Should you hate Conan and Leno for going back on the air ?
By fred | December 18, 2007
Now, months in the strike, such a message is still important, maybe even more important than ever. But the more time goes by the harder things get, and it is obvious that the AMPTP isn’t willing to negotiate and do their best to put an end to this horrible situation as fast a they can. And yes, it may not be the “strongest” thing to do when it comes to showing support to the cause people are fighting for, and they still say they support 100%, but this is a very gray area.
More than that, I am ready and willing to fully support their move, should they act on it. If both Conan and Leno have the balls to actually assume their position of striking writers and fully supportive of the strike hosts, only going back on in order to save jobs - and not caving in to the network’s demands, then, and only then, I will support them.
But this is what needs to happen : they should, each and every night they’re back on the air, they should show up and say something like : “Hello ! Hi. Yes, I’m back, we’re back, only we’re not. And, really, I have nothing to say. I have nothing to say, because no one wrote anything. No one wrote anything, because our writers are still missing. Our writers are missing, because they are on strike, outside right now, picketing, and I should be outside too.” Then, they should explain to the whole audience watching, at home, why writers are striking, why this is important, what they are asking, and how the AMPTP is not trying to resolve things quickly, putting all those people’s lives and jobs, as well as the future of television, in jeopardy.
And after that, they should say something like: “So pretty much, that’s were we are now. Without writers we have no monologues, we have no comedy, we have no sketches, because no one can write them. We can’t have interviews, because most people won’t cross picket lines, and should they - no wrote wrote any questions for them anyways ! And either way, I am not going to ask them to cross any picket lines, because I stand by the writers. I agreed to be back on the air to save my non-writing staff’s jobs, and to do so we need to be back on. So we are. Now, I’m gonna sit back behind my desk, and read a book. There’s nothing to see here anymore, nothing is going to happen, not before a deal is worked out, not before the strike is over, not before we get our writers back.” And they should only do so : go sit behind their desk, and do nothing.
Wait, read a book, or the paper, or even take a nap. Do nothing. Not for one minute, not as a joke, but for one hour, every day, until this strike is over. Should they do that, and only in such a case, will I fully support them, and should we - I believe - support them. Because then, they would have only done what they said : get back on the air to help and save people’s jobs. But they would still be supporting the fight.
But if they try to actually make a show, if they try to make it good, funny, entertaining, or anything, if they try to act as if nothing was wrong, if they try to get celebrities to come in for interviews, if they try to sell stuff and help the networks selling stuff, if they try to do without the writers, if they try do keep things going while the writers are right outside picketing, if they do that, then there’s scumbags - to keep things polite. Because then, they would be doing what the networks want them to, then, they would be fighting against the writers, and doing the exact opposite of what they did by going dark, and what they claimed. They would be joining forces with the AMPTP, basically.
They said they only agreed to go back on the air, to save jobs, so that’s what they should do. They didn’t agree to go back and stab the writers in the back, they didn’t agree to turn their back on what they stand for. So that’s my take on that whole situation : right now, I am willing to believe they will do the right thing, on the air.
Because I am such a fan of Conan, whom to me has the funniest of all late night shows and is the best interviewers, because I believe he’s a good guy, not to forget a writer first, I (want to) believe he will do the right thing. I (want to) believe both he and Leno will do the right thing, and I will support them then. But if they don’t, I will then join the other side, and despise them as much as they’ll deserve to be, and that’s going to be huge, like Trump-despise.
What about you ? Do you agree, or think they should have never agreed to come back regardless ?
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