sets.
Unions ruin America? Heh. Seems we have some talk radio educated fellows here. Why shouldnt workers look out for their own financial interests? Does Jesus hate that? You think they should just bend over and take whatever the corporations offer them? That’s a recipe for a race to the bottom. Corporate america is already jettisoning most of their benefits programs. Get real and learn to do your own thinking. Knee jerk talk radio “conservatism” will just get you enslaved.
This is the greatest news! Finally someone (Jay) is making it clear how ridiculous this whole strike is. First off the writers already make as much as surgeons for the higher profile shows! This means these writers are just greedy people. They have no clue how much money goes into to marketing a show: billboards, radio, TV ads, magazines, and internet ads. Then beside that the networks pay about 10 million just to release a DVD box set of the season. Not to mention a script is nothing without good actors and production teams a.k.a the people that actually make the show popular!
Thanks Jay for breaking the rules the Guild needed this wakeup call. If you get kicked out of the Union just think of it as a late christmas gift.
To all the AMPTP shills leaving comments here:
Everyone here knows what you are and what you’re doing. Maybe if YOU were in a union you wouldn’t have to do those scumbags’ dirty work.
As fas as Jay goes, he can’t pretend to support the Writers’ Guild and then turn around and scab for NBC by writing a monologue. He’s back as a host… HE’S STILL ON STRIKE AS A WRITER.
Or is he?
People who think that unions are a bad thing are absolutely clueless.
Without unions, we’d all be working for crappy wages without overtime pay and could be forced to work 90 hours a week.
Without unions, where do all the profits go? Don’t bash unions lest you expose yourself as ignorant.
I wonder if the republicans are going to get their wish to break another union? After all they fondly remember those good old days of child labor and no pesky unions asking for wages above slave labor. If those days were good for the rich, why would they not still be good for the rich. After all, number one is health, number two is money.
if you believe that these 2 showman have anything to do with the outcome of your contract,you are also in denial.the studio’s go on as if nothing is happening.your 9to5 picket line is a laughing stock.the teamsters are supplying the studio’s and theme parks.yes drivers are running the line everyday.just one is the truck gate to universal to be exact.you should have pickets 24-7. every gate of every studio,every theme park entrance.shut down disneyland,disney world everything.nothing in,nothing out.that would be a start.
“Brought up on charges? Is writing a joke against federal or state laws?”
Given the jokes Jay Leno usually uses, it certainly ought to be.
Shouldn’t the WGA be all over this? Leno clearly broke the rules of the union he belongs to. Either follow the rules or quit the guild, Jay.
Kimmel at least did the right thing and didn’t do a monologue and told stories from his desk. That is showing support for his team and respecting the rules.
If I were a Tonight Show writer, I’d be furious. Jay not only pissed on the union, but he disrespected his writers by showing he doesn’t need them to put up a long monologue.
Out of respect for his writers, he should have made his show a departure of what his writers usually provide for him.
Way to go JAY!! The show is just as funny without the writers. Conan O’Brien’s show was great also. Nobody is missing television shows, but it is nice to see these late night hosts showing that they can pull it off on their own. Keep it up!
Hey Elaine – Leno is indeed responsible for his family, but he’s worth tens of millions and his family is in no danger of economic hardship. By the way, everyone wants to work, especially the writers.
If Jay didn’t need writers before the strike, he wouldn’t have them. He’s a very talented comic, but no single person can write 10 minutes of great jokes every day, week after week.
Jay is a union member, and is breaking the rules. If he really wanted to support his writers AND his crew, he should just interview people and have musical guests, not doing struck work.
By the way, you NBC employees are up early.
Leno is the King of Scabs and has always used nobodies to write his jokes, for a few bucks a pop. Why hasn’t the guild stomped on him for that long ago? And on Letterman too, who has done the same thing and I’m sure is doing it now. Every comic in clubland sells jokes to these two. For little money, no benefits and against WGA rules. Now is the time to stop it.
You want a show that has no writing, check out Conan. The spinning wedding ring bit was classic. Ate up time and no scab to pay.
These shows are going to use more standup comics who will finally get some airtime which they never got before. As long as they don’t mind CROSSING PICKET LINES!
I like all the beards I’m seeing though. I’ve grown mine out too during this strike.
It is perverse that the First Amendment and the right to strike should be at loggerheads. Blood has been shed for the right of every person to write what he pleases, and for the right to strike. When union rules interfere with the First Amendment, the first Amendment should prevail. Any writer who disagrees should find another line of work.
“This prohibition includes all writing by any Guild member that would be performed on-air by that member (including monologues, characters, and featured appearances) if any portion of that written material is customarily written by striking writers.”"
Does this mean Colbert can’t be “Colbert”?
People are making it seem like crossing a pickett line is illegal or something. It’s really not a big deal–especially if you’re losing money and favor with the American audience. I’m supporting Jay on this one!
Jay obviously has the full backing of the AMPTP. You people are so obvious with your boring as hell blogs. Hire a writer to do your dirty work. As a proud WGA member, I’ll grant a waiver just so I can at least laugh at your attempts to break the union.
Jay – just forgo the monologue, add another guest and just be funny off the top of your head when you interview them. You are good to your writers and we appreciate it. We’re picketing NBC, not you personally.
To “Anonymous” first post above: Unions ruin America? Get real!
We would have children working 60 hours a week and no work safety laws if it were not for unions. You can thank unions for any decency in job conditions the world over.
We are nothing without Union solidarity!!! Unions are the machines that power humanity so we can live. Jay needs to know this: He is not an individual he is part of the collective and needs to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. Stop writing your own jokes on your own show Jay Leno, it’s evil of you!!! This is America, you are not free to do as you choose! Go Strikers!!!!
Jay has always been a backstabber, just look at what he did to Letterman.
WOW.
Not a lot of WGA support on this topic. Sounds like Jay did pretty good WITHOUT his writers. They might want to think about going Fi-Core and get back to work, or there might not be a job waiting for them when they decide to lay down their picket signs.
A PAID SHILL
Seriously, good for Jay. What he wrote was funny, and truer to the idea of a good hosted talk show, than having a backroom of writers supplying all the jokes.
The writers guild is going too far, and I’m getting a little irritated with them. They make enough money considering that they take none of the risks of the producers, and have an enjoyable, satisfying and cushy job
I hope both side can come to an agreement soon. But I feel my greatest sympathies for the non-writers who work on any production that has shut down due to the strike. The camera operators, lighting technicians, sound editors, video editors, bookers, stagehands, office assistants, and everyone else who works behind the scenes to keep a show going is going through tough times since they are not pulling in an income.
I welcome any show that is able to resume to help keep those people afloat.
hey, elaine… writing is a job and i’m out of work just like anyone would be. so, thanks for your sympathy. steve… we’d love to get together with the other side and talk about it. for some reason, they refuse to do so. i don’t know why we’re not even ALLOWED to talk to the amptp for what we want without them storming away like babies. i thought in negotiating, one side asks something, and the other side makes a counter offer until a deal is done. one side doesn’t walk away if they’re really serious about negotiating. why are you mad at the writers and not the amptp? THEY’RE THE ONES THAT WALKED AWAY.
either jay supports the writers guild or he doesn’t. he is a member, so it’s odd to hear him say he supports his writers. he is one of his writers. that said, i sympathize with him. he is first and foremost a comic, who made his career writing his own act. he probably thought that’s what he’s doing… writing his own act like he’s always done. of course, i wonder if he called his guild, the wga, and asked what he was allowed to do… or just let himself believe that there was some loophole.
Having just gone through a strike for 148 days, I understand what the strikers are dealing with. Why are any of these people doing their shows if they are members of the unions? They should honor the strike and not work. If they did that then the pressure would be put on the networks to get this solved. IAM LL2061
Jay isn’t responsible for his people being out of work. The ridiculously unfair proposals of the AMPTP are. Nice try PRODUCER SHILLS trying to make this a personal war on Jay Leno. This is and always has been about your corporate greed and inability to share the wealth that the working class writers, directors and actors earn for you.
I can’t believe all the anti-union comments I’ve been seeing. Yes, unions can become corrupt, but they’re still advocates FOR the workers, protecting workers from corporations. All you anti-union commenters: Do you really believe ALL unions are worse than corporations?
Anyway, I think Leno is in a tough spot, being threatened by NBC, and using the non-writing workers to guilt the celebrity hosts. But union rules are union rules, and I think Leno went too far, and I don’t believe he truly believes it’s ok for him to write his own stuff. He should apologize for his lapse in judgment, and wing it on the fly, like Carol Burnett did with her audience dialog, or do other audience participation things that don’t require pre-scripting.
Just because there’s a handful of anti-union folks out there, remember there’s also a lot of pro-union viewers. And even if the viewers aren’t a member of any Hollywood unions, they’ll still turn their backs on known scabs. Make amends while you can Leno.
Some unions may have either outlived their usefulness or have become too powerful but to malign all unions for this is ridiculous. Without them this country would be far more of an oligarchy than it is already.
Why shouldn’t the writers have a piece of non traditional media sales? I don’t think they’re looking for a giant slice, just a reasonable piece. Perhaps the same piece they get of traditional media. No one could have predicted the rise of TV viewing on the web at the time they negotiated their last contract.
i agree. no writing means no monologue. even interviews are written, but at least they don’t LOOK written like a monologue obviously is.
another question: when Jay said that 19 people shouldn’t put everyone out of work, did he mean 19 writers??? or did he mean the moguls.
writers are NOT the ones putting people out of work. the moguls are. they refuse to negotiate. if Jay is blaming his writers….well, there are no words for that.
I see AMPTP did a lot of hiring over the holidays. Welcome aboard, union-bashers! Nothing like the lame yip of studio lapdogs to strengthen the guild’s case and bolster its resolve.
Keep it up, but you might want to try being a little less transparent, y’know? If you’re not fooling anyone it’s kinda self-defeating. We’d hate to see you lose this fine new gig just after you landed it.
Oh, and Elaine? We want to work. As soon as your masters quit pouting and come back to the table, maybe we can make it happen.
WGA Union deserves to implode, for allowing separate agreements. Double standard, two-faced hypocrites don’t deserve support. Let’s hope these already-grossly-overpaid spoiled brats come to their senses, and realize they are already living in a dream world, and… ahem…. SETTLE for a meager raise to their already obscene wages.
I would bounce back and forth between Leno and Letterman depending on guests in the past. Last night I found Leno just plain funnier. Apparently he alone is better than a bunch of writers. Go Jay!
I wish the WGA would take a flying leap. I am sick to death of them giving Leno such a hard time. The man should be able to write, edit and polish his own work for himself.
The WGA is going to accomplish nothing but deeply wounding the industry that allows them to eat. The public is going to find other ways to entertain themselves and realize just how little we need the insipid crap that TV produces much too much of.
1) Leno is notoriously hardworking and has probably been writing jokes every day for the last 2 months while Letterman’s were picketing – no way a terrific monologue was the result of one day’s work.
2) Leno has supported his other workers by not shutting the show down – they’ll get paid whether his ratings stay up or not, so the success of the monologue is irrelevant to their well-being.
If Leno really supports his writers as he says he does, as a WGA member, as someone who knows how hard it is to face the blank page, Leno’s got to put his pencil down. It’s up to his producers to find creative unscripted ways to fill the time.
While it may seem as if entertainment comes out of thin air, creating it is hard work. Go WGA!
Leno’s monologue and show is pretty awful anyway.
Leno and Huckabee must have swapped notes. Go read United Hollywood exposing Huckabee in a lie, claiming he thought the WGA gave Leno a waiver when he knew very well he was crossing a picket line. The union that endorsed him should revoke it TODAY.
Likewise, does anyone believe Leno thought the Guild was OK with writing jokes during a writer’s strike? There is ZERO chance he didn’t know he was scabbing. Performing his non-writing services is one thing. Leno is scabbing.
I can’t think of anything more loathsome than doing something selfish (scratching your jealousy of Letterman) and trying to pass it off as something you are doing magnanimously out of concern for your staff. If you really are most concerned with your staff having their jobs, do a show without writing during a writer’s strike (which you obviously knew the Guild is not OK with). Leno is an outright scab. But it’d be interesting to see the decline of the mono if he tries to churn a new one out everyday.
Not only did Huckabee cross a picket line and Leno scab, they both lied and disgustingly feigned ignorance. No amount of delicious donuts can make that OK.
He should claim the Dudley Moore defense from Arthur…”Sometimes I Just Think Funny Thoughts!”
The Union can’t restrict his thoughts can they?
What’s the man supposed to do? Ad lib the entire monologue? I can understand if using other writers would violate the union rules, but to rely on himself?
Your union will find a settlement soon enough. Let the man do his own work to keep his staff employed, will ya?
If Leno wants to write his own stuff then all the more power to him. He is making the choice for himself to do this while not being paid under a new WGA deal and that should be his right. As someone else pointed out, the writers being on strike puts a lot of other people out of work when they have no say in the matter — how fair is that?
While I understand the writers want a better deal they can’t expect everyone to be out of work just for them too. Leno paid his staff of writers while they were off the air, went on the picket lines with them and brought them coffee and donuts: What else is the man supposed to do? He also took it to the CEO of his own network and I think he does more good by voicing a monologue that shows how silly the producers are being than with keeping quiet altogether.
And it’s not Leno or any late night talk show host doing their monologues that’s keeping the producers from negociating. I’m sorry but one monologue isn’t going to make the difference between a deal or no deal… Leno is more valuable to the WGA showing his support on-air in his “illegally” written monologues.
I see the trolls are out in force today.
There should be repercussions for Leno’s behavior. I will trust that the WGA leadership will consider their strategy and do the right thing for everyone involved.
I thought Jay has a funny monologue last night and of course in his own style. The article does not say if Jay Leno is himself still a member of WGA. Is he a member or not? If so, then the rules would I think prohibit a writer from performing even his or her own material. Maybe Jay can sell his jokes to Dave Letterman?
I believe Leno knew exactly what he was doing, and simply accepted that he would be fined or given a slap on the wrist. He made it clear that he wrote the monologue so A) America would be enamored with his deft writing abilities and B) There would be no inquiry into whether his – obviously written and rehearsed – material had been the product of scabs.
After all, better to break the rules during the premiere and have to change his game later than disappoint millions of viewers on his first night back with an abysmal show.
But the abysmal shows will follow….
Hmmm, gee, a spate of early morning,identically-themed anti-union rants over the space of ten minutes. One overzealous studio mouthpiece with a multiple personality disorder? Nah…
Sheesh, do they get these guys off craigslist or pick them up on street corners? (”Pssst. Hey, buddy, wanna make some quick cash? No qualifications, and you can work at home!”)
Funny how as soon as drudge links to this story the anti-union rhetoric explodes like a popped pimple.
Hey Jay, why not have a WGA member on your show every night to do updates on the strike issues? You’re giving the AMPTP what it wants – a show, so balance it out with a WGA sidekick.
Obviously, a lot of people on this board would like to force writers to work for nothing so they can be entertained. Who cares about the fair compensation of others, if it gets in the way of our fleeting happiness?
Yeah, to hell with the unions! What did they ever do for us? Well, let’s see. Their agitation led to the five-day, 40-hour work week; paid holidays and sick days, laws mandating safer worksites, laws fighting racial/ethnic/religious discrimination, laws fighting sexual harassment, family/maternity leave and much much more. None of that would have happened on its own. Keep fighting the good fight, WGA! And shame on you, Jay Leno!
You all seem very upset with the writers, which I understand. When coal miners went on strike, people went without heat in their homes. When garment workers go on strike, it affects truckers and those working on retail floors. When auto workers go on strike, everyone in the dealership, from the dealers to the secretaries to the cleaning lady, is up crap creek.
In my lifetime the telephone workers and electrical workers have gone on strike, which affected me and my family deeply because of my father’s job.
And that’s just what it is. The strike’s not personal. It was not done flippantly. The WGA is a union and this is a legal strike.
Some of this rage might be better directed at the AMPTP, which refuses to return to the bargaining table. THEY are the ones who are keeping you all out of work.
Frankly, I have to agree that Leno needs to be appropriately sanctioned for this. The WGA rules are quite clear, and Leno is a WGA member, is he not?
While Leno may have just made an honest mistake, the point is that no writing can take place. It’s simple union strike logic: you need to prevent the product from getting made, in order to leverage power for a reasonable contract. That requires unity, which Leno did not provide when he provided writing for the show.
You’d have to ask an entertainment lawyer for the specifics, but I suspect that the only way to do the show as NBC is requiring him to and to comply with the WGA contract would be to completely extemporize the monologue. The ultimate in stand-up.
Joel
Let’s get some things straight here; Leno’s a member of the guild. As a member of a striking union, he cannot under any circumstances perform his job duties without facing expulsion from that union, same as any other union’s rules. Letterman settled the dispute with the writers through is company; Leno crossed picket lines and scabbed his way back on the air just so his reruns could stop losing to Letterman’s in the ratings. The unions in the entertainment industry are some of the few that still actually strike and negotiate for real reasons anymore. Leno crossing the lines and writing his own jokes, and then bragging about it in his monologue, while publicly bringing food and drinks to the picketing writers, is like petting a loyal dog with one hand and slapping with a newspaper in the other. It’s not right, and he should be punished for it. And it’s not about who’s funny, and who’s not here; it’s union rules. Leno performed his job duties during a strike, and regardless of his position to negotiate with the writers, has gone on without them. He has no place in the guild if he cannot abide and respect its rules.
Why does the blame always fall on the striking writers?!?! I agree, this should be sent to arbitration. Let’s see how the AMPTP likes that.
Is it just me or do all the “screw the union” ones seem a tad synchronized?
The WGA bet all the marbles on the notion that having Dave back with his writers will give the union an advantage. The reality may well be that Jay will prove he can compete just fine WITHOUT the WGA writers. This could be a gamble WGA lives to regret.
I’m heartened by the number of contributors to this site who are anti-union. If the writers can get what they want — fine. Just don’t expect me to believe that somehow it is your right to get it.
Dear Jay-
“Either you’re with us, or you’re against us.”
If you’re back on the air flaunting the fact that you don’t need your union writers, you’re a total fucking anti-union scumbag. Bravo to Letterman for attempting to strike a deal with the union.
Dan Moreno
I.A.T.S.E. Local # 16
Maybe now Jay will start being funny again!
I’m not a huge fan of unions either, but this is Hollywood, and if we didn’t have unions here we’d all be fucked. Maybe you’re lucky enough to work in an industry that takes care of you and for a company that protects you, but here we take care of and protect each other.
Leno needs to not do monologues, those are the rules. It’s a big fuck you to all the writer’s that have helped him through the years.
So do you rabid anti-union folks enjoy things like weekends . . .
Thanks to all the “unions are scum” people who are claiming Jay as one of your own who are making our point for us. Don’t worry, Jay, you may be a duplicitous asshole who’s “supporting” the strike by supporting NBC through your illicit strikebreaking, but you’ve got plenty of support. Now, please depart our guild so you can be with your people–there’s only so long they can continue to support you, after all, even the worst union member on Earth is still EVVVBBIILL. (And don’t worry, we remember the cost of that photo op pizza so you can sue for the money back).
All Jay has to do is declare himself “financial core” then he can tell the Guild to go to hell and continue writing his own jokes. He was actually much funnier before he ever hosted the Tonight Show he used to be hilarious whenever he guested on Letterman’s old show he was by far the funniest guest ever. When he replaced Johnny he dumbed down his act to appeal to the lowest common denominator and ever since he’s been Mr. White Bread. It’s a shame because before 1992 he had the funniest act and was one of the wittiest guys around.
Mill workers need a union, writers do not.
Jay probably did a lot of the material he’d been working on over the break. (He did a big new years show in Hermosa, wear he plays regularly.)
You’ll notice even though he did a strong monologue, he ran out of material and told some odd story of a girl from home he dated in high school. Not the usual polished stuff he does.
So I’m guessing as the strike goes on, he’ll tell more stories and we’ll see the seams showing more and more.
Letterman did the same thing when he came back in 1988. He wrote his own jokes and monologue, did his own top ten lists, and bombed a lot of times (although its much funnier when Dave bombs, as back then at least he was kind of mocking the whole format and conventions of TV.)
Would it be better if none of the TV talk show hosts had come back? God yes. But they felt they had to support the crews that have been with them for over a decade (and I guess on these shows, because they work year round the relationships are closer.) I don’t agree with this decision– I think the AMPTP was responsible for crews being out of work, and should be lambasted in the press for it (oh wait, they own the press.) But once the decision has been made to go back, as wrongheaded as it was (if well intended,) I think we have to just suck it up and focus the strikes efforts on our next big leverage point — the networks are gambling with the upcoming season. And if there’s no new shows to showcase at the upfronts, the networks will lose BILLIONS. that’s our best card, and the one we should keep reminding them of.
Leno’s been supporting the WGA from the getgo, then the WGA screws him and NBC by cutting a side deal with
Letterman/Wordwide Pants. (Somewhat baffling in and of itself, given Letterman’s resistance to inviting guests who only want to promote their new movies/shows — which is how writers get their work promoted. Duh!)
So Leno’s already back on the air with one arm tied behind his back. Why should he avoid giving offense to the WGA and refrain from writing his own monologue?
The WGA thinks they are being so clever by dividing the producers. They’ve also divided their own membership.
I prefer Kimmel anyhow.
Maybe Jay will just send in his WGA card and break ties with the union. Why does HE need THEM?
Jay had a couple of weeks to write that monologue. Let’s see if he can churn out decent material night after night by himself.
He is breaking the strike rules and the guild should let him know that since he seems oblivious to the fact.
And to all you union bashers, toddle off for your paycheck at Lehane & Fabiani now — good work.
Wow it must be a week day ’cause all the corporate trolls are out in force to be anti-union. You keep siding with giant congloms and believe in the magical thinking of the “invisible hand.” That hand is controlled by corporations picking America’s pocket, and shoving regular working people down on the pavement. But hell if you can get paid to lurk on the internet….
I watched a couple minutes of Leno and I was annoyed by the bad writing and cue card performance. He should have just done improv – he might have been funnier. Huckabee snuck past the pickets by going in some back entrance, and pretended he didn’t know he was crossing a picket. They’re both hucksters. I was supportive of Leno going back to help his crew but he should not have done any writing.
Conan was funny, as he can do improv.
Free market? Please read your American history and see what destruction free markets have brought about over our nations time.
So what if Leno is a writer doesn’t follow the rules. Doesn’t his lifestyle, his cars, homes, hobbies, etc., dictate that he must work in order to live the style he is used to? Letterman worked within the system and won: Jay is union buster who has full support of all the idiots who watch his show. Working America loves Jay, and the message is, judging by the previous comments, unions don’t matter. Why doesn’t Jay just get his jokes from China? Pathetic!
Union: An organization that you belong to when you have little or no talent so you can have the same pay, benefits, and job assurance that those more talented than you have.
You can thank the UNIONS for your weekends off along with your holidays off. Jay is a scab!!!!
To all you union-haters….unions are responsible for bringing you the five day workweek and health benefits. Look around at all the tall buildings surrounding you. Union-built. The writers are well within their rights to strike. How would you feel if something you created only served to enrich someone else and you received little to nothing for it? Methinks you wouldn’t be too happy. Get a clue before commenting.
Trolls out in force today. “unions ruin America” and similar crap are a waste of space. Go away. On the topic at hand — Jay Leno should not write and perform his monologue. Probably he wrote it himself — but that’s against strike rules. I hope the board will talk to him and get him to stop; it’s a bad situation, bad for everyone. If he goes on the air and does his interviews ad lib, he is keeping his crew working, which he says is all he wants, without breaking rules. He’s not going to get fired. Conan apparently did ad lib the show, by the way.
Shame on NBC for not negotiating!
Shame on Leno for scabbing!
Shame on Huckabee for crossing the picket line!
Hooray for Letterman and WWP for negotiating and honoring his writers’ union!
I hope all you folks above realize how you’re contributing to the brain drain of America and the growing inequities in our corporate plutocracy. To intone that writers at best are nothing more than overpaid shot-pullers is a bit sad, but also pretty normal for the pigheaded American status quo. I’m sure you wish your mid-level jobs in faceless corporate dungeons would provide the same kind of entertainment or thought-provocation as the scripts and books and speeches that writers (of all stripes) have written. In a country where most employees of any industry manufacture literally nothing ever, isn’t a person whose work culminates in a book, script, or ultimately a film a relatively GREATER contributor to society?
I also hope you don’t buy Jay Leno’s shtick just because you think he’s a “working man.” He, like our esteemed President, has mastered the projection of that freakish “gooble, gobble, one of us” energy. But the man has hundreds of vintage cars. Did you anti-union, anti-writeristas take your immaculately restored Model T out for a run this morning? (And if so, do you offer tickets for future rides? Because that would ROCK.) If not, you’re being misled and your enmity toward writers is misdirected… and not just hypocritical as I described above.
Conan was funny, contrary to the purposely nasty post about his show yesterday afternoon.
There are so many trolls commenting on this story … and you think we all can’t see that.
Unions stand up for the people who don’t have the power themselves individually to stand against big business and get a fair wage and benefits. If you don’t support the unions during this media industry problem, especially when the media has consolidated to the point of super business powers, then you certainly must have been indoctrinated by the conglomerates and/or work for them. Oh you poor souls!
Thank you Jay Leno for worrying about your employees. Shame on the big companies who refuse to give the writers a fair deal. And for those of you who complain about Jay Leno, are you willing to pay the salaries of all his non-writers? Are you willing to pay their mortgages and feed their children? Hah, didn’t think so. Put your money where your mouth is or give the guy his due for trying to do what is right.
unions ruin america? Listen buddy if you enjoy things like health benefits, minimum wage, fair hours.. you should think (or..gasp!..READ) up a little before you go writing assinine things on the internet.
Jay did a great job last night! And I give him kudos for making the brave decision to go back to work. 97% of his staff shouldn’t suffer because 3% are striking.
So you are saying Letterman can get special treatment (and yeah, his deal was all about giving him special treatment to try to break NBC), but Jay can’t even prepare his own jokes?
The WGA is the joke. The Internet is kicking your butt and you are worried about Leno writing his own material. Are you kidding me?
This is sour grapes. Y’all tried to prove your worth to the studios by pitting a writer-staffed Letterman over a lone Leno, and you lost! Oh crap, Leno is still funny! Rather than show the studios they need you, your un-calculated risk has backfired and now you look more useless than ever.
I’ve said this before and I will say it again: fighting over the spoils of a dying industry only accelerates your demise.
BTW, in the Internet entertainment world, we get our salaries upfront. Maybe try that?
My husband wrote an Academy Award winning movie. When the producer stood on the stage accepting the Oscar he thanked everyone involved EXCEPT the writers. The night before at the Oscar party he told us that he wasn’t going to thank the writers when he won. “Why would I thank you?” he said to my husband’s face. We thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
By the way, the studios have made 2 BILLION DOLLARS because of the movie my husband wrote and he made enough to buy our car and no it wasn’t a Rolls Royce Phantom.
Does this seem fair to those of you bashing the writer’s here? Writer’s have always been shafted when it comes to how important they are and they have learned to live with it. But being cheated out of money they DESERVE and were promised is an entirely different thing.
Jay Rocks!
I hope writers get what they want, contract needs to acknowledge technology changes. Hate to see the strike drag on. But like Jay said, hard to hold up 160 staffers for approx 20 writers.
Writing his own monologue? I think his first show back was one of his best since he started Tonight Show hosting duties some 15 years ago. He was totally relaxed, obviously very glad to be back to work…like he was doing stand up and happened to be on TV. Seemed so much looser than usual and more in control. A non-existent writing staff and still dominating Letterman in the ratings race.
All of the people who think unions ruin America obviously don’t understand that unions are the only reason we don’t have 7 day work weeks or 12 hour days anymore. They’re the reason you get overtime pay or vacation pay or sick leave. Or health plans. Or pensions. Only because unions existed and fought for what you now take for granted. Bosses don’t do it because they’re some benevolent Santa Claus who want their workers to be safe and warm and cuddly in their beds. They don’t do it because they want you to have plenty of times with your families. Companies used to do as they please and fire anyone employee who complained. Only with collective bargaining, by unions, did any of these protections come to pass. If there hadn’t been unions, you wouldn’t have it so good, even if you’re not currently in a union. (Management has been working for decades to convince people that unions are bad. And they’ve been succeeding with their propaganda and brain washing. Because they want to turn things around. It’s all about profits for the companies. Less pay for employees means more profits for the companies. Fewer benefits means more profits. All they care about are profits.)
Sigh … too many people not paying attention in history class: The existence of unions is one of the ways we escaped the RobberBaron FreeMarket DarkAges. Unions, organizations of people DOING THE WORK, collectively bargained for a reasonable work week, reasonable work hours and humane working conditions. If you’re going to bust unions’ chops, please spend some time first in China, Mexico, or Indonesia, among other places, where workers don’t have rights. Otherwise, show some balance. The strike is about who gets to benefit from the work being done. We should all be talking more about that!
I’m with Jay on this one. I have no problem with unions in theory, but it’s a really bad idea to strike if somebody else can do your job just as well. Nobody is OWED a living. The marketplace decides what your job is worth. If Jay can handle it on his own….then that tells me the writers weren’t worth much. Remember: The Air Traffic Controllers thought THEY were irreplaceable back in the 1980s. Turns out they were NOT. If Jay has violated the terms of his union membership then they should feel free to kick him out, but I doubt he’d care much. Besides, there is an obvious conflict of interest here: He’s union AND management at the same time. That’s not supposed to be possible. He’s on both sides of the table. Apparently, he’d decided which side he wants to sit on. It’s the one with millions of dollars. Not a single union member would make a difference choice in the same circumstances, and they’re liars if they say otherwise.
“Unions are a pimple on the ass of free markets.”
Go ahead and take a job for $.50/day, because that’s what you’d be making right now if there hadn’t been a unionization movement in the early 20th century. So go right ahead and send the rest of your salary over my way, since unions suck so bad.
Wow, some members of the AMPTP got up early to write in. Lot of Union bashing going on? Hey, Lets go back, way back. LABOR unions, were started because those who hold the purse stings hold the power. NO matter if your making sweaters, unloading trucks or teaching. So yeah, give all the power to those on top, and see how well your treated, oh, I forgot, everyone who just wrote in is at the top. Afraid you may not be able to payoff that 70,000.00 dollar car you just bought you and your wife for christmas. Are you writing from that wonderful sun or snow filled holiday. Did your Accountant say you got a year or more before you have start pinching pennies and laying of household help. Yes, lets go back to the good old days. Greed, brought to you by the sweat of the American worker.
I understand the position of the writers…they want to share the rewards the production companies make from their works. Seems fair. I also undertand that Jay Leno doesn’t want to sit idly by and lose his audience. If Leno ad-libbed the monologue, would that be acceptable? The thoughts and words came from his mind, just as they would have if he ad-libbed them, only he wrote them down before saying them publicly, so what is the big deal? Letterman’s “interim” deal may end up biting the writers guild in the rear if it doesn’t become permanent.
Wow, this site was shill central at 4 a.m. judging from the comments.
Leno totally broke strike rules.
He’s a lousy performer and a lousy person. History will remember you, Leno et al.
JUSTIFICATION OF SCABS- 19 PEOPLE SHOULDN’T KEEP 160 PEOPLE OUT OF WORK:
1. Those 160 are prolonging the unemployment of thousands and thousands because they are prolonging the strike by going back to work.
2. Those 160 are jeopardizing the entire career of thousands because without proper payment for the Internet writers will not be able to afford to write – all tv will eventually be via the internet.
I think the Union is shooting itself in the foot (or collective feet). Jay is supportive of the Union, but his rival for ratings has negotiated a deal with the writers to go on air. If Jay were to stay in reruns, he would abdicate his ratings to Letterman. And once he decided he had to go on air without his writers, is he supposed to try to look bad to drive the audience to Letterman anyway? This tempest in a teapot makes the writers look like they are unreasonable. Sure the writers deserve a slice of the Internet and other information delivery technology pie, but there might not be a pie to slice if they don’t come back to the table and negotiate in good faith.
If Jay is two-faced, would that also make him four-chinned?
/just askin’
To hell with Unions? They ruin our country? Clearly, those of you who think that are ignorant fools. Unions are the balancing force that ensures corporate American doesn’t totally fuck the little guy. That is why huge corporations (like Walmart) HATE unions- they fear having to pay their employees a decent wage and give them healthcare benefits. Shame of Jay for breaking the strike rules. He knows that most writers are manking the big bucks like he is, and that they deserve a percentage of the profits from online media that they WRITE. It is only fair. They are looking out for their interests, and next year the Screen Actors Guild will be fighting the exact same battle. They deserve some of the profits of their work, that is the American way, after all. Shame on you Jay, and shame on NBC for blatantly refusing to negotiate.
I’m a Jay fan, but Letterman’s better than Jay sans writers, especially with the difference in guests. Jay could have the funniest monologue ever, but there’s still 50 more minutes to fill.
Do the IP numbers say that the virulent/can’t-spell anti-labor kids in these comments are all the same person?
I hope Jay keeps doing what he’s doing, because it beat the heck out of the sorry display of Union butt kissing that Dave put on CBS.
Until I joined SAG, I did not understand enough about unions to care. My dad was in the union for Airplane workers but that union seemed corrupt to both of us. Every union has its problems, the negotiating team seems hard headed, not strong enough, etc. Unions are supposed to protect its workers. Different individuals believe that what they think is the only way, hence all the disagreement on whether Dave going back is a good or bad thing. This is all I know, from reading sites like this, the mass media and from what I know of hollywood…the AMPTP has no wish to settle with the writers. That is obvious by now. They don’t care about their audience having to watch dreck, they don’t care about what is fair for the writers (or anyone for that matter), they don’t care because they own EVERYTHING. I think now is as good as any for writers to just go ahead and find other avenues for releasing good shows on the internet on their own dime. WE KNOW that there is a market, WE KNOW that there is a way to release material without lining the fatcats pockets anymore. What is holding writers back? The unknown?….
This is a very bad situation not for Leno but for the WGA as a whole and individual writers. It’s ridiculous to penalize Leno for writing his jokes. What’s the difference if he made it up on the fly? That’s still writing but I don’t want to get into semantics. The point is exactly what ‘Jinny’ said above – more or less. The public will lose sympathy for the WGA. Period. ‘MutualDisdain’, also above, makes a good point about Leno just not mentioning he’s ‘writing’ and continue to discuss the WGA in a positive manner. And regarding the material… Let’s not mystify it all out of proportion: The man told a few funny jokes. Big deal. It’s his fucking job.
Forgive me for not knowing exactly what goes into making a late night show but from a simplistic point of view who needs writers if your a stand up comic in the first place? Most Late Night talk shows consist of a 10 min opening joke “monologue” session and the rest of the show is question and answer with celebs. Im I right?
Is Jay part of the WGA? I don’t think he is doing any wrong, and I especially don’t think he is hurting the writers. Although I thought his monologue was very, very funny other parts of his show were lacking. I do not like unions but I think what these writers are asking for is fair. What isn’t fair is them putting others out of work who aren’t part of there union. Maybe the author of this blog should go read a book and quit watching TV. It might help the writers.
SUPPORT LENO!
Seriously, I watched the Tonight Show last night and Leno delivered a quality, hilarious monologue. If he wrote it, I respect him all the more, and more power to him.
I really don’t give a rip if some idiotic union thinks he broke their whiny little strike. He delivered a good program, and he can fire his writers for all I care.
The fact that the writers are able to live this long without a payday, indicates that they must have been making a good salary before the strike began. If they were really needy they would have held more talks to finalize the deal sooner.Plus, leave Jay alone. We need our LENO !!!!
Who cares if Jay wrote his own jokes… Who cares if Jay rips his music from his store bought CD onto his computer….
Go Jay!
This whole writer’s strike is nuts! Why don’t they just fire all the current “writers” and set up a country-wide job fair around all the colleges. You know there are students out there that could write far better stories, jokes, etc than what we’ve had in these blasted slackers…
Jay’s doing what any normal person would do: WORKING!
I think Jay did a fantastic job on his own lastnight, he was and is a Stand-up comedian afterall,… but the qustion is… can he keep on writing new material night after night!
Break Time
My prediction (and in no way am I going out on a limb):
When this strike is “settled” those writers who had been steadily employed will go back to work under deals very close to (if not identical to) their original deals and will only have the loss of several weeks pay to show for their “gains”.
Unfortunately for many of those writers, however, due to their idiocy in striking there will be even more reality bile on the air thus eliminating several more of their jobs.
During the last writers’ strike, Johnny Carson went back on the air and performed a monologue he wrote himself.
Jay did the same thing. If Carson could do it, Jay should have the same leeway.
And don’t forget, David Letterman not only wrote his own monologue, he wrote his own Top 10 lists during the last strike.
Is Letterman’s barber on strike, too?
Quick, bring back Jack Paar!!!!
Fine. Reprimand Jay for what he did. It’s no big deal. If, for any reason, the WGA decide to shut the doors on HIS show, sue them. Sue the WGA for keeping NON-STRIKING workers (IATSE et all) out of work. Sue them for the 2 months of lost wages, plus damages. Play THEIR game. If all they want is money (which it seems…which likely WON’T go to the writers anyways), make them lose more money. Tie them up in litigation. Eventually, someone will submit. As for the Letterman thing, wow, union side deals. And you wonder why people hate unions?
Great, you were posted on Drudge again. You can tell when you have nut jobs screaming about what’s killing America.
You know what’s killing America? Extreme point of views.
Wackos who use sledge hammers technics to get their POV across. That’s what’s killing America. That’s the pimple on the ass of America.
Leno is the star of the show. It must go on or people will move on. Being in stand up for years, I think he is capable of running a talk show. He’s doing the right thing to protect the jobs. If he doesn’t bring the show back, the ratings slip, people watch other things, and shows get cancelled. Then where is their job?
Come on people. Jay should not be brought up on charges! He should be applauded. I applaud him for being the “stand-up” guy that he is, no pun intended. The real issue here is the unions and the lack of importance that they haveor serve today. They served there purpose in our country’s history and they did a lot of good, but now it is all about money and political coruption. Please wake up America!
Unions ARE free markets. Just like Wal-Mart uses its purchasing power to get a better deal, workers form unions for better their negotiation position.
Funny how the right wing nuts always miss that point.
Jinny – you should check into what is holding up the settling of the strike: The AMPTP, the negotiating body for the studios and networks have twice walked away from the table and their last offer for downloads was 250 dollars a year for TV shows and zero, no money for streaming movies. The deal Worldwide Pants agreed to, which gives Dave and Ferguson writers, is what the AMPTP walked away from on Dec. 7th. The WGA wants this over – the other side does not.
To those who think unions do no good – you should read a history of the U.S. and see what life was like for workers or all stripes before union organizing. Really. Try it – knowledge is good.
Also, Mike, get your latte. You need it to wake up.
I think the smartest move for the WGA to draw up public supoprt for their cause is to go for one of the most beloved figures in telivision’s throat. Surely that will endear the striking writer’s to the American public.
I think Leno has the edge here. He’s up there being funny and lovable and the only card the WGA has to play is to demand he stop doing that. Right now public opinion is on the wrtiers’ side, probably because most people don’t know or care enough to really be involved. If you want to change that (for the worse) just go after Leno.
I mean really, what could go wrong?
Some of you need to do some research about the strike and unions in general before you post on here.
Leno is expected not to write his own jokes because he’s a WGA member and the WGA is ON STRIKE. There’s nothing tricky or crazy about that. That’s what a strike is: refusing to work until one is given a more fair deal.
Please, please go read about the reasons the WGA is striking and how the negotiations between them and the AMPTP have gone so far. Please.
What’s with all the Union hate on here?
By the way, Leno sucks with or without writers.
Last night was disastrous for the WGA cause.
Letterman, with writers, was uninspired. Was this the best these writers could do? What a wonderful opportunity to flex their muscles and highlight their skills and importance… and they blew it. The “Top Ten List” wasn’t funny and the WGA members that presented them looked tired and beaten.
In contrast, Leno, without writers, was superb. Whether he is a scab or hired out scabs, his show was hilarious. What an embarrassment. (Although, I freely admit that WWP’s Craig Ferguson Show was laugh-out-loud funny and he hit a home run with his writers.)
To all the militant WGA members out there that want to hang Leno, I say this – “You were soundly beaten last night… get over it.” To wage a PR war against Leno is to wage a war against middle America. It will only hurt your cause. People love Leno. If you want to hit back, get those Letterman writers to write quality jokes and earn their money.
Perhaps if we would have had some quality television shows turned out last season, we wouldn’t be in this position. Who can dispute the fact that the majority of the pilots/series’ that were produced last season were complete garbage? Jeez, if I ran a network, I would turn to reality television too.
Television Writers – When this strike finally ends, put your writing caps back on, see that your over-sized ego is left wallowing in your unfulfilled spouse’s bed and start WRITING! Otherwise, find some other industry to dishevel with your ineptitude. If you need inspiration… tune in to HBO and Showtime and watch the brilliance unfold before your eyes on “Dexter”, “Californication”, “Entourage”, etc.
Earn this. Otherwise, start writing reality tv.
Where is Solomon when you need him? The show is Jay’s baby, the writers are employees of Jay’s baby – somebody should come up with some wisdom here –
Joann
Jay’s an idiot. Good for Letterman for getting his crew back to work without becoming a scab!
It seems that the idea of Leno being about to do the show without his writers is a massive threat, hence the rule. If he can do the monologues on his own and they are funny then I say more power to him. Why should he be put out of work if he can do a quality show minus the striking writers?
Sorry Mac, but the it is the Guild that is being two-faced. Is it on strike or not? This laughably immature and dishonest “We’re on strike except for Letterman and the awards shows and everything else that makes us money” line we’re being fed is ridiculous. How can the WGA expect Leno to honor the strike when it doesn’t honor its own strike? It’s time for the studios to lock the writers out of all events and force an end to this stalemate.
Give me a break. Let the scabs have their day. There are thousands of would-be writers waiting tables, painting houses, and sitting in offices who would happily work for next to nothing for a chance to do what these picketing hypocrites refuse to “lower” themselves to. What happens if a potential scab refuses to take a job vacated by one of this gold-plated gag scribblers? If the strike is settled, is the guild going to look up all those comics who tried to do the right thing and offer them work on a sitcom? No. They’ll continue to protect their tiny piece of the industry, oblivious to the reality that “intellectual property” is impossible to protect. Sooner or later network execs are going to do exactly what leaders in other industries have done: farm out work in order to preserve their bottom line. As for the strkers… let’s see how they feel about their rights after punching in a 60 hour week at WalMart. Assbags.
Good for Leno – he’s a comic, not a politician.
Jay is paying his staff during the strike. How is he supposed to do that if he does not work? Seems that Jay is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the WGA.
What about the politicians that provide the networks with income via their campaign commercials. Aren’t they also “crossing the line.”
The appropriate remedy for Leno’s violation is obvious. His writers should all immediately resign and of course refuse to take any salary or severance from The Tonight Show or Leno. That’ll show Leno!
I am a member of the public, and all I have to say is GROW UP – WGA; you are a bunch of millionaire thugs who want more and more money – Jay Leno has a perfect right to do his OWN monologue and it was funnier than what you sucky writers do everyday – I hope your union is broken and then maybe we will see some good programming on the air – the way it was years ago when there were funny people on the air like Andy Griffith, Jackie Gleason, Johnny Carson etc – they had talent unlike all of the no talents you put out there now – oh I am not some old geezer, I am 49 years old!
Having someone dictate that Jay cannot write his own material wreaks to me of paranoia. The writers are apparently trying to force a monopoly of their clan. Obscene. Although I agree that the writers do deserve royalties for digital sales, I find the other underlying “rules” as disturbing.
Are you people brain damaged?
This isn’t an issue about who “owns” the jokes in Jay Leno, it’s about Jay Leno being well aware of how the WGA contracts work, and deliberately doing what he knows is against the union rules. This is about a guy who earned his livelihood under a certain set of rules, but then once he’s in the power-seat, he decides to throw all that out the window.
“But Wes, Unions are ruining America!”
So break up the RIAA and the MPAA, and then PERHAPS you will see the WGA and the SAG start acting a little less like brutes. The studios have deliberately been undermining the writers guild for years. Read up a little about this strike, people. Read how they WGA voluntarily lowered their residuals to help spur the VCR economy. Read about how the studios are deliberately misleading the public about their internet revenues and telling the guild there’s no money being made there.
Allowing residuals is the most capitalistic way to pay the writers… it directly pays based on performance. If you want to undermine that, then you don’t believe in capitalism.
I love watching liberals like Jay, David and Conan all squirm during the writer’s strike. The unions are the source of our country’s educational system’s demise. The writers on television are pampered little children who deserve to be permenantly unemployed; not for striking but for writing utter crap for all these years and getting away with it!
To Hell with the Unions. Go, Jay, Go!
Only corporate shills are posting today it seems. everyone else is out STRIKING.
The show was distinctively improved last night under the new circumstances, whatever they were. Real talent showed up when Jay had to improvise time after time. The writers hide the real Jay.
Excellent! Reward him with more ratings since he’s the one with balls to work, not moaning.
the union, by not negotiating seriously for the most part, is proving to the world and perhaps to itself how useless it actually is.
TV audiences aren’t going to just come back full strength after this is over. We’ve got the internet, we’ve got an astounding amount of entertainment options elsewhere, and quite frankly a lot of people are discovering that they just don’t need Television. The kind of options weren’t around during the last strike, but TV audiences still lost a good %10 that never ever came back.
The late night hosts at least understand this concept that by not delivering a product at all, you screw the home viewer a lot more than you screw the big corporation that can eat the loss of your product. the fact that the union is in any way considering this strike a success so far, shows a great deal of ignorance in the situation.
Hopefully you get your pennies out of it. Hopefully you’ll still have an audience when you do.
I honestly thought that Jay Leno’s show without writers was funnier than David Letterman’s show with writers.
I’m with Jay on this one; he had a great show last night!
Yeah, bring him up on charges and ship him off to Siberia. Wait. Wrong country. And I think the above is correct–best they could do is kick him out of the Union, or Union sanctions, if he was willing to honor them.
I thought it was great! Pay the writers more and make a deal or let Leno do his job. He did great!!!
Honestly people – for the most part no one needs to write for these guys as they can use everyday events to get material. Anyone who watches the nightly news – can write comedy.
Look anyone following this union are fools. Letterman got his guys back to work, non of those writers are supporting the other writers. Do you understand this? If the union meant anything these workers would support the other workers. They are not.
Letterman with the help of the WGA has broken the union. Anyone who does work, is doing so because that is the best decision for themselves, anyone not going to work because they are supporting the Union are fools, the Union already sold them out to Letterman.
The union busted itself when it cut this deal with Letterman, they need not look farther than their own Mirror.
Heck, I can write jokes funny enough to beat out David Letterman . . . why is it so hard to imagine Leno wrote his own stuff? The man got to where he is because HE’S FUNNY!
Why doesn’t he suspend the monologue? Call it his writer’s strike participation. Make a point of mentioning it at the begining of every show. Then get on with inteviewing stars and celebrities and nobodies on the street. I watch for the headlines and the guests, not the jokes.
I step away for a few days and suddenly the posts are all written by shills! I agree that targeting Jay will make him a martyr and you don’t want to do that, but you also must realize this man joined a guild, enjoyed the protections of his guild, and must abide by his word, like all men are asked to do. So he’ll probably get a slap on the wrist at worst. As for the rest of you shills, most of the German population supported the Nazis. They’re comments were equally as selfish and ignorant as yours. When people stand by and do nothing, the world suffers. People with integrity are fighting for what they believe is right and you’re crapping on them for it. Shame on all of you.
What is he supposed to do, twiddle his thumbs on the air while the union puts Letterman in the hero role? The unions strategy involves throwing him under the bus, so of course he’s going to try and protect himself. He can just say the host half wrote the jokes, no the writer half.
Of course he broke the strike rules! Duh!
How else was he going to communicate? It’s absurd to believe that anything happening on these shows wouldn’t violate what the Guild sent down.
It goes back to what we believe most of our relatives believe… that the people on TV just make the words up. Did anyone think he was “just going to make the words up?”
To me this is a moot point. Anything that comes out of his mouth would be considered creative. So whether he sat down at a computer for eight hours or improvised on the fly, it’s still writing. No?
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
These negotiations are never simple, but it seems really simple this time. The studios went back on their word to open up new media if the writers abandoned dvds. The writers made that compromise and they got sandbagged. Now we’ve got two huge groups of people fighting over a comparatively small amount of money and the setworkers and SAG are all taking the hit with them.
Are you really so massively pre-disposed against the writers that in your mind they are not only at fault for this, but they shouldn’t even obey THEIR OWN strike rules?
Inform yo-selves, guys. Please.
Not charges, he will be expelled from the guild and never allowed to join again. Which is totally fair. Jay is lucky to be rich enough to afford to break the strike and be honest enough about his actions. Unions are built to protect the little guys not people like Jay.
Unions keep average people from getting screwed by the greedy corporate world !
Unions may have their problems but without them the producers would treat the writers much worse. The writers are not asking for anything unfair, the producers are greedy and heartless.
PLEASE – OH PLEASE let the WGA go after LENO… it would be the best PR move for Big Media … I could see the Variety Headline now… “WGA GOES AFTER ONE OF ITS OWN! — WILL LENO BE BLACKLISTED?!?”
And what is even better is if they DON’T go after Leno – how can you justify throwing Carson Daily, a NON-WGA host, under the bus!!
Even more – if Leno is WRITING his jokes as he stated:
“…I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Honey, is this funny?’” and they don’t go after him… how can they justify holding ANYONE out as a SCAB?!
A lovely Dilemma… a Delicious one!!
You go JAY!! You GO!!!
To hell with the WGA…Leno wrote it HIMSELF, he didn’t use scab labor. They have no right to tell him he can’t do the work in lieu of the writers; management takes over the jobs of striking workers all the time in labor disputes. If this keeps up much longer, the industry should just can the whole lot of them and hire new writers. People with a B.A. in literature looking for a writing job are plentiful.
What if this shows strike demonstrates that a writing team isn’t needed for such shows, only researchers. Dennis Miller does three hours a day off the cuff why can’t Jay?
Go Jay! I applaud Ellen for staying on the air. Many people come to LA and ask for tickets months ahead for these shows. I had family last month who come every year and the only thing they want for sure is to go to the Tonight Show, they had tickets for months. I agree with the writers demands, but I don’t agree with their methods. I applaud & support Jay, Conan, Ellen, Jimmy & Carson. Those deals that Letterman made are joke.
Based on what Lenno said, it sounds like he just misunderstood the contract, thinking he could write the monologue himself. The article seems to assume Lenno is incapable of writing his own material, despite the fact that he was an accomplished solo act long before he became the host of his current program. Given the quality of most of the writing on Television, I suspect the WG should be more concerned that he’ll decide he prefers writing his own material again.
Unions ruin America? Are you kidding me? Without unions the corporate fat cats would be happy to have us all working for slave wages. Stay strong, unions.
WoW! Who knew this thread could be so acrimonious. This thread exhibits some very bad signs, to me. If the division over what is right or wrong is so heated here, what does that say about the attitudes during the next phase of the strike?
I hope people are looking at the actions of Leno and Letterman through the same glasses they would judge those less famous. That is the objective and correct way to do so.
Otherwise, bending attitudes to the cult of celebrity could be a very dangerous position to be in.
If Jay wrote his jokes in advance, then he broke the rules. Whether you’re happy to see him back or not, doesn’t change that fact.
Good for Jay, I think fairness needs to be addressed and the folks who do the writing receive a fair salary, just like everyone else. Common sense has to kick in sometime, just like an earlier person said, other folks depend on a salary from this show too and they have kids and bills to pay.
“Letterman got his guys back to work, non of those writers are supporting the other writers. Do you understand this? If the union meant anything these workers would support the other workers. They are not.”
-josh markus
This is not true. The Letterman writers are still doing picketing shifts and are donating a portion of their salaries to striking writers and “below-the-line” workers. Please do some research before you state things as if they are facts.
Jay Leno claims to have come back because of his contract and the 160 non WGA members of his staff who were going to loose thier jobs. Jay could take the hit how many of those 160 staff members could afford the hit?
Couldn’t Jay simply declare Financial Core if the WGA threatened to sanction him. Fining… or even threatening to fine him… would be a horrible PR misstep on the guild’s part.
I have been following this blog since day one of the strike, and I have never seen more irrational comments on here than today. I guess bringing the shows back and the hosts talk of the strike got the anti-union reps out. Hopefully it reached even more people who aren’t quite so… oblivious.
Devon, since when is the spoken word writing? Writing is the recording of the spoken word, or words thought of in the mind. I can’t mail the spoken word unless I write it down. Making up jokes on the fly certainly is not the same as repeating the written word. Only if you are a union member on strike, or a sympathiser of the strikers, could any such interpretation be rationally dreamed up. I am neither supporting, or denegrating Jay Leno’s performance.
Yes the “Free Market” is “Free”. “Free” to screw you and me!
Yikes! Looks like the loons have taken over the asylum today!
oh my, has the tide turned against the WGA already? If so, it is truly scary how fickle public perception and sympathies are… or are these people all shills? here is hoping it is the latter. good luck WGA.
Unions are the only way to keep bloated corporations from screwing the little guy and to get fair pay for themselves. Unions get better deals than the white-collar workers, who are on their OWN against mega-corporations.
Jay Leno should be allowed to write his own jokes if he wants. Jay can deal with the Unions on his own if he breaks their rules. However, don’t bash the unions for fighting for their fair wage rights too.
Wow, the shills are out in force today. Seems like the Letterman deal ruffled the AMPTP’s feathers and now they’re fishing for their next anti-guild angle. Sad.
“Look anyone following this union are fools. Letterman got his guys back to work, non of those writers are supporting the other writers. Do you understand this? If the union meant anything these workers would support the other workers. They are not.”
Uh Josh… did you read any of the other posts on this blog? If you did you’d see that all Late Show writers are donating a percentage of their salaries to the WGA strike fund and taking shifts to picket with everyone else until the strike is over. I’m not entirely sure how that translates to them not supporting other WGA members.
You asked if people “understand this.” I just have to ask, do you?
There is so much ignorance in these comments it is astonishing. We’re not part of the entertainment biz, and even we know the facts.
The Tonight Show is NOT Leno’s baby. The Tonight Show is a legacy owned by NBC. Leno was too much of a moron to own his own show.
Leno is not the most beloved figure in tv. Sheesh, did Leno get his family to bombard this site with hooray for Jay comments?
Why is it that when the Teamsters strike, or the supermarket workers strike, they are justified?
DO NOT CONFUSE THE MONIED MOGULS WITH THE WRITERS.
To the idiot who said the writers must be rich if they’ve survived unemployment this long – how do the Teamsters survive? how do the supermarket employees survive? People are losing their homes, borrowing money, scrounging for other jobs.
We would love for people to post what they do for a living. Whatever you do, you are protected by a union, a law that guarantees rights and protections.
LENO DID OK BECAUSE HE USED SCAB WRITERS. WE THINK HIS SHOW A HORRIBLE WITH OR WITHOUT WRITERS, BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, HE USED SCAB WRITERS BECAUSE HE’S TERRIFIED LETTERMAN WILL SURPASS HIM. WHICH MAKES HIM A TW0-FACED LOWLIFE.
Wow, Chris Lehane must be unloading WHEELBARROWS of cash on his staff. Bravo guys, tremendous work ethic. Consider me impressed with your dedication to the task of trolling the comments on this one — practically before Jay went on the air last night.
If you want fairness and common sense, the AMPTP will have to fulfill their legal obligation and return to the bargaining table. They will have to fulfill their legal obligation to bargain in good faith. At some point, they will even have to present the promised-but-not-delivered “other half” of their internet proposal.
You want lawsuits? Let’s go for a class-action lawsuit against every single producer and studio who’s claimed that a movie lost money to avoid paying out back-end deals. Let’s sic the WGA and its lawyers on every studio and producer who’s ever demanded a “free” rewrite in contravention of their contract obligations. Let’s collect every penny we’re owed, let’s do it the ugly way, and let’s force them to open up their books and submit to true, legal accounting practices. Then let’s watch the CEOs and CFOs get frogmarched to jail on fraud, corruption, and conspiracy charges. Now THAT my friends will be good television.
Oh, and when we do go back to the table… let’s ask the SOB’s for our copyright back.
First of all, being a comedy writer myself, I sincerely doubt Jay Leno wrote all of those jokes himself (as lame as they were). He undoubtedly had “help” from his producers and directors, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had “consultants” sending him ideas. And if he keeps up the pace he set last night, we will know this for sure.
But what can the WGA do? He proved last night he doesn’t care about the union membership or their cause. Personally, I think they should wait until the strike is over and quietly kick him out, but it does the WGA no good to publicly censure him in the middle of all of this.
BY THE WAY — Johnny Carson wrote his own monologue because he was not a WGA member. Both Jimmy Kimmel and Conan should be applauded for actually adhering to their union’s rules — no monologue. But if Jay continues to flaunt his indifference, they will have enormous pressure to follow suit.
I’m all for the writers getting their fair share of the DVD profits. I bought 5 seasons of Scrubs for Christmas. That show would not be the success I think it is without good writers They deserve the same compensation as the actors that perform in those shows. The Jay’s and David’s are a distraction. Their shows aren’t going to DVDs and that is were the fight lies. Come to Idaho, Jay. It’s a “Right to Work” state meaning you don’t have to pay any union to work! Rugged indiviualism is what built the West! Go Jay Go!
Tonight’s Tonight Show will be weaker than last night’s, and tomorrow night even weaker. Why? Because Tonight Show staffers spent the day praising Jay in the blogs and haven’t been doing their work.
And to those who believe Leno wrote the monologue himself, dream on.
The argument that the past fights by unions gave us the five-day workweek, eight-hour days and workplace safety regulation is not a persuasive argument for unionism today. A lot of things happened in the 18th and 19th centuries that helped make America what it is today, and not all of them are things we’d be comfortable doing today.
On the other hand, the poster Dave is right on the mark when he says, “Unions ARE free markets. Just like Wal-Mart uses its purchasing power to get a better deal, workers form unions for better their negotiation position.” That is the justification for unions, and all the justification they need.
Up until now I’ve never been one to consider those with differing opinions on here to be shills for the AMPTP (or planted messages by the AMPTP itself.)
But today’s out of control WGA bashing and union bashing in general… wow.
People defending Jay’s position I don’t think are shills as its a complicated position and a real mess and I can see both sides. But this out of control union bashing is like something out of an old movie. You could see Old Man Potter or Mr. Burns leading the charge.
If Nikki’s awesome blog keeps getting infiltrated by so many AMPTP planted comments, it’s going to be no fun to read the comments anymore, and we’re all going to go elsewhere. Maybe making Nikki’s site less influential is what the AMPTP is attempting here…
Didn’t we go thru this two months ago with Ellen deGeneres? Whereupon we found out that WGA and AFTRA (unions to which both Jay and Ellen, et al, belong) outright contradict each other as to whether writing material which you perform yourself is acceptable or not? (Not surprisingly, WGA says no, AFTRA says okay.) It’s a rather difficult position to be in if you’re a member of both unions as the talkshow hosts are.
As for Jay’s comment “19 people were putting 160 out of work”… well, it can be debated as to whether he should have said it. It can be debated as to whether those “19″ are justified in what they’re doing (for the record, I say they were and are).
What can’t be debated is that as a statement of fact, it’s accurate. And that too is a huge gray area.
We all know this strike – however important and necessary it is – is affecting the entire industry. Leno, Letterman, Conan, all those folks have been faced with a very hard choice – continue to support the writers vs. get the rest of their just-as-devoted staffers back on the job again.
Does anyone think that’s an easy call to make, in either direction? It wouldn’t be for me, I freely admit it. Which is why I didn’t like the way Ellen got pilloried two months ago, and I don’t like the way some want to pillory Jay the same way now. And I’m not a fan of either of their shows, I’m objecting just on principle.
As for who had the “better” show, that’s apples and oranges just like always. Letterman’s first joke was a Eugene V. Debs reference, Leno’s was a riff on “A Jew walks into a bar”. That has nothing to do with writers, that’s both of those guys doing their brand of comedy just like they always have. I happen to prefer Letterman, but does that mean I have to hate Leno? Sorry, I won’t do it.
Folks, the strike is complicated. Overlapping and contradictory union goals are complicated. The alliance between entertainment and commerce is complicated. Each host’s decision as to how to handle their particular situation was complicated.
Don’t get me wrong – boil it all down and I absolutely believe the writers are the good guys in this saga. But dogmatic evangelizing on either side is just abdicating one’s responsibility to actually think about complicated things.
So as of today, some writers are back to work, some crews are back to work, and everybody talked about the strike. Of all the possible outcomes of a very complicated situation with no perfect solution, that’s not the worst possible one. And tomorrow is another day.
You mean ‘flout the rules’ not ‘flaunt’. Come on.
re:Comment by rizzo — January 3, 2008 @ 10:43 am
No shit. Some people are so gung ho for their freemarket talking points they have no perspective. Yes we don’t want an overly controlled marketplace, but we do not want people to be at the mercy of mercantile anarchy.
FACT: Leno is a WGA member. The WGA is on strike. Leno is expected to either refuse to write his own monologues or leave the union, just like any other WGA member.
FACT: The WGA is perfectly willing to negotiate. The AMPTP walked out of negotiations nearly a month ago, and haven’t been heard from since.
FACT: The primary reason for the strike is that the writers are currently being paid NOTHING for the use of their creations on the internet. People watch the shows they wrote, the studios make money off them from ads, and the writers get NOTHING. The writers want to be paid. They went on strike because they weren’t getting paid.
FACT: Very few writers are millionaires. Most are unemployed or barely getting by. They depend on the residuals to pay rent and feed their families between jobs.
Anti-Strike People, please stop making wild assumptions and presenting them as fact. You have every right to hold and express your opinion, but there is a lot of misinformation being posted here.
what about conan?
Looks like all the AMPTP plants are back from the holiday break.
To all of you who don’t understand why Jay Leno is not allowed to write jokes for his own monologue, remember, he’s not only the host of the show, he’s also a hired staff writer on it, name in the writing credits and all.
And he’s a member of the Writers Guild, which means he has to abide by the Guild’s strike rules. He signed an agreement to that effect when he joined, as we all did. As such, he can’t perform writing services for a “struck company” even if he owns it.
If he wants to make up his own monologue as he goes along, fine. But if he’s reading anything off a cue card, there’s a violation somewhere.
And for all you people who seem to think unions are all good or all bad, they’ve been both. They were good for the nation when they fought exploitative labor practices in the 1920s, yet they were bad for America when they got so powerful that you couldn’t fire an autoworker for snorting coke on the assembly line, as happened in the 1970s.
If you’re wondering why the message board is suddenly overrun by anti-union idiots who can’t spell, it’s because Drudge linked to this thread. A Drudge link brings out the morons like a turd brings out the flies.
All you Drudgies please go back into your caves and give the message boards back to those who actually work in showbiz — or at least have a passing familiarity with it.
Bah! It is obvious now that the writers are not as good as the real thing. Jay’s show was the best it had been in a very long time. It seemed more real, not that prepackaged slop writers who think they are funny spew out. I agree with the Unions position, they should be paid for digital media sales and DVD’s, but the world is fully of phony and fake things, and that show was the freshest thing I have seen in a long time.
Last night in Sydney, I kept switching from Leno to Letterman and came to the sad conclusion that Letterman’s writers were no match for Leno on his own. Leno’s monologue sparkled while Letterman’s show was pathetic until Robin Williams showed up. Could it be that all the “reality” garbage now shown on TV is a result of a generation of lousy writing? What can be done to improve the standard of TV writing, both in comedy AND drama? I bet Robin Williams didn’t use a team of writers for HIS monologue!
to Cindy @12:41
God forbid people don’t get to see a tv show being taped! That would be life devastating.
you must work for Ellen DeGeneres – that’s the same lame argument she used to justify her scabbing.
Meanwhile, what do you, or any of those people, do for a living? What if your paycheck were jeopardized? You’d be singing a different tune if this had to do with your own paycheck.
The petty self-interest of people and shills posting on this site is the vilest form of humanity. Writers and all workers have a right to a fair paycheck. Don’t think residuals are icing on top. Residuals ARE writers paycheck.
The good news is Leno and DeGeneres have awful shows anyway and are embarrassing to watch. Conan’s not embarrassing to watch, but his show is pretty bad.
unions are america!
WGA to Jay Leno – thanks for the support, now screw you! The “big congloms” are not screwing Jay, the WGA is by making a deal with Dave. These WGA guys have got to be the biggest morons – who would ever really want them to be the reps?
Good for you Jay! Thanks for showing your true colours. Let’s see if you can still pick’em after a month. You’re a scab. Period. Same goes for you Jimmy and Conan.
Hey, josh markus: Did you not bother the read the post previous to this one? The one stating that the Letterman writers are giving a percentage of their salries to the Strike Fund until the strike is over? Using your own words, “Do you understand this”?
Further, WWP working its own deal with the Guild opens the door for other companies to negotiate outside the auspices of the AMPTP – which would bust not the Guild, but the producer’s monolith.
Congrats – you win the award for the most ass-backwards post of the day.
Also, to LJ who thinks that anyone who watches the news can write comedy: I watched Discovery Health today. Next time you need surgery, call me.
Letterman has actually sold out the writers by doing what he’s selfishly done. Do you think all of the out of work writers are happy he cut a little side deal while they starve?
Letterman supports the writer’s strike? BS. What a phony.
Letterman is not funny with or without his writers. Leno is funny with or without his writers. Who do you think is going to win the ratings? Further the Guild was unfair to allow Letterman’s writers to return. Best wishes to Leno.
The WGA gives Letterman a break and allows him to do his show with writers, and at the same time looks the other way Jay Leno does obviously scripted material. What’s the strategy here? Please explain.
The WGA is striking so they can get more money for sushi and imported bottled water. Real unions support fair wages and safe working conditions for trained workers that provide necessary products and services. Let the members of the WGA work at a real job and they will see how easy they have life.
LETTERMAN MADE A SWEETHEART DEAL WITH THE UNION. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT A SWEETHEART DEAL IS, ITS WHEN THE UNION SELLS OUT ITS MEMBERSHIP AND CUTS A DEAL WITH ONE PARTY AND THE REST OF THE MEMBERS CAN STARVE! ARE YOU GRASPING WHAT THE UNION THINKS OF THE REST OF THE MEMBERSHIP… THE UNION IS SAYING DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO!
Many of you keep harping on how important unions are to the history of this country. You have a point. Unions did invaluable work when they protected people from working 20 hour days 7 days a week, or protected the health of coal miners, or stopped child labor. That’s a far cry from this situation. As far as I can see, most writers biggest complaint is that they should make more money because the guys who run the big corporations make so much money. If you wanted to make millions, why didn’t you all get MBAs and become CEOs?
My guess is Leno thought he could do what Johnny Carson and Letterman did in ‘88 (write for themselves.) But apparently the strike rules are tougher this time (or at least are going to be enforced.) It looks like he was already running out of even his own self-written material before the hour was up, so tonight should be interesting…
I wonder if John Stewart and Colbert also thought they could write for themselves (like Carson and Dave did) when they agreed to come back? Should be an interesting time.
Either everyone gets back to work or no one gets back to work period. It doesn’t matter if David owns is own show or not, if he truly cares about the writers, then he would continue to strike with them.
To all the people who want to throw Jay under the bus, how many of you are paying for the non writers you’re putting out of work? It’s funny how a side deal was struck with David and the WGA is trying to set him up as some kind of hero for their cause without even considering how Jay will be screwed over because of the deal. Jay has every right to stand up for himself and his show. It’s one thing to support the WGA, it’s another to stand idle on the sidewalk while the WGA carries your rival on its shoulder and try to displace you.
I support the WGA and believe the writers have every right to demand more money. However, giving what happened with the side deal with David, I will support and watch Jay because I believe he is a victim of the situation.
Hmmm, greedy, self-righteous corporate Hollywood versus greedy, self-righteous union writers. Who to root for?
Time to punt and GO READ A BOOK!!!
Jay Leno is NOT TWO FACED! He might be double chinned, but definately NOT TWO FACED. Jay is a wonderful talent, and he’s got a contract. If I were to decide whether to watch Leno or Letterman, it’s ALWAYS Leno. I appreciate the writer’s union’s position, but instead of striking and ruining everything for everybody, why doesn’t the union table the strike and litigate? If they have a case, they win. In the meantime, people work. Perhaps they could get it into the same court with the same judge that awarded the million bucks from McDonalds for the hot coffee that burned somebody. Maybe the Breck Girl could show up and do some pro-bono for votes. Put it all into the Presidential Hair fund. And for the love of God, get some makeup on Hillary!
Actually, I watched Jay to support him. Unions are bad entities and bully around their employers. If you don’t like the conditions of where you work….THEN LEAVE and get another job like the rest of America!
I did find it humorous that they won’t badmouth the strike on any of those talk shows though. Kind of like….”It’s okay if we make fun of everybody else (politicians, actors, real people) when we write….but don’t you dare make fun of our union!”
Forget Jay, what about Bob Saget going on Conan? Saget is a member of SAG, last time I checked. Why is he supporting the cause of companies that are screwing him and want to continue to screw him? Yes, Bob, they will charge advertisers money for streaming “Full House” over the internet. And if they get their way (which you are helping them do) you will see none of that money that is rightfully yours.
The WGA’s strategy has appeared to backfire a bit initially. A key was Leno bombing. That did not happen.
Leno had to go back on the air. Let him do the best show possible without the writers.
Would it be any different if the food caterers went on strike? Should he not eat?
I don’t envy the talk show hosts who aren’t in Letterman’s position right now. One the one hand, they’re contractually required to go back on the air and they put the rest of their crews out of work if they don’t. On the other hand, not only are they walking through picket lines to work, they’re members of the striking union themselves.
Still, they shouldn’t be writing their own material. Leno needs to change his show format more drastically than he did yesterday. It’s not business as usual, and a statement of support following by a joke that winks at both sides isn’t going to win anyone over. There is no safe way for him to play this. Hopefully the difference in quality between the struck and unstruck shows will show in a difference in their tv and internet viewers.
was I hallucinating in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium when I heard our ‘leaders’ told us that they weren’t going to make interim deals unless it was with really big hitters, like the networks because side deals with Letterman eg would fracture the membership…as seems to be happening right now….and did anybody but me hear Bowman say that whatever deal the DGA makes we have to have a deal that SAG likes, too…suggesting we’re giving them a veto over our own member’s wishes…?
I think the anger at the WGA (and unions in general) for keeping people out of work is misguided and I’m really appalled at Jay Leno for insinuating that it was the writer’s faults that the crew is out of work. It is the AMPTP that is keeping people out of work by refusing to offer the writers a fair deal and for refusing to negotiate. That was the point he should have made but maybe he feels differently.
And, yes, Jay Leno did break the strike rules. Johnny Carson was not a member of the WGA which is why he could write his own monologues. Jay Leno is a member of the WGA and claims to support them yet he undermines the cause by breaking strike rules. Now that he no longer relies on the WGA to ensure that he is well compensated he doesn’t care about following the rules.
This is from someone who is not a writer for television or films (and has no desire to write for television or films) and is not a member of the WGA or any union for that matter.
I’m posting about the union hate in these comments – it’s not for me to judge Leno, who has been pulled in different directions by many factors. I’m not subject to these pressures and I don’t know what I would do in these circumstances.
It’s fairly astonishing and more than a little scary to see so little understanding of the role that unions have played in creating 1) reasonable working hours and workweek 2) basic standards for work safety 3) minimum wage, etc., etc.
Unions ruined public schools? Are you kidding me? The congloms and big business would be delighted to hear that anyone believes that – but frankly, I’m concerned that union history isn’t being taught in schools if people can reach the conclusion that unions (composed mainly of working class people) hold the power and not big business (composed of boards and shareholders whose sole reason for existence is the bottom line.)
Collective bargaining came into being out of strong worker frustration and to tip the scales a little more in the direction of working people – that is all. How is it that ordinary folks – if that’s who most of you are, and not astroturfers with minimal skills – can be made to sympathize with the financial status of the ruling and monied folks and not with folks working for a living like themselves?
Again, the median wage of working WGA writers is about $44,350/year – that’s pretty much lower middle class. That’s the writers who are able to sell their work or have a staff position in any given year – the median income of ALL WGA writers in a typical year is closer to $5,000/year. The fact that they make even this level of income is due almost entirely to the creation of their union in the 30’s and its ongoing contract negotiation efforts.
The union is fighting this hard at this time in order to retain the already very small percentage of profits that writers make from their creations – as the world turns more and more to the internet, the AMPTP (representing the struck production companies) would like to see an even greater percentage of profits from this medium go into the pockets of their shareholders and themselves…
Not hard to figure out why. It’s a turning point in the history of media and entertainment and entertainment delivery, and this particular set of monied “producers” are trying to take this opportunity to scale back the puny amount of money and power their co-creators – the writers – make from the VERY LUCRATIVE entertainment world.
May I recommend this WGA wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers_Guild_of_America%2C_west) and the links therein, and the fans4writers Strike FAQ: http://www.fans4writers.com/strike.shtml
It’s clear from reading this forum that there is a large vocal contingent who knows nothing about unions, the issues involved in this strike or how the entertainment business works. It’s hard for me – a WGA member and writer for twenty years – to imagine having so much contempt for people I don’t know and whose business I don’t understand. I’m not sure if all this ignorance is funny or scary or both.
This is vintage shmoe Leno. Why would anyone expect Leno to honor anything?
Leno screwed over Letterman to get The Tonight Show, then played the wide-eyed “Who me?” nice guy act
Leno lied to and screwed over his staff during the strike, and only made some monetary gesture after being put under a public microscope.
Now Leno is screwing over his WGA colleagues by scabbing. Tapdance all you want, he is a SCAB.
Leno has no honor. He is motivated totally by self-interest. He has no sense of gratitude or loyalty to anyone or anything that helped him on the way up.
Nikki is totally right about the “car wreck” phenomenon – people want to see him flail without writers.
The problem is he’s secretly using scab writers, so it’s not a true picture.
Conan at least didn’t do a monologue. But, he will probably return to doing monologues soon enough, so we’ll hold off any applause.
Without writers, there’d be no tv or film, and we’d all be out of jobs (including us, media buyers)
The future of tv and film is grim. All-reality-tv is not going to make it.
Keeping pushing WGA and watch for Jay to go Fi-core -opening the door for a whole group of people to go with him.
Exactly what does he need from full status – the right to vote for the next Verrone?
*sigh* Another one who hasn’t done their research…
The writers are able to live this long because they’re supported by a WGA fund. Other unions have similar funds covering for their members during a strike.
You also haven’t done your research. Letterman’s show is owned by his own company (World Wide Pants, Inc.), not by NBC. NBC and the other big companies (joined in the AMPTP) are refusing to negotiate with the WGA, but Letterman’s company came to its senses and struck a deal with the WGA. This means that the writers Letterman employs get higher residuals, residuals for stuff on the internet, and all that other stuff the WGA asked for. In return, Letterman’s writers are allowed to write again. Other companies could choose to make similar deals, if they were willing to give the WGA what it wants. Sadly, the AMPTP has stubbornly refused to grant the WGA any of its wishes.
Yes, I said Letterman’s writers are allowed to work again. Some people here fail to understand how Jay Leno can be punished for writing his own jokes.
It’s quite simple, actually: only union members get to write for movies and TV. (There used to be multiple writers’ unions, but they all merged into the WGA.) There are rules for union members, a prominent one being that members aren’t allowed to work in case of a strike. Any member who breaks those rules can be banned from the union, making it impossible for them to write for a while (or, in worse cases, forever). So there’s no lawbreaking involved, no imprisonment, no fines. The worst the WGA can do is effectively forbid you from writing ever again.
Jay Leno may be famous and all that good stuff, but in the end he’s just another WGA member. The WGA has the right to ban him from writing, which doesn’t mean he has to give up his show (AFAIK): he just can’t write his own stuff any more.
Someone else here said it:
Basically, this is comparable to a guy getting into the Oval Office through democracy, and once he’s President, he decides to throw out democracy altogether and set up a dictatorship. That would be unacceptable, unfair, and wrong.
OK people, next time nurses strike, tell them to go to hell
Next time sanitation workers strike, tell them to go to hell.
Next time transportation workers strike, tell them to go to hell.
Writers are no different and deserve equal rights.
You’re all so precious about your tv shows – do you think your shows and movies are magically made in some parallel universe?
Writers write those shows and movies.
Don’t be fools. Leno had secret help from writers and will continue to secretly use writers.
The man is a lowlife turning his back on his union.
Nikke…
Just read on Salon that Jay-Z is starting a music label with Apple.
Game over.
Writers win.
I am truly amazed that so many people are willing to post their opinions as fact.
JAY IS A WRITER. He is a member of the WGA. The WGA members are on strike. If writers perform “writerly” duties during the duration of a strike, they are considered to be strike-breaking. This can undermine the strike at large. The rules are clear.
The reason the Letterman writers are working is a deal was made between his company and the WGA. This deal is what the WGA is seeking for all WGA members, including Leno and his writers.
To make Leno the hero is as bad as making him the villain. This isn’t about Leno. This isn’t about whether his show will do better with or without his staff. Remember he is a WRITER too. This is about all writers getting paid for their work. Don’t forget the bigger picture. And, please, before you make generalized, condemning statements, seek out some information. Get informed.
P.S. Sonny, those brilliant shows you refer to (“Dexter”, “Entourage”, etc.) they have writers too…
I disagree with those who laud Jay Leno “for working to take care of his family.” Jay’s family I’m sure is sitting on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in assett and saving. What Jay is doing is killing the chances of the striking writers to be paid a fair and living wage to support their families! The people who condemn unions for doing the only thing they have power to do against the far superior corporate power- withholding their services until their demands are met- because they are not working should ask them, well, by that logic, the companies can decide to pay you like 2.00 or hour, or make you a slave, and then you should keep on working to “support” your family rather than conduct a job action?
I say to hell with all scabs and all those who support them! I used to watch Leno regularly, but because of his self-serving, turncoat ways I will know watch David Letterman. Letterman does not kick his friends when they are down.
“Unions ruin America? Are you kidding me? Without unions the corporate fat cats would be happy to have us all working for slave wages. Stay strong, unions.
Comment by ray — January 3, 2008 @ 12:41 pm”
…only if everyone accepted said slave wages. Unions exist in industries where the talent required is possessed by more people than there are jobs. Sorry, writers, there are a LOT of people who can write from generic sitcom bibles.
If that wasn’t the case, why aren’t there unions for astrophysicists? Answer: there aren’t enough people to do the job thus driving up base salaries.
Beside, it’s not like labor laws would go out the window if unions disappeared, suggesting that the situation would regress to early 1900’s levels is dishonest and foolish at best. Unions largely exist as political entities as it is now a days.
That said, Leno signed up for the WGA and broke the rules, he should be punished by the WGA. If he’s not, then they appear worthless and spineless, but if they do, then they look like they are fighting in house and look a wreck. It’s a tough situation to be in and I personally wouldn’t envy having to make the final call.
oh and P.S. not being ‘pro-union’ doesn’t make one a ’shill’ for the AMPTP. I work as an assistant (we don’t have a union BTW) and make less than every working writer out there. I just happen to believe I can always make more if I am allowed to negotiate for myself based on my own talents. Just my feeling.
Unions don’t ruin America. Workers just want a piece of the pie. Corporate execs who make millions of unneeded dollars need to share the wealth with those who provide a service for them. A dime a dvd is not a big deal.
I can remember when an airline corp exec cried to the pilot union to take a pay cut to meet financial goals. The union did and guess what the corporate exec got his multimillion dollar bonus.
The true greedy thugs are corporate execs not the unions and you can take that to the bank NYC Mayor Doomsburg.
Wow @ 12:26 PM:
Godwin’s Law. You FAIL.
Here we thought everyone at AMPTP was out skiing over the holidays. Turns out they were actually rounding up a small cadre of dubious halfwits to barrage this site with repetitive anti-union rants posted under various pseudonyms.
I’m thinking three, maybe four people are behind this, tops. They send off one ineffectual diatribe, then look over the studio playbook before writing another and sending it out under a different name, thinking they’ve somehow cleverly given the impression there’s been a sudden groundswell of support for AMPTP intransigence.
You guys calling this your ‘Hearts and Mind’ campaign? Hate to break it to you, but it’s already been used. That one didn’t work, either.
Is there a possibility that the pressure on Leno could force him to turn financial core? If he did so, my understanding is that he could write for his show without violating any Guild rules, right?
Sorry if this was already hashed out earlier and I missed it.
This is a totally shill-infested thread. My God, most of these posts aren’t even aware of WGA rules.
What are you people, “ignant”?
Bottom Line: Both Jay and Huckleberry Hound knew what they were doing. In Jay’s case he knew he was writing jokes which is a violation of WGA rules. Huckleberry knew he crosed the picket line and played stupid.
They are Both disingeniuos people. I have lost total respect for Jay, I hope he is ousted from WGA… btw, the only reason he paid his staff was because he was embarrassed into doing so by Dave.
This is about General Electric, folks. They own NBC. This is about asking for four pennies. That’s it! An additional 4 cents on a DVD that is sold for $30+. The difference in profit is just too juicy to let go of for one of the world’s largest companies that controls most of what you see, hear, read and consume.
Please tell me you are smart enough to see that without the little guys (writers) standing side by side, and the hope that high profile members (and those in solidarity in other unions) have the ability to provide leverage.
When big companies sit up and take notice a QUICK conclusion can happen by hanging back (on principle) until fair negotiations take place to insure that writers can make a decent fair living wage and raise their kids and be funny and make you laugh and cry. Cause that is what they do and they deserve a living wage for it. The longer the strike lasts, the harder it will be on the little guy on the front lines. That affects all of us- you, friend, who work 9-5 and have a weekend that not that long ago had their head’s busted open to get it for you.
This is about GE and the other big guys breaking unions. What Jay is doing will sadly prolong this. Go to the WGA site and throw them a few bucks to help them through this. They don’t want to strike. They simply feel they must. Courage. Thank you writers!!
Cincinnati
All the anti-Union posters can go to hell. Unions are required for any civilized country. This country was built on the backs of union workers who gave their blood and sweat so that one day future generations could have better working conditions and earn fair wages.
At a time when the gap between rich and poor is so extreme, and getting worse each day, we should applaud the efforts of the Writer’s Guild to get their small portion of the internet profits from these corporate media empires.
Go WGA! Boycott Leno the scab!
It’s obvious that Leno has violated the Guild rules, but on the side issue of whether he was funnier than Letterman last night…even though I am a huge Letterman fan, I’d have to say yes, he was.
BUT, even a broken clock is right twice a day. There is no way that idiot Jay Leno can be consistently funnier than Letterman with or without writers. If Leno has to write his own monologue 4 or 5 nights a week, EVERY week, it’s gonna get ugly real fast.
The really crazy thing thing is that in the short term, Leno’s ratings might actually get stronger as people tune in each night to see what kind of a train wreck it will turn into.
However, the longer the strike lasts, the better Letterman’s ratings will become as people will eventually lose interest in the novelty of Leno’s struggles, and turn to Dave for entertainment.
Dave is smarter, sharper, and funnier. Period.
This is for Sonny Black
Comment by Sonny Black — January 3, 2008
“In contrast, Leno, without writers, was superb. Whether he is a scab or hired out scabs, his show was hilarious. What an embarrassment.”
Sonny– Jay Leno is a WRITER. He is in the WRITERS GUILD. He WROTE this material. That’s what a WRITER does. I’m glad you liked it. Because it was written by a WRITER. Not something magical happened like you want to believe.
Comment by Sonny Black — January 3, 2008
“Perhaps if we would have had some quality television shows turned out last season, we wouldn’t be in this position. Television Writers — tune in to HBO and Showtime and watch the brilliance unfold before your eyes on “Dexter”, “Californication”, “Entourage”, etc.”
Sonny — Who do you think is writing this? Elves? It’s the same WRITERS, Sonny Virtually the SAME PEOPLE you just railed against.
Without WRITERS – you, Sonny, will be looking at bank pages in a book, no images on a TV, empty greeting cards, nothing on a menu. No traffic signs, no instructions, directions, prescriptions. Is that want you want?
Thanks.
Leno made a mistake. He clearly misunderstood the WGA rules and will almost certainly abide by them from this point forward. He’s a strike supporter, and a pretty popular figure in entertainment. I’m a strike supporter also, but it is my hope that the WGA simply asked him to stop writing material. I have no doubt he will comply and further sanctions are not necessary.
I hope the strike is settled soon with fair terms for the writers, and not settled before there are fair terms.
Jay is just being a scab. He’s in a union he doesn’t support. There will be hell to pay when he can’t get a SAG member on his show, and the other Unions walk in support of the WGA. Try getting a Teamster to deliver parts that “break” in the studio.
Good for Jay, but if he isn’t going to follow union bylaws or regulations, then he should get out of the union.
IMO, unions are a crutch on any competitive business. In most cases they are shady and political, and only really serve to add a new, *less open* layer of bureaucracy to the profession.
There are countless modern examples of unions in America being one of the problems with our major corporations, like GM and Ford.
In the end, though, if Leno is breaking union rules knowingly that is dishonest. And in that case he is better off just coming out and quitting the Guild.
If you join a union, you accept their rules. If you break those rules, you should accept the punishment just as you accept the benefits of being in one. The power of the Union, strength in numbers, is broken when people think they are above the rules.
There is more at stake here than the late night talk shows, and that a lot of you dismiss the writers as either overpaid, barely talented or as some suggest; holding up everyone else’s job for their greedy needs -indicates that you are totally incapable of grasping the big picture, and should then go paint in a corner instead of spewing your ignorance all over this blog.
You haven’t felt the full impact of the strike yet because the shows you watch, other than the live ones, have not been forced out of production yet – just wait a week or two, when there are no other scripts, then you might realize just how significant writers actually are! They are the lowest paid in comparison to the other talent, and they are the ones that put the words in everyone’s mouths….to make it all about the late night talk shows is to so severely miss the point.
There is a big forest beyond these trees people!
Here is the problem:
The writers are upset because the corporate guys have gone back on their word. Nevermind that the corporate guys that gave them their word are probably not the corporate guys they are dealing with now.
The evil corporate guys they are dealing with now are trying to save their jobs and their companies because television has fractured into micromedia (cable and the internet). In an advertising based business, eyeballs are dollars and you can’t charge as much for fewer eyeballs.
The evil corporations (corporations are groups of people just like unions) are in a fight for their lives and the managers are in a fight for their livelihoods and the livelihoods of their employees.
Unions add a rigidity to doing business because of the inevitable contractual obligations. When competition heats up it makes survival by a unionized corporation considerably more difficult. The inevitable fixed costs will begin to strangle a business. The evil corporation is trying to find a way to survive.
Then there are the evil writers, they are writing the jokes that are bringing the eyeballs. They deserve to be paid for their work. It doesn’t matter whether the work is on broadcast television or appears on the internet. They expect ever increasing pay for the same amount of work. They are likely to get ever decreasing pay because the money just isn’t there anymore.
The evil union is in business for one purpose: to bring ever increasing fortunes to its members. That is its purpose. If it doesn’t do anything about the evil corporation making money off the writers for their work without compensating them for it, then it doesn’t deserve to exist.
Everyone is right. Everyone is wrong. Welcome to the real world.
Wow Sonny Black, some comment, the thing is, as you lambaste the writers for their lack of talent, while directing them to brilliant shows on HBO, you are showing your ignorance in two ways 1) writers wrote those brilliant shows on HBO and 2) are you so stupid as to think the writers get a say in what goes on the air? It’s the uncreative jackasses called producers and networks that make that call, the same ones who are keeping the strike going….I am always astounded by the loudness and the nastiness that comes from the ignorant – Sonny boy, you are ignorant!
Regular ol’ viewer here, saying: Get your facts straight folks:
THE STUDIOS WALKED AWAY FROM THE TABLE, NOT THE WRITERS.
So stop blaming the WGA for the strike. And unless you all want to work 13-hour days for no benefits like Americans used to? Cut the ‘unions suck’ nonsense. You sound like morons, respectfully.
Internet, broadband, mobile entertainment have changed the way too many of us even watch shows and stuff — and what’s up with the HD television requirement coming for all sets?
The writers better make sure they are paid properly or else they’ll look up and all their shows and movies will be accessed via new TV sets in a near-identical way we go to URLs on the web. I always caught up on Grey’s and Ugly Betty online — and now that’s where general television is going.
That’s what this strike is about isn’t is? But the studios want to act like this isn’t the case?
I’m on avid online video viewer and the experience is pretty much the same: I’m watching stuff on a screen.
Studios are holding your industry HOSTAGE not the writers — or else they wouldn’t have made a deal with Letterman, who unlike the other late night people, owns his show and can act on his on behalf.
STOP STALLING, STUDIOS! It’s like the corporations have no souls, no shame in keeping people out of work and playing lying games about who walked away from what. Just make a good, flexible internet deal and move on into the future already.
I don’t give a crap about who’s who, but after reading all available news sources? The studios’ AMP-whatever are looking more and more like Enron-level, colluding liars everyday.
Signed,
RESTLESS VIEWER IN SUISUN
Michael T.
It’s funny that most anti- union people are the exact people that couldn’t survive without what unions have done for them over the years. You do not have to be in a union to benefit from the laws, rights and benefits that unions have fought for and have carried over to you at your job. Stop fighting and voting against your own self interests, big business laughs at you behind your back because you are their workplace Uncle Tom.
Funny ,
As always the trolls come out and slam people on strike . Amazing enough the companies out there doing Union Busting make MILLIONS doing so .
Why do companies want to bust Unions so badly they are willing to spend all the $$$ ???
To the posters saying “Replace them , plenty of others want to work” let me say this :
Let’s replace you with someone from China who will do your job for $.05 a hour . I mean really , if a Union member should be replaced I think we can all agree to it, if you are willing to be replaced .
If not , STFU and go away .
To DianeDia–
Wow. Your misunderstand of the issues is amazing. First of all, the WGA is not “a bunch of millionaire thugs.” In fact, we’re not millionaires at all. Half of us don’t work each year. That means ZERO income. And the average yearly income for all our members is about 62 thousand dollars a year.
Second, Jay does not “have the right to do his own monologue.” Jay is a member of the WGA, and therefore must follow WGA rules, which specifically prohibit writing of any kind, whether or not it is by a performer, for a struck company.
Third, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the way this business works. Writers do not “put talents” out there. Producers and studios and networks do.
And lastly, Andy Griffith, Jackie Gleason and Johnny Carson were indeed hugely talented and funny people. And they had WGA writers writing all those funny things you obviously believe they thought of themselves.
Moron.
>WGA; you are a bunch of millionaire thugs who want more and more money – Jay Leno has a perfect right to do his OWN monologue and it was funnier than what you sucky writers do everyday – I hope your union is broken and then maybe we will see some good programming on the air – the way it was years ago when there were funny people on the air like Andy Griffith, Jackie Gleason, Johnny Carson etc – they had talent unlike all of the no talents you put out there now – oh I am not some old geezer, I am 49 years old!
The Dave vs. Leno “debate” here simply isn’t a debate. People either like Dave or they like Jay. It’s been that way since they both became hosts. I know of virtually nobody who didn’t tacitly side with one of them or who, these days, tries to watch both shows. It’s simply a matter of taste. The die was cast long before the strike.
Thus, all the rah-rah cheering for either Dave or Jay is meaningless.
But to those of you who have been trumpeting Jay as some kind of union-buster or proof that the WGA writers aren’t necessary, listen and remember this: Jay does support the union. He has and he will continue to do so. Likely, sorting out the specifics of WGA rules vis a vis Leno writing his own monologue will end up with Jay not doing what he did last night. Jay was always a blue collar guy and he will continue to do what he can to support the union. That doesn’t mean he won’t make mistakes, but again, the guy is pro-WGA. Okay?
Finally, to the ignoramus who decided “writers are millionaire thugs,” not only does it bear repeating that the vast majority makes under $70K, but also, “thug?” You clearly never have seen a writer.
Jay has personally paid 250k A WEEK to the 179 people on staff since the strike. Out of pocket. For chrissakes, give the guy a break. He is either going to go broke, or everyone’s going to lose their jobs. And for those complaining he won’t ever be broke, really, you try spending 250k a week for the next 52 weeks. Pissing off the below the line folks by telling Leno he “can’t” go back to work is not helping anything. And I’m a writer.
I understand why Jay felt he needed to go back on the air, but not why he broke his own union’s rules by performing a monologue. For those asking why this matters-it matters because Jay belongs to the WGA and openly admitted to violating the terms of the guild! Conan did not do a monologue last night; why did Jay?
‘These WGA-constructed roadblocks to progress include:
Reality Television
The WGA seeks to obtain blanket jurisdiction over reality programs through its top-down organizing tactics, and thereby deprive these employees of their free choice to elect union coverage under the voting system administered by the National Labor Relations Board. The AMPTP has asked the WGA to withdraw this demand.
Animation
The WGA seeks to obtain, once again by top-down organizing tactics, jurisdiction over animation writers who traditionally fall under IATSE’s jurisdiction, and to deprive those writers of their free choice to elect union coverage under the voting system administered by the National Labor Relations Board. The AMPTP has asked the WGA to withdraw this demand.
Sympathy Strikes
The WGA seeks the right to go on strike, at any time, in support of another labor organization’s strike, and thereby disrupt production whenever they want. Any agreement reached must assure uninterrupted labor peace during the term of the agreement.’
Does the WGA wish to impose itself upon others without them voting for a union? It’s one thing to ask for more money, but quite another to take a away another groups right of free choice without a vote. If Reality TV and Animation writers want to unionize, the NLRB portects their right to do so (or not) if they wish.
I suspect the above issues are non negotiable to the AMPTP and that’s why they walked away from the table. The WGA might get a deal if they stick to the money issue alone.
Jay gave notice so the union could try to wrap-up and conclude a deal for the strikers. Jay gave his reasons as wanting to save some of his staff’s jobs on his team who are not writers on strike. Next thing you know the writers jobs will be outsourced to Vietnam, Korea and India. I’ll miss Jay when Conan takes over Jay’s spot.
All the mentions of all the good unions have done in the past is true, but it is also true that those cases do not apply here. Writers are most definately not suffering like members of LABOR unions had in the past, and not a writer has bled to death from a paper cut cause by an employer’s lack of safety standards. If the writers were really that essential to the sucess of television, the networks wouldn’t be able to so easily ignore, and if it comes to it, replace them.
1. It’s interesting that Jay won in ratings. It’s almost like Jay’s show is “reality” television and more interesting because he doesn’t have writers.
2. What would diciplinary action against Jay mean for him? He’s already a multi-millionaire. Maybe he signed a backdoor deal with NBC so that he wouldn’t be replaced by Conan.
I watched Jay Leno and Dave Letterman both last night
Jay outclassed Letterman by miles. He always has. Jay
has a quality that Dave cannot match. Sorry about the strike, but I feel that Jay has been a stand up guy for the strikers and for his employees. GO JAY!
dana
Unions gave us everything we have in this country. Unions created the middle class. Without unions and collective bargaining, corporate power would take over and send all our jobs to China and even bring in cheap foreign labor to do the jobs that Americans won’t do for slave wages and in hazardous conditions. To the extent that that is happening blame Ronald Reagan, the destroyer of America. God Bless Jimmy Hoffa and Walter Reuther. Leno can go to Hell with his pals Ronnie and Stalin.
Ah, you can always tell when Nikki’s been linked by Drudge. For years, I failed to understand why such a mediocre talent as Leno has any audience at all. Then I realized that many of us are so talentless, venial and mediocre that seeing one of our big dumb lug brethren prosper makes us feel better about ourselves. Frightening as it is, we are Leno.
Jay, your people idolize you for breaking the rules your promised to adhere to, for simply being wealthy and all the more for screwing the people who made you successful and lying and weaseling and twisting with the wind. You have their support, I’m sure that makes your heart sing, I know I’d be proud reading these glorious messages, and you have a billion dollars. Is that really worth having no self-respect and not being able to hold up your head?
“Look anyone following this union are fools. Letterman got his guys back to work, non of those writers are supporting the other writers. Do you understand this?”
No, we don’t understand because we don’t speak stupid. The writers who aren’t supporting other writers are the scabs, Leno, Conan and the rest. They’re making money for struck companies and prolonging the strike. What you don’t seem to understand is that the only reason the WGA made a deal with Letterman is that Leno had already agreed to scab. The WGA would NEVER have made a deal to bring back one show if the other WGA members had respected the picket line.
“WGA to Jay Leno – thanks for the support, now screw you!”
Yeah, jay’s “support” has been priceless. The late night shows make approximately $50 million dollars a year for their struck companies. Did I miss it when Jay brought $50 million worth of Snickers bars to the picket line photo op? Because otherwise his “support” isn’t really worth all the things he’s doing to undercut the strike, such as the fact the he’s violating the strike rules of an organization of which he’s a member.
You know, I’d have more respect for Leno if he’s just be honest. There are many people on here who come out and say “I hate unions! I hate getting paid for work, I hate having health care, I hate workplace safety rukes, i hate vacations, I hate all of it! I wish I lived in a country where I lived in a broken down shack, made .50 cents a year, lost an arm at the factory where I was beaten, and could put my two year old to work.” A least that’s consistent. Leno wants to be a greedy, selfish jerk, a strikebreaker, and a neurotic who’s obsessed with making money for the guys who fired him, yet he still wants to turn around and pretend to be a decent person and a “supporter” of the strike he’s doing everything he possibly can to undercut. If he’d just admit he’s a corporate suck up, a scab, and a guy who’s only in it for himself, people would respect that honesty.
“Letterman has actually sold out the writers by doing what he’s selfishly done. Do you think all of the out of work writers are happy he cut a little side deal while they starve? Letterman supports the writer’s strike? BS. What a phony.”
Damn right! Scabbing is a selfless act. It may look like Leno and Conan and Kimmel and Stewart and Colbert are the ones selfishly selling out writers, but nope, it’s the guy who actually gave us what we asked for. If he really cared and wanted to be unselfish, he’d be scabbing too, it’s the right and “supportive” thing to do. I know all the out-of-work writers I know have nothing but warm feelings for trillionaires like Jay, we’re so happy that we’re starving while they’re violating the strike rules we all agree to in exchange for all the benefits of being in the Guild. I’m upset that there are WGA writers working, but I’m not talking about the ones who are working legitimately with a contract. I’m talking about the other ones.
Careful, Scotty.
Based on (most) of the rest of the comments here, both pro-WGA and pro-management, you’re likely to to be thrown out for posting a reasonable and rational take on events that acknowledges both sides like that… ;o)
In all honesty, I suspect that I reflect much of America in my views on the conflict. As the strike has progressed, I have neither known nor cared who was “at fault” for it all (although I have become a little more educated about it over the last few days). Realistically, there is probably plenty of blame to go around for BOTH sides. In the end, all that really affects me is whether or not the strike affects my ability to watch stuff I like. When that happens, an event like Leno taking criticism for being extremely entertaining on his own will tend to push people to support management more than the writers. (Having said that, they’re likely to just go find other ways to entertain themselves until the strike is over, after which their viewership will have to be re-earned because they will have developed new habit patterns.)
Some WGA writers told us from Drudge Report to get out. Why? What do they have to hide? I watched Jay and David both last night. Aren’t their shows for the entire America? You guys own them? What did you do to feed the hundreds of workers when YOU GUYS are on strike? Jay stepped up to save the 160 staff members from being laid off. David made a deal with you guys. Both of them are better human beings than those WGA writers who told us to get out, because they are afraid that truth would surfce through debate, especially debate among a much wider audience. Shame on you WGA. Release your writers back to work. How many of them are tired of your wrong direction already?
Sheesh, Drudge flushes his toilet and the shit winds up here. I haven’t had to wade through so much knuckle-dragging blather since, well, since AMPTP’s last press release, I guess.
Why are all these ‘We am Middle America’ union bashers so gamely flogging their ignorance? What, they think maybe AMPTP will hire them once they run out of PR hacks?
This strike is damaging the whole industry. I am just a viewer, but it seems to me that we are the reason these writers have jobs in the first place. Without viewers, their jobs will not exist. I am tired of reruns. I think Jay Leno is hilarious. I thought a long time ago that he didn’t need writers. He was a stand-up comic before he was a host. No one was writing his material when he first started.
While I understand what the writers want, I agree with a lot of the other posts that it’s very unfair to the other staff of the show to lose money because of the 20 WGA members. What are these people supposed to do to feed their families, pay their rent, exist???? It’s selfish and it needs to stop. Bravo to Jay! I don’t think you should even take back those writers. Keep doing it yourself!
Please reread the article…
Jay Leno is member of The Writers Guild Of America
and he violated the strike rules of one of the unions he belongs to (The Writers Guild Of America).
If Jay Leno were NOT a member of The Writers Guild Of America, he could write his own monologue.
He is technically a “scab”, but he union won’t press the issue and eject him from the union.
Dear starving writers,
Please tell us why anyone who does not take extact position is shill for the AMPTP? You guys sound like a bunch of fanatics.
The simple fact was that Jay was much funnier than Dave without the writers. I find it quite amusing that everyone (writers) here thought Jay would get creamed. This does not bode well for your cause.
As an independent producer, I have come to detest unions. It is not because I am an evil monster, but because of arcaine rules and bloated infrastructures. I pride myself on paying a fair wage, as it fosters goodwill and makes everyone work harder.
I understand that every project needs a great script – that is why my business partner is a very talented writer/director. If you want to have more power, go out and start your own production company. There is nothing more American than that.
The last time this union struck it took 2 years to settle. All the gains they got were lost in those 2 years.
Anyone doubt that it will be another 2 years to settle this one? Maybe 2.5 years or heck just 3 years sounds good.
In the mean time the Internet comes up with new ways to bypass old barriers – hopefully this time it will be something breathtaking.
You show us, union, how tough you are….
Maybe Leno and the WGA can reach a compromise where Leno agrees to write only bad jokes for the monologue until the strike is settled.
I guess it’s all either all black or all white, right? I mean, is it not possible that unions have done a lot of good in the historical past, AND are getting too full of themselves in the present? If the conglomerates had their way, we’d all be working 120 hours a week for pittance wages. BUT…if the unions had their way, we would be working 5 hours a week, retiring at 40, and getting pensions equal to the CEO’s salary. It’s a constant tug-of-war, which is as it should be. Sometimes the unions win…and sometimes they don’t. Usually the more deserving side wins. And that’s not only gonna be the unions, no matter how much we despise the big, bad conglomerates, they DO have a right to profit from their investments.
“Shame on you WGA. Release your writers back to work.”
Yes, help us John! The WGA is holding us captive and refusing to let us work, and has been since more than 90% of us voted to authorize the strike. Make them set us free from the evils of democracy and getting paid for our work!
“Both of them are better human beings than those WGA writers who told us to get out, because they are afraid that truth would surfce through debate, especially debate among a much wider audience.”
They are afraid! The power of poor spellling and illogic is a mighty tide that will wash us all away! And being dismissed as an idiot is exactly the same as being sent to Gitmo–only worse! Fight your oppressors, never give up.
“an event like Leno taking criticism for being extremely entertaining on his own will tend to push people to support management more than the writers.”
Thank you drudge Report, you are prviding an invaluable service. That is exactly why people are upset, because Leno is so gosh-darn hilarious, he kills in New York and LA, especially among writers, we’re huge fans of his brand of comedy, believe me, that’s why he cleans up at Emmy time and gets so much respect within the industry. Not the fact that he clearly used scripted material (and no, I’m not saying that because his monologue was so hilarious it just couldn’t have been written by one guy) and also freely admitted to writing material. Apparently, some people find Leno funny, okay, swell, different strokes for different folks, but even if you think he’s the most hilarious guy ever, he still has to abide by rules he’s agreed to. My sister’s a funny person, so can she just rip up any agreements or contracts she enters into and do whatever she wants? Because she’s so funny and special the rules simply don’t apply to her? And when she stands up and talks about how supportive she is of the rules, how much the rules mean to her, how much she wants to follow them, and then turns around and violates them that apparently makes her extra honest and honorable.
Jay Leno is a staff writer for The Tonight Show. He’s a WGA member, and in that capacity, as a Tonight Show writer, he’s ON STRIKE. As a writer on strike, HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE FOR THE TONIGHT SHOW anymore that the rest of us are allowed to write for our employers, whether or not they’re in production (for example, soaps are still churning out episodes, but WGA members are not allowed to write for them). How hard is this to understand? He is allowed to ad-lib as a host, interview guests or audience members, but he is not allowed to write. Just like the rest of us. Just like the rest of us, he signed an agreement that he would abide by this provision in the event of a strike authorized by the membership, now he’s violating it. Now, is there any justification for this behavior besides “I hate unions anyway and who cares Jay makes me laugh!” Even if you hate unions, it’s okay to go back on your word now?
Dear indie producer,
Just to clarify, this strike isn’t about writers’ minimum payments, but residuals. And I don’t find the MBA (the WGA contract) arcane in the least, especially the short passages pertaining to independent works. Might I ask what it is you’re an independent producer of?
Finally, there’s nothing particularly less “American” about collective bargaining than “starting your own production company.” Nothing more American about it, either. Not sure I get your point here.
By the way, I found Jay to be funnier than Dave last night as well. But it is not correct to say he didn’t have the benefit of written material.
Wrong. Unions BUILT America. Corporate greed is destroying it. Screw you Jay.
While there’s a lot of people going hungry and probably people going under cuz they can’t write, the WGA recognizes that this age of DVD box set sales and internet TV isn’t just a blip on the map. By striking, (and unfortunately preventing many, many other writers working in their chosen profession until the strike ends), they’re ensuring that the standard of compensation for generations of workers is adjusted fairly. Just like the people that cursed the laborers who striked to reduce the workweek to 40-hours instead of a 60 (or more one) because they were out of work at the time had little foresight. On behalf of the non-WGA writers who won’t scab … it’s hard to have foresight when you’re going hungry and the bank’s foreclosing on your home because you can’t keep up payments, yes … that sucks. A union’s strike pay isn’t much to live on. I find it hard to beleive that any writers, save for the big name ones, live anything resembling a jetset lifestyle. I’m sure most of them are hurting financially and hope that their compatriots will show a little solidarity on this one.
As far as Jay doing his own writing … those are murky waters. Still, I lean towards thinking he’s entitled to say what he wants to say on his show, even if he committed his own ideas to paper beforehand. Wish I’d seen the show … maybe I’ll go watch his monologue on Youtube.
The WGA writers arrogance about the Drudge “dummies” is telling. You WGA guys are paid, ultimately, by the middlebrow Americans you so clearly despise. That’s ugly. It’s also stupid. You may end up busting your own union and at working at Starbucks if you keep it up. Trust me, there are LOTS of non WGA writers out here who would love a crack at your jobs.
Maybe the other 160 staff members on Jay’s show should strike. If all of Hollywood was unionized and they all struck in solidarity with the writers, this would have been over long ago. To all the union bashers: Suppose someone comes in to where you work tomorrow and says they’ll do your job for less than you. Would you think it’s fair for you’re boss to say, “either work for less money than this guy’s asking for, or leave?” Just because a scab is willing to work cheap doesn’t mean the WGA writers are asking for too much. Mexicans are willing to risk their lives to come here and work for next to nothing.
I have a feeling most of the anti-union comments are coming from people living fairly comfortably, who’ve deluded themselves into believing they got to where they are solely on their own through all their hard work and dedication. Every one of us has benefited from unions whether you’ve ever been a member or not (I currently am not, but most of my industry is – so indirectly, unions have determined the wage that I’m paid.) Free market capitalism is the greatest form of society ever developed, but when it’s completely unrestricted it just becomes a race to the bottom. We can ALL be replaced tomorrow, there are billions of Chinese and Indians waiting to do your job, probably better than you.
I’m watching Leno as I type this email. As a 15 year talk show and sitcom veteran, I’m telling you Jay Leno did not write tonight’s monologue by himself. Period. No ifs. No ands. No buts. Case closed. The truth will come out. Stay tuned.
Those nasty guild writers wanting MORE ? How dare they ! Who do they think they are…Jeffrey R. Immelt, President of G.E., who owns N.B.C., and just happens to make $3.4m a year, plus stock option and performance bonus.
My respect for Jay is waning. I’m sure there were more cars in his vast personal collection he could of driven for awhile longer. Or, he could of sent Mavis, his wife, to work for awhile if he got tight for cash. I know one thing, if this turns out badly for fellow union brothers and sisters in California…I’m unplugging the T.V., period. Let them both (Jay & Dav) put their shtick on the El Jazerra Network, and see if the gig pays as well.
Pissed-off-in-Canada
I don’t think it is any surprise that Leno beat Letterman in the ratings. He has done that consistently for many many years and is the better comedian & performer. The ratings reflect that. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to be as good as he was last night doing it all on his own.
He did technically break the WGA rules by doing the monologue.
However, let’s look at this practically (I see most people posting here have decided to take a different approach)
1> Leno was forced back on the air due to the Letterman deal. He had no choice. If Letterman comes back on the air with the WGA’s blessing Leno has to come back with or without the WGA supporting him. He has to protect his show. Viewers WILL start turning to Letterman if he’s the only one on. The risk that those viewers will stay with Letterman when the strike is settled is simply too great for Leno to bear.
2> The WGA can not do anything about this situation. Leno continues to pay lip service to support their cause. If the WGA takes any type of punitive action against Leno they will pay dearly in the public sphere. Leno is a beloved household name in America and one of the most well liked celebrities in the world. Penalizing him for doing his job while he continues to support their cause could be a PR nightmare.
- I am not a WGA member
- I believe what the WGA is asking for is fair
- I did stumble on to this page from the Drudge report!
I love how people can blame the union. Just shows their lack of knowledge. All these union workers want is a piece of the sales they haven’t been able to touch. I believe they are due at least a small portion of it. In no way will that break anyones bank.
People blame the unions, guess what you lose your job or part of your benefits package with no say or representation with management see what side you will be on then.
This series of events show clearly that:
1. Jay Leno has talent and heart
2. The WGA has neither
3. Dave is smarter than CBS and WGA put together.
4. Conan O’Brien expends all his talent when
he jumps up and down.
5. Any union that acts to prevent a member from
working FOR HIMSELF deserves to be busted.
6. Jay may not own his show, but he “owns”
late night TV.
Anyone who thinks Leno is writing his own monologues is naive. He employs what they call in the trade “faxers,” guys who fax in jokes and are paid a hundred bucks if they get one on the air—In other words, scabs.
Reading through the comments has left me feeling sick. Ignorance, short-sightedness, self-interest, and in most cases, just a simple, pure, and stubborn lack of willingness to shed light on the subject; to broaden the public’s appreciation of what lies at the heart of this issue.
I am both a writer and a director – a member of the WGA and the DGA; I am also a producer – so I can appreciate both sides of the issue, and believe me, it goes way beyond Jay, NBC, CBS, or any of the major studios. The “medium” has changed, and along with that change, a basic re-adjustment of how intellectual rights are recognized must accompany it. If it takes a strike to get the attention of the public, then so be it.
By the way, the DGA begins negotiations in a few days.
To All Who Are Saying They “Hate Unions:”
If we did not have unions, all Americans would be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means no resting, no breaks, no sleep and no seeing or spending time with your loved ones. Your entire life would be on the job with slave-wages every week. That’s IF the boss pays you at all. Leave it up to them and you wouldn’t get a dime for your 24/7 hard work.
isnt it odd that we pay leno and letterman to be funny and they cant….they’re stand up comics, and for both to say they are nothing without their writers is absurd..hire someone who can actually do the job…its obvious the WGA made the “interim agreement” with letterman to publicize and further their cause to the viewers, who dont really know the strike is still on..and probably dont really care. the WGA needs new leadership.
Jay Leno is in a unique position of power here. Even if he did violate union rules, he is not going to lose his job because of it. Besides he is scheduled to hand over the Tonight Show in 2009. The WGA unfortunately has no power except to eject Jay Leno from the guild and again if they do, it is not going to affect NBC’s relationship with him.
Whoever was writing the jokes for Mr. Leno’s show, and irregardless of how I feel about the union politics, I must say that the writing for the new shows BEFORE the writers returned from strike were far better than the jokes/writing are now that the regular writers have returned. Maybe Jay’s show should hire some of those other writers!