CNN is reporting that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to the air on January 2, 2008:
NBC: Leno, O’Brien returning to air
(CNN) December 17, 2007The new year will see new shows from Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, says NBC.
Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to air January 2, says NBC.
“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” will return with all-new episodes on January 2, according to a statement from NBC. The shows had been in reruns for two months because of the Writers Guild of America strike.
“During the 1988 writers strike, Johnny Carson reluctantly returned to ‘The Tonight Show’ without his writers after two months,” said NBC’s Executive Vice President for Late Night & Primetime Series, Rick Ludwin, in the statement. “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.”
Both Leno and O’Brien have been paying staffers’ salaries since early December, following in the footsteps of David Letterman, who has paid the employees of his “Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” since the strike began November 5. Letterman’s production company owns both his and Ferguson’s shows.
Letterman has been in negotiations to bring back his and Ferguson’s shows, according to an article in The New York Times Sunday.
The New York Post states that as of Sunday, it was unclear whether the writers would return as well, but that if they do not, the “shows would likely be turned over to celebrity interviews, banter with audiences and possibly more than one musical act a night, according to TV industry sources.”
Let’s see where this story goes. Stay tuned.
EDIT: Just after I hit ‘post,’ CNN updated its story to include this:
Both shows will return without their writers, The Associated Press reported, leading to conjecture over what form the programs will take. In recent years, late-night talk shows have been as much about scripted comedy routines as talk, unlike the raconteur-driven versions of the form hosted by people such as Jack Paar.
In a statement, O’Brien acknowledged that “[a]n 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,” he said.
“I will make clear, on the program, my support for the writers,” he continued. “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.”
I just saw this on MSNBC…right before talks on the new pink Tasers. Looks like NBC is trying to upstage CBS and the Viacom people.
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I’m sorry but I am REALLY EXCITED about this! I have really missed Conan.
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I hope that Carson Daly and Ellen Degeneres are the first guests to appear on these shows because they have been put through hell for absolutely nothing. For doing the same exact thing that Leno and O’Brien are about to do.
Poor Carson Daly had a whole audience full of writers ruin his show the other day. Ellen took a lot of crap, and she’s very sensitive–she cries about puppies. And I don’t think either of these people are members of the WGA. I know Carson’s not.
And now Conan O’Brien, who IS, and Jay Leno are going to go back on air and, I imagine, will suffer no ill effects.
I think paying the staffs was the first mistake. Or at least, I think things would have gone better if we hadn’t found out about it, or if we hadn’t thought of it as “paying” them, rather than “helping to support them.” Things might not be going to hell right now.
Leno and Conan and Kimmel and all of those people are not responsible for the jobs that have been lost because of this strike. The networks are. The hosts took responsibility because they knew that they couldn’t expect the networks to do so. Oh, and also because they are millionaires (except for Kimmel, who is now bankrupt, from what I understand–when is he returning, by the way? I’m guessing he’ll hold out a little longer.) And also because, like fools, the union members and union supporters guilted them into it–instead of turning their accusative glares on the STUDIOS where they belong.
People got on Leno’s case for not paying his staff, but he doesn’t own that show, and he is not the one who fired them. THE STUDIOS are.
If, rather than paying the salaries of the people on their own staffs, they had contributed to a fund that would help to support ALL of the workers who have been screwed over by the networks because the writers are demanding what they are owed, then we might not now be facing the end of the strike and maybe the union.
These hosts are going back to save the jobs of their staffs? Which is as much as saying 1) that the studios and the networks cannot be expected to deal justly with their employees and 2) that it’s every show for itself (and if you’re not on a hit show with a wealthy host, sorry for ya!).
That’s kind of missing the point of the friggin’ strike, isn’t it?
I feel like I’ve really totally wasted every bit of time I’ve spent worrying about this strike.
I’m very upset.
But the despair is also creeping in for good, so that’ll be a relief.
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