Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien coming back next year !
By fred | December 17, 2007
There were rumors for a few days now that some late night shows might be coming back on the air starting next year, whether the strike was resolved by then or not. With Monday came official announcements confirming that NBC’s two main late night shows will indeed be back on the air, starting January 2nd.
As I discussed earlier, rumors were out all weekend that this could happen, without writers approval or support. This was obviously a tough decision to make for both Leno & O’Brien, who - after Leno got a little pressured to do so as well - have both supported the writers ever since the strike started, as well as paid out of their own pockets non-writing staff on their shows.
And this is the main motive for their decisions : non-writing staff. As Rick Ludwin executive vice president, late night and primetime series for NBC, said : “Both Jay and Conan have supported their writers during the first two months of this WGA strike and will continue to support them. However, there are hundreds of people who will be able to return to work as a result of Jay’s and Conan’s decision.”
The decisions weren’t easy, especially for Conan who started first as a writer. In his statement he addresses this issues :
For the past seven weeks of the writers’ strike, I have been and continue to be an ardent supporter of the WGA and their cause. My career in television started as a WGA member and my subsequent career as a performer has only been possible because of the creativity and integrity of my writing staff. Since the strike began, I have stayed off the air in support of the striking writers while, at the same time, doing everything I could to take care of the 80 non-writing staff members on Late Night.
Unfortunately, now with the New Year upon us, I am left with a difficult decision. Either go back to work and keep my staff employed or stay dark and allow 80 people, many of whom have worked for me for fourteen years, to lose their jobs. If my show were entirely scripted I would have no choice. But the truth is that shows like mine are hybrids, with both written and non-written content. An unwritten version of Late Night, though not desirable, is possible – and no one has to be fired.So, it is only after a great deal of thought that I have decided to go back on the air on January 2nd. I will make clear, on the program, my support for the writers and I’ll do the best version of Late Night I can under the circumstances. Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible. My sincerest hope is that all of my writers are back soon, working under a contract that provides them everything they deserve.
Quite obviously Leno is in very much the same situation :
This has been a very difficult six weeks for everybody affected by the writers strike. I was, like most people, hoping for a quick resolution when this began. I remained positive during the talks and while they were still at the table discussing a solution ‘The Tonight Show’ remained dark in support of our writing staff. Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work. We fully support our writers and I think they understand my decision.
No this is obvious to get mixed reactions. I mean, while I do understand they’re decisions and I’m all for people not loosing their jobs, this also pretty much ends up to being the same as Carson Daly did a little earlier, and that wasn’t well perceived by the WGA. (And by the way, Daly is not a member of the WGA.)
Don’t think that this will be a real benefit for NBC, because while fresh episodes are likely to do better in ratings (especially at first), without writers shows will most definitely not look or feel the same, but amputated of a great part of themselves. Adding to that the fact that another part of such shows is interview, but many celebrities are likely to refuse to appear on those shows - as it means crossing picket lines, which many refuses to do as they support the writers.
There hasn’t been no detailed explanations or even hints of what the show will look like, because while it’s no secret that over time the shows evolved and were not fully relying on writers’ work, comedy sketches were for a good part of their content.
As I explained this weekend, this is when Letterman comes in. There still hasn’t been any announcement yet but Letterman, and his company - Worldwide Pants Chief - is working with the WGA to go back on the air, but with WGA’s support & blessing, and with their writers ! Executive producer Rob Burnett recently said that “it is our strong desire to be back on the air with our writers, and we hope that will happen as soon as possible“.
It goes without saying that this would be a completely different situation, as both Letterman and Ferguson’s shows - both owned by Worldwide Pants - would then be able to be fully back on the air, with writers, and without any reason for celebrities not to go there either.
While I understand, I do have pretty mixed feeling about Leno & Conan’s shows being back on, but at least I hope they do not intend to try to have them look as “normal” as possible. As I said on my last post on this issue, I would love nothing more for them to use their on-air time for nothing but explaining the strike, the writers’ demands and the AMPTP lies, and once Letterman will be back why not just watching his show for a full hour !
I mean, it’s not like they have to do good, funny, entertaining or even watched shows to get their non-writing staff to work… not when writers’ are out picketing.
» WGA reminds Late Night hosts : no writing, at all | I Watch TV!
» Kimmel to return in January as well, Letterman still working on a deal… | I Watch TV!
» Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to cross picket lines as well ! | I Watch TV!
F Jay the douche. He is lame and steals material but gives no credit. Stole Stuttering John away from Howard Stern by offering $500,000/yr to have a stuttering, east coast accented unknown as his announcer. He could have at least had the courtesy to tell Howard too instead of making deals behind people’s backs. F JAY.