Comments on: Late night TV returns: News from the various shows

By: Strike update: Checking in with the picketers

Strike update: Checking in with the picketers — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:35:40 +0000

[...] writers from Craig Ferguson’s show for too long now. Remember how Dave’s writers had pledged a portion of their salaries to the Strike Fund (WGAE here, WGAW here) and Actors Fund until the strike ends? Writers from The [...]

By: Ms Interpreted

Ms Interpreted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:42:05 +0000

@ auds,

Thanks. Burnout is a very real possibility for me right now, so I can only imagine how frustrated the writers and hosts must be.

By: auds

auds — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:13:39 +0000

@ Ms Interpreted…”I understand your strike-fatigue; I’m really looking forward to…fluffy and entertaining Colbert news again.”

Me, too. You’re doing a great job of steering NFZ along a sane middle course through what sometimes seems like a war zone relative to the strike, though.

Just wanted to express my appreciation.

By: auds

auds — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:08:11 +0000

@ Justin…”When I watched Leno and Conan and, honestly, didn’t notice much difference between now and when they had writers…”

I didn’t watch Conan, but I could tell a difference with Leno. He seemed to be at a loss a number of times during the show.

One of the things I loved on Letterman was his (scripted) comment relative to what people must be thinking about the show: “This crap is written?” LOL Great sense of humor.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:07:59 +0000

Thanks, Ms Interpreted. That was a different perspective I hadn’t yet heard. That makes complete sense, but I think writers are getting too much sympathy when you can almost say that the WGA is doing the same thing to other workers on television that the AMPTP is doing to the writers – withholding money. By striking, they are putting thousands of people out of work who rely on that money in many cases more so than writers. It is also taking a toll on local businesses and hurting the economy, which I think I heard was estimated at around $500 million lost. When looking back, though, this should have been settled before it even began. The AMPTP could have easily adjusted contracts to more accurately suit the times, just like every other industry in the world has to do.

Also I want to bring something up about last night’s shows. When I watched Leno and Conan and, honestly, didn’t notice much difference between now and when they had writers, it seems to me that if I WEREa writer for those shows I would be offended. I would desperately want them to crash and burn, but they most certainly did not. It just seems like that would kind of lower the importance of your job as a writer on that show in the public’s eye. TDS and TCR will be an entirely different story, though, since most of the show is scripted. I look forward to seeing how that unfolds on the 7th.

By: Fifi

Fifi — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:19:34 +0000

@ Lindsey… he did talk about it, but NBC censored it from the transcripts…

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:16:42 +0000

Umm I confused, Conan talked about the writers strike saying he fully supported it and he was hoped they get was they deserved. Also I thought Conan’s show was really good last night, he was really funny and that video they showed was really great. Also he has a beard, that’s just funny in itself.

By: Ms Interpreted

Ms Interpreted — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:55:23 +0000

@ Justin,

Believe me, I understand your strike-fatigue; I’m really looking forward to a day when I can blog about nothing but fluffy and entertaining Colbert news again.

On one point, however, I have to disagree with your characterization: the writers aren’t exactly striking for more money. As I understand it, writers currently get $20,000 in residuals when a show they’ve penned gets rebroadcast on the air. They get $0 when the show is legitimately “rebroadcast” on the internet. The studios are moving more and more to a business model that only rebroadcasts on the internet, which means that writers who have worked on shows in the past are facing a sizable pay cut.

I think the numbers are a little different for the Comedy Central writers (at the least) because of the way Comedy Central reruns their shows on the following day, but that’s what the real dispute over new media is; it’s not an additional revenue stream for the writers, but the substitution of where their pay originates from (network rebroadcasts to internet streams).

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:41:17 +0000

I tivo’d and watched all of the late night shows and all seemed fine and equally entertaining. To be honest, I am so sick of hearing about the strike. I was behind all the writers 100% when it started, but now I’ve just gotten to a point where I am so tired of hearing about it and all the complaining on BOTH sides. I wish it would just end (and not necessarily because I miss new shows). I also feel so sorry for the people who are not writers and have lost or may soon lose their jobs. Where is their support? Most of them make significantly less than the writers (lighting, make-up, assistants, etc.) and are being put out of work because writers want MORE money. Not that their demands are selfish, they deserve what they have worked for, but it almost casts them in a selfish light when you look at it that way. It’s not like their striking for safety or working conditions or anything pertinent like that, it’s just for more money.

By: Fifi

Fifi — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:02:10 +0000

I watched most of Letterman and Conan and during the commercials I switched to Leno and Craig. I think it’s horrible that NBC censored Conan’s transcript, but I felt that Conan himself was funny. I loved his uncomfortable improvs…per usual. He was actually my favorite of the four lastnight. I especially loved that little tour of his day (using a real guitar in “Rock Band” was hilarious), his beard, and his hint that because his show was so bad, that the strike would be solved Thursday. I loved Dave’s Top 10…especially that TDS writer who needed a girlfriend (which they showed him during an interlude later in the show in a room full of those girls from the chorus line).