The first ripple effects of the Hollywood writers’ strike are about to reach your television.
NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers, CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and Real Time With Bill Maher will all go dark this week in solidarity with the strike and will not air new episodes, TVLine has confirmed. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show will also go dark, according to a report from Deadline. Reruns of the network late night shows will air for the time being.
The Tonight Show‘s Fallon himself told Variety on Monday that if a strike happened: “Yeah, I think we’ll go dark. Whatever I can do to support the guild. I’m actually in the Writers Guild as well. I couldn’t do the show without them, and I support my whole staff.”
In addition, this week’s Saturday Night Live, which was to be hosted by alum Pete Davidson, is expected to be postponed, although a final decision on that will come later this week.
The Writers Guild of America officially went on strike Tuesday after talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down despite months of negotiation. The WGA’s current agreement with the AMPTP, which represents the nine largest studios in Hollywood, expired on May 1. Among their demands, writers are seeking an acknowledgment of, and correcting for, the way that streaming has affected the work, compensation and working conditions of writers.
In anticipation of a possible strike, some shows (including NBC’s Quantum Leap and La Brea) rolled production on the current season right into the next, so as to bank episodes to offset any lull in output.
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You mean we won’t get to hear that AH Colbert blather on, and dump on everyone?
So he thinks Colbert is an AH that blathers on and on, which means Mr. Kelly watches him despite this degree of antipathy. I guess someone should teach Mr. Kelly how to change the channel or to get off his sofa or poor Mr. Kelly’s suffering will go on and on.
Exactly.
Sounds to me that the brilliant Stephen Colbert regularly ‘hits a bit too close to home’ for poor, put upon Mr. Kelly.
No counter-argument so you just insult the guy. Great work! You should write for late night TV.
The OP off-topic swipe at Colbert didn’t necessitate a “counter-argument,” as no argument relevant to the article was proffered. Buddy boy decided to be a troll on the internet, and was promptly slapped down. You do him no favor by rushing to his defense with some flaccid defense. Let him take the L and learn from it.
I hope that things get better for you Stacy!
There’s no need to pretend like the option to not hear what he says hasn’t always existed, at least for those who have the self control not to hate watch his show, intentionally click on any videos he’s in, etc.
But not Gutfeld?
That’d be a shock. He doesn’t need writers to be horribly unfunny and borderline lethargic. He’s fine all his own.
Gutfield gets his writers from the MyPillow factory sweatshop so he should be fine to keep entertaining his 90 + year old base for the foreseeable future.
Back during the last strike, it resulted in some good Conan episodes.
Great content AND he paid his employees impacted by the strike. Conan was great!
I loved his remotes around the office, you could tell everyone had a blast working there, they all loved to give him a hard time.
While writers aren’t needed for the interview part, it feels weird to cancel the whole show over the monologue and sketchs parts. It’s unfair for guests in NY who are still welcomed at Kelly Ripa’s morning show.
Expect Fall 2023 to look like Covid-era Fall 2020: New Series/Episodes already in the can + Unscripted shows (reality, games, news mags) + OTT shows (from Hulu/Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+) + canadian/british/aussie imports.
It depends on the network. NBC in particular had Quantum Leap, Night Court, and a short season of La Brea go into production on seasons 2 (3 for La Brea) early as they were able to do so. And they have new series Found, The Irrational, and the comedy with Jon Cryer and Donald Faison. Combined with Voice, football, and Dateline, the biggest impact outside of late night/SNL for them will be the Dick Wolf series which were filming their current seasons recently and not able to do much (if anything) ahead. On a related note for Peacock, I believe Days is farther ahead than the other soaps. FOX has a couple advantages with animation being ahead, I wonder if they’ll spread it out more with Grimsburg and Krapopoplis in the mix, and they have at least one more season of Smackdown (though they might lose it for the next season if they don’t renegotiate a deal). CBS has Tracker and a couple things like Survivor but not a whole lot else that I know about. ABC will likely rely heavy on Bachelor franchise (maybe finally The Golden Bachelor senior version, Bachelor in Paradise) and their game shows (Holey Moley has yet to be scheduled or officially announced as renewed but has reportedly filmed/been filming this spring). CW will have some acquisitions anyway, like the one from Canada with Chad Michael Murray that was just announced, and FBoy Island. Still hoping they renew more but what they renew might not be til midseason then.
Add Dancing with the Stars to the ABC bit
Damn, no Jimmie Fallon…said no one ever!
Hello me, I am that person! 👋
Just give the writers what they’re asking for. We can pay ceos and actors MILLIONS of dollars a year/ but can’t afford to pay writers a living wage? It doesn’t make sense.
How is it possible that SNL could go forward this week? Are some of the writers non-union? Is that tentative decision based on whether the strike lasts throughout the week?
Good question. I suppose they could use previously-cut sketches, but none of those would have been written with Pete in mind. And what of Update?
They’ll probably cancel before too much longer and are just loath to accept their fate just yet.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Jost and Che just wing it, riffing headlines cold then and there. No telling if the jokes would be good but it would be funny watching them try to keep it on the rails.
Jost and Che are WGA members. Appearing on the show, even ad-libbing, would amount to being scabs.
Yes, most likely they are waiting until later in the week when it would be too late to write the show. The same with John Oliver and Bill Maher. There was probably writing done on Monday though no enough for an entire show.
If the strike was settled today or tomorrow — even Thursday, I would guess — they could pull a show together. I mean how much worse could it be if they only worked on it for a couple of days.
The current 8 to 10 episode seasons of streaming shows is tough on writers who formerly got paid for 13 to 22 episodes a season. In addition, I believe there are rules in place that prevent them from writing for another show while they are under contract.
Many shows in the UK have short seasons (they call them ‘series X’), typically 6 episodes of 52 minutes. To the viewer, it’s short and sweet, action-packed, no filler episodes, and for the writer staff, they can work on other shows, have plenty of time for topic research and deliver good quality episodes and/or well developed characters.
Quality over quantity, better paycheck?
I imagine the Tony Awards will get cancelled or postponed if the strike goes through June.
If the Tony Awards show was nothing but scenes from musicals and acceptance speeches, it would be pretty good.
Last Week Tonight will probably also go dark during the strike. John Oliver ended his latest episode without telling viewers he’ll be back next week nor how long their hiatus will be. Probably a contingency when they taped it in case talks broke down.
Very likely, he was on The Daily Show IIRC during the last one and they did some improv shows as “A Daily Show” rather than “The Daily Show” but seeing as his show is solo it’s unlikely he’ll carry on.
I don’t know if you remember, but he was the only correspondent on the show with John Stewart because he had a work visa at the time, so he couldn’t strike.
I’ll definitely miss watching my favorite Stephen Colbert every weeknight as he hilariously (and justifiably) lambasts tRump, MAGA and the other far right loonies! His monologues are always the very best on television.
Yeah Colbert’s writing is far and away the best thing on late night. I switch back and forth between him, and Fallon for when I just need some goofy apolitical tomfoolery.
What are the odds the delayed decisions of some shows are informed by any legit reason for hope, versus just optimistic dilly-dallying?
If this means less Pete Davidson, then count me in! Who keeps on inviting him to things, like the Met Gala, anyway?
Everyone, this is good – no, scratch that – this is GREAT news! Turn off your TVs, put away your phones, and do something new and more constructive with your time. Read a book, meditate, spend some quiet time with a loved one. If you’re the type to record it and watch it the next day, go for a walk or a run instead. Clean your house. Watching hostile people just makes you more hostile and that isn’t good. Seriously.
Be careful getting off your high horse.
EXACTLY…has anyone told her that she’s posting on a TV website?? 🤦♀️
Speaking of hostile…What’s your excuse?
I don’t care what anyone else says, I am going to miss all my late night shows. They are my favorite part of the day. It sucks for Dulce Sloan on the daily show since she only got 1 day. And John Oliver too. But mostly I feel sad for the writers and everyone else on these shows who won’t get paid during this time when they are off the air.
I guess James Corden got out just in time!
Count me in the chorus of giving the writers what they are asking for. I hope all of this gets resolved soon and doesn’t last any longer than it needs to. 😔🙏