How will you weather the writers' strike? - Finally Over!

[Hammer]

From AP

LOS ANGELES — Film and TV writers who've been on strike for nearly a month are mulling a new contract offer from Hollywood studios.

Producers said the offer they presented Thursday, dubbed the "New Economic Partnership," would pay writers millions of dollars extra for work shown on the Internet, a central issue in negotiations.

The writers asked for a recess in the talks until Tuesday to consider their options, but called on members to continue picketing Friday and Monday.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said it was willing to offer $130 million in extra pay over the life of the proposed three-year deal. The offer is "above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year," the alliance said in a statement.

The Writers Guild of America countered with a lengthy response, saying the producers' proposal only dealt with advertising-supported programs streamed for free and jurisdiction over shows created for the Web "and it amounts to a massive rollback."

The writers said their plan, also presented Thursday, would cost producers $151 million over three years.

"That's a little over a 3 percent increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10 percent," the statement said. "We are falling behind."

No further details of the terms were released in the first statements since both sides imposed a media blackout Monday.

The conflicting details and tone of the statements is confusing, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer who served in the 1990s as an associate counsel for the writers guild.

"None of this computes," he said. "It's very difficult to analyze this in any rigorous way."

The tone of the writers' statement seems angry, Handel said, while the producers' statement seemed more upbeat.

He said both sides should end the confusion by publishing the full details of the proposals.

Meanwhile, about 30 protesting writers converged on NBC's studios in suburban Burbank on Thursday night to rally against restarted production of the late-night show "Last Call With Carson Daly."

Several people said Daly circled the lot before entering a gate with no pickets.

"Last Call" was the first late-night show to resume production since the strike began on Nov. 5. The walkout has also idled production on many scripted television series.

Daly has defended the move, saying he still supports the writers but did not want to see all 75 members of his staff and crew lose their jobs because of the work stoppage.

Conan O'Brien has promised to cover the salaries of about 75 nonstriking "Late Night" staffers next week, an NBC spokeswoman said Thursday.

"He's paying the staffers' salaries out of his own pocket," Rebecca Marks said.

Through this week, NBC had been covering the salaries of its nonwriting staffers, along with those of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Last Call," which are also in reruns.

But the network thus far has not said whether it intends to continue paying employees of any show on hiatus. All three programs are owned by Universal Media Studios, which, like NBC, is owned by General Electric.

About two weeks ago, staffers of CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" were promised continued payment at least through December by Letterman, whose production company, Worldwide Pants, owns both shows. They continue in reruns.

Staffers for "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" continue to be paid by ABC, according to a network spokesperson.

As news of the producers' new offer went around, the protesters gave their initial impressions.

"It's sad that the producers aren't coming forward with a real offer," said David Grae, a writer for "Gilmore Girls."

David Kidd, a screenwriter from Glendale, said he was hopeful, but not overly optimistic, about what he described as an apparent "sweet offer" from producers.

"I don't know what sweet is until I taste it," Kidd said. "Nobody wants to go in and accept a bad offer."


Since this article was written on Friday, the staffers from the Tonight Show have been laid off and Letterman and Conan O'Brien will be covering the salaries of the non-writing staffers of their shows, though it is unclear how long Conan is paying salaries. I've seen conflicting articles which say he is paying for a week and others which say he is paying for the month of December. Letterman is paying the non-writing staffers of his show and The Late, Late Show (which is also part of his production company) through the month of December.

[EPCOT84]

How will you weather the writers' strike?

Read and chat on Intercot ?

[RedheadWriter]

I am starting to explore all the channels I receive now that I have digital cable (perk of my new job is I get free digital cable, including premium channels). Where has BBC America been all my life? The shows on there are great guilty pleasures! I may become addicted to Hotel Babylon...

I love everything on BBC America! Hotel Babylon is awesome and I love to watch that yummy Gordon Ramsay in his Nightmare Kitchens.

[caryrae]

When the strike is over, when will new episodes start coming back on TV?

[2Epcot]

When the strike is over, when will new episodes start coming back on TV?

Late night shows like Conan, Letterman, and Leno will start almost immediately, assuming the staff hasn't been fired, and or they can get them back quickly. Primetime shows will take longer. TV shows that have already been shot, but lost their writer/showrunner may need to just finish editing some episodes, and those could air very quickly.

Many other shows will have to start shooting new episodes, and it will be probably several weeks before they start airing. Even before that, new scripts would have to be written, though I'm sure writers will be getting a lot of overtime, to turn scripts out as quick as possible. The networks will want to be able to show at least several new episodes in a row once the shows come back, so I wouldn't expect new sitcoms and dramas until at least a month after the strike ends.

If there are any mid-season replacement shows sitting on the shelf, I'm sure those are going to start showing up very soon.

[Scar]

... though I'm sure writers will be getting a lot of overtime, to turn scripts out as quick as possible.

If there are any mid-season replacement shows sitting on the shelf, I'm sure those are going to start showing up very soon.

Excellent. Sounds like some real high quality stuff right off the bat.

[Stich8818]

For my wife and I we are doing the movie thing. We have not seen a lot of movies latley and need to seriously catch up on them. So last night I went to the local library and got a bunch..like 10. So we can finally catch up on them. I mean we still have a few shows that are on that we still can watch...Survivour..and all the TLC shows and whatnot but movies will be the theme going forward for us.

[ldn324]

We don't watch much network TV so we aren't terribly affected. Really, the only shows we are missing right now are The Office, ER and The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart.

I kind of thought it was funny that Carson Daily crossed the picket line because out of all of the talk show hosts, he's probably the one that needs a writer the most!

[NJDad]

Excellent. Sounds like some real high quality stuff right off the bat.

There have been a few shows that debuted in midseason that have gone on to be appealing to enough people to stick around for a bit.

Here's some:

Airwolf
All in the Family
Batman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Coach
Dallas
Dawson's Creek
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
Dynasty
Eight Is Enough
Emergency!
Grey's Anatomy
Happy Days
Hill Street Blues
The Incredible Hulk
It Takes a Thief
The Jeffersons
Just Shoot Me!
Kate & Allie
King of the Hill
Knots Landing
Laverne & Shirley
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... with Children
Medium
Moesha
My Wife and Kids
Nash Bridges
Night Court
Perfect Strangers
Quantum Leap
Rules of Engagement
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The Office (US version)
The Practice
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Unit
The Wonder Years
3rd Rock from the Sun
Three's Company
Unhappily Ever After
Walker, Texas Ranger

I thought Seinfeld was one too, but it was more of a 'late season replacement'.

[Hammer]

Leno, O'Brien Return Without Writers

By DAVID BAUDER, AP
Tue Dec 18, 8:54 AM EST
NBC's two late-night franchises are coming back. Will the laughs come with them? Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien plan a Jan. 2 return with fresh episodes, ending two months of reruns brought on by the writers' strike, the network said Monday. But until the strike is settled, the hosts will be on their own.

While late night TV will forge ahead without joke writers, they won't be far from anyone's mind.

"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," O'Brien said in a written statement. "Of course, my show will not be as good. In fact, in moments it may very well be terrible."

Both NBC hosts indicated it was a torturous decision for them to come back, torn by their support for the writers and knowledge that several dozen other staff members would be laid off if the shows remained dark. Some of the late-night stars covered employees' salaries during the holiday season.

Leno said that with talks breaking down and no further negotiations scheduled, he felt it was his responsibility to get his 100 non-writing staff members back to work.

Mike Sweeney, chief of the "Late Night" staff of 14 writers, said "we all know what a difficult position Conan is in. He's been incredibly supportive of us."

Sweeney said he didn't want to comment on his boss's decision to come back without the writers. The "Tonight" show's chief writer, walking the picket line in Burbank, Calif., was similarly reluctant to criticize his boss's decision.

"I'm happy that he's been able to hold out this long," said Joe Madeiros. "He's not the only one. There's a lot of pressure on late-night hosts.

Marvin Silbermintz, who has been writing for Leno since 1987, said a "quality" monologue will be tough to produce without writers, but he's confident Leno can carry the show on his own.

"Jay traveled the country doing comedy clubs for years, working the audience. He warms up every show talking to people about what they do, where they're from," he said.

In a statement, the guild chided NBC.

"NBC forcing Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien back on the air without writers is not going to provide the quality entertainment that the public deserves. The only solution to the strike is a negotiated settlement of the issues," either by the studio alliance or individual companies, the guild said.

The strike has left the nation's public discourse without its laugh track as the baseball steroids scandal spread, pop stars Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears continued to spiral out of control, and the presidential campaign heated up in anticipation of the first votes.

NBC's announcement could make it easier for other programs like Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" or "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on ABC to return. Also, the WGA is talking about a separate deal with David Letterman's production company so his CBS show can return with its writers.

The development could cut both ways for the union. Suspended late-night programming has been the most visible sign of the strike for the viewing public, and bringing the shows back could remove a significant piece of leverage. At the same time, the hosts could come back and pepper their network bosses with ridicule in support of the writers' cause.

That's what Johnny Carson did in 1988, when he similarly returned to the air after two months off during a writers' strike then. Carson worked without writers for three weeks, then reached a separate deal with the union to bring his staff back.

"We've been taking shots at NBC for 15 years," noted Jeff Ross, "Late Night" executive producer.

The networks have been suffering in the ratings without the live programming, giving ABC's "Nightline" its biggest boost since the days of Ted Koppel.

Both Ross and Debbie Vickers, executive producer of "Tonight," said they are beginning to contemplate how their shows will be different. It's not even clear whether Leno will open the show with a traditional monologue, Vickers said, although she noted that Carson kept that element even without his joke writers by writing his own.

But Carson was not a guild member, whereas Leno and O'Brien are. For that and other practical reasons, they may be forced to return to an old-fashioned notion of a talk show by spending more time with guests. In recent years, the late-night programs have relied much more heavily on prepared comedy bits.

"There are a lot of ways we can go with this," Ross said. "Now we have to be serious and figure it out."

If Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company strikes a separate deal, it raises the prospect of a Letterman show with its writers competing for a prolonged period against Leno without writers. It could give Letterman a competitive edge in a time slot where Leno has dominated in the ratings for the past decade.

A similar imbalance is possible an hour later: Worldwide Pants owns Craig Ferguson's CBS talk show that airs directly opposite O'Brien.

"It certainly isn't our first choice to go against them with writers," Vickers said. "But this is beyond our control."

With Kimmel's show ultimately controlled by the Walt Disney Co. and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" by Viacom Inc., it's far less likely they would strike separate deals with writers.

Both the NBC show executives said that many potential guests privately expressed a reluctance to cross picket lines to appear. But as the strike has continued, that opposition is melting, they said. Neither of the programs has announced any bookings for their returns.

On Monday, the writers guild said it would meet with the Directors Guild of America to discuss new media and DGA studies on the issue. The directors guild has said it could begin its own contract talks with the alliance as early as January, which could increase pressure on the writers to reach a deal.

___

AP Television Writer Lynn Elber and Raquel Maria Dillon in Burbank, Calif., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Hammer]

I fully expect that both Leno and Conan will be taking shots at the Studios in the things they write, much like Johnny Carson did in 1988. It may help to bring about the pressure for the sides to work out a deal. While some of the rank and file don't understand, I think the majority of union management understands the position that both hosts have been placed by the networks. I don't remember Johnny Carson getting a lot of flak back in 1988.

[NotaGeek]

The strike is officially killing my evening relaxation!

[pink]

Just to keep in mind all "reality shows" are either fully or somewhat scripted by writers.

[mjaclyn]

I really hope the strike ends soon because there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ON! I tried to get into that new gameshow 'Duel' but it was so boring! I used to have at least one show I liked to watch per night and now the only night I have something to watch is Wednesday.

[2Epcot]

Worldwide Pants inks WGA deal
Letterman, Ferguson to return with scribes


By JOSEF ADALIAN

BAGHDAD -- The WGA and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants have reached an agreement that will allow "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" to return to the air next week (January 2nd) with their writers.

Letterman-produced CBS shows will return Wednesday, the same day Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel get back to work--without their writers.

Worldwide Pants CEO Rob Burnett said it wasn't tough to make a deal with the WGA. The pact was negotiated by Burnett, longtime Letterman attorneys Jim Jackoway and Alan Wertheimer and WGA leaders including WGA West prexy Patric Verrone and exec director David Young.

"I found the guild straightforward and easy to deal with," he told Daily Variety. "It was a big decision so it took an appropriate amount of time."

The WGA issued a statement Friday confirming the agreement, citing the deal as proof that its demands aren't unreasonable.

"This is a comprehensive agreement that addresses the issues important to writers, particularly new media," the Guild said. "Worldwide Pants has accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on December 7. Today's agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly."

Of course, it helped that Worldwide Pants is a dramatically smaller company than any of the members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and doesn't have nearly as much at stake. Indeed, Letterman is uniquely situated as the 100% owner of his shows -- something even primetime's top players can't claim.

AMPTP discounted the signficance of the deal covering about three dozen scribes in the larger picture of the strike that has idled thousands of working WGA members.

"While it is good news for viewers that the jokes will be back on the late night shows, the biggest joke of all appears to be the one the WGA's organizers are pulling on working writers," the AMPTP said in a statement. "The people in charge at WGA have insisted on increasing their own power by prevailing on jurisdictional issues such as reality, animation and sympathy strikes. Yet today the WGA made an interim agreement to send writers back to work that by definition could not have achieved these jurisdictional goals -- gains that would at a minimum require the company making an agreement to actually produce reality and animation programming."

AMPTP also said that guild was "misrepresenting" Worldwide Pants' status as an AMPTP member, though the production banner's Worldwide Trousers Inc. corporate entity was included on the list of struck companies posted on the WGA West's website.

Moreover, a deal that allows CBS' latenight block to return also affords the guild a way to turn up the pressure on rival nets, particularly NBC. Peacock's profitable latenighters, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" could be at a competitive advantage without writers, and if A-list SAG members don't have to cross picket lines to do Letterman and Ferguson's shows.

Worldwide Pants reached out to the WGA for an interim agreement shortly after the strike began on Nov. 5. The guild only recently engaged in talks with the company, after making the strategic decision to seek individual talks with AMPTP members. And even then, it had been thought that WWP wouldn't be able to cut a deal because CBS controls the new media rights to Letterman's shows. However, as the studio that produces the shows, WWP "is responsible for paying residuals to our writers" for Internet use of said shows, Burnett said.

CBS drew just such a distinction in a statement it issued Friday night.

"CBS controls the Internet exploitation rights for both programs, and will comply with any eventual negotiated agreement between the AMPTP and the WGA," it said.

Guild said that WWP agreed to the new media terms it was preparing to offer as a counter-proposal to the majors on Dec. 7, the day the most recent round of negotiations broke down. The specifics of the new media residual formulas that WWP agreed to were not immediately clear late Friday, nor was it clear whether the WWP included a "favored nations" clause that would allow the company to alter its contract should the WGA cut a contract deal at more favorable terms with the major studios.

WGA reps did not immediately respond to requests for more detailed info about the new media formula. In its previous counterproposal to the majors, the guild was understood to have proposed a residual for Internet streaming of full-length episodes that would be based on a percentage of the existing broadcast minimum, to be paid again after every 100,000 views of an episode. The AMPTP's most recent proposal, by contrast, offered a percentage-based residual for a year's worth of web streaming that worked out to about $250 for an hourlong episode.

It's understood that Worldwide Pants even agreed to the guild's points on jurisdiction for reality and animation production - which have been lightning rods in the guild's talks with studios. For Worldwide Pants, that's likely to be a negligible commitment given its lack of activity in the reality or animation genres to date.

Burnett said he would leave it to the WGA to discuss deal specifics.

"In the broad strokes, I will say that Worldwide Pants has always been a very writer-friendly company," Burnett said. "We had no problem agreeing to the demands the WGA has on the time."

WGA's decision to strike a deal with Letterman no doubt irked the hosts of the other latenight shows set to return to work in January, all of whom are also WGA members. However, unlike Letterman, hosts such as Leno, and Jon Stewart don't own their shows and therefore are at the mercy of the studios that do produce their shows.

In a letter to members, WGA leaders recognized that the deal with Letterman meant that some latenight writers would be returning to work next week, while others would remain on the picket lines. But it said the Letterman deal was a necessary part of the guild's broader bid to increase pressure on the majors by negotiating with individual companies.

"Companies who have a WGA deal and guild writers will have a clear advantage. Companies that do not will increasingly find themselves at a competitive disadvantage," the guild wrote.

WGA also made it clear that it doesn't matter that Leno and the other hosts can't negotiate their own deals like Letterman did. Their shows will now be key to the WGA's strike strategy.

"Our strike pressure will be intense and essential in directing political and SAG-member guests to Letterman and Ferguson rather than to struck talk shows," the WGA, saying picket lines in front of the NBC shows "are essential."

To underscore the notion that it's OK for stars to do Letterman but not Leno, SAG topper Alan Rosenberg issued a statement hailing the deal with Letterman's company.

"We hope this encourages all of the talk shows to follow suit and use only WGA writers," he said. "Screen Actors Guild members will be happy to appear on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' and 'Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' with union writers at work and without crossing WGA picket lines."

Burnett conceded that WWP-produced shows will now have a competitive advantage, both in booking guests and in producing funny content.

"But I'd give it up in a second if it meant everyone could come back to work," he said. "What we want is for the thousands of writers who are out of work to be back at work.

"This is really about something much bigger than these shows and the competitive advantage we obviously get," Burnett added. "This is about the strike and people on the picket lines. The Guild has been very responsible in weighing the pain of the strike versus the future well-being of the membership."

For the producers of the other shows, however, the deal was a major headache.

Guest lists for next week's original shows have been a closely-guarded secret, no doubt because producers don't want to scare off celebs from appearing on struck shows. But the WGA and SAG missives Friday will increase pressure on celebs to stay away from latenight shows not owned by Letterman.

The WGA called on Leno's Peacock employers to get back to the bargaining table.

"It's time for NBC Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers," it said.

Talks between WWP and the WGA weren't looking fruitful earlier this week. But that changed within the last 48 hours.

Before that, "We did not have any firm indication that this was going to transpire," Burnett said, though he emphasized that earlier talks between WWP and the WGA had been productive.

Burnett said he had tried to strike a deal with the WGA the moment the strike began. At the time, the Guild said it didn't think such a deal would be to its advantage.

But when the WGA announced plans to begin direct negotiations with companies, "We wanted to be the first in line," Burnett said.

Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.
Posted: Fri., Dec. 28, 2007, 1:34pm PT - Variety

[Hammer]

Late Shows return with Huckabee, Clinton

AP- A Republican, a Democrat and two bearded hosts walked into a TV studio last night... and so did Robin Williams, Bob Saget, Emeril Lagasse, Chingy, Helio Castroneves and three clean-shaven funnymen as the late-night TV universe tried to right itself two months into the writers strike.

The results Wednesday night were uneven. David Letterman had reached an agreement to allow writers to work on his show; Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel returned without theirs. A fully bearded Letterman walked onstage amid dancing girls holding picket signs supporting the striking writers; Kimmel called picketers "ridiculous."

Leno delivered a monologue that included jokes he said he had crafted beforehand. Whether that violated rules of the striking Writers Guild of America ��� to which Leno belongs ��� was not immediately clear.

"We are not using outside guys," Leno said in the monologue. "We are following the guild thing ... we can write for ourselves."

The union said Wednesday it was withholding comment until it spoke to Leno about his show, which, like the other returning programs, was laden with references to the strike.

The walkout, Leno joked, "has already cost the town over half a billion dollars. Five hundred million dollars! Or as Paul McCartney calls that, `A divorce.'"

Guests on the shows included two presidential candidates ��� with the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, making a cameo appearance on Letterman's union-sanctioned "Late Show" while Republican Mike Huckabee ventured across picket lines to play bass guitar and trade jokes with Leno on "Tonight."

Letterman had the biggest celebrity guest, Robin Williams, who teased Letterman unmercifully about his beard, alternately comparing him to Gen. Robert E. Lee, a rabbi and an Iraqi mullah. Meanwhile, over on NBC, Leno segued from Huckabee to chef Emeril Lagasse and then the rapper Chingy. O'Brien welcomed Saget to pitch a new NBC show. Race car driver and "Dancing With the Stars" champ Castroneves came to Kimmel.

Craig Ferguson appeared with no guests but a full complement of writers on "The Late Late Show" on CBS; his show is produced by Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants, which struck a separate deal with the guild.

"I just want to send a message to the D-list celebrities of Hollywood," Ferguson said. "You're still welcome here."

Creative stretch marks were immediately evident on the shows without writers. O'Brien, sporting facial growth to match his red hair, showed off Christmas cards, danced on his table as his band played the Clash's "The Magnificent Seven" and tried to see how long he could spin his wedding ring on his desk. Leno took questions from his audience.

There was also plenty of free on-air promotion for the guild's cause.

"The writers are correct, by the way. I'm a writer ... I'm on the side of the writers," Leno said.

"I want to make this clear. I support their cause," O'Brien said. "These are very talented, very creative people who work extremely hard. I believe what they're asking for is fair."

Letterman brought writers on to recite a top 10 list of their strike demands. They included "complimentary tote bag with next insulting contract offer" and "Hazard pay for breaking up fights on `The View.'"

"You're watching the only show on the air that has jokes written by union writers," Letterman said. "I hear you at home thinking to yourself, `This **** is written?'"

Not all the hosts were as charitable. During his opening, Kimmel criticized WGA members picketing Leno and O'Brien: "I don't want to depart too much from the party line, but I think it's ridiculous. Jay Leno, he paid his staff while they were out. Conan did the same thing. I don't know. I just think at a certain point you back off a little bit."

Huckabee appeared on Leno despite his apparent confusion about the strike and a bid by picketers to keep him away, and Clinton taped a cameo introducing Letterman.

"Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers strike," she said. "Tonight, he's back. Oh, well, all good things come to an end."

Huckabee said he supports the writers and did not think he would be crossing a picket line, because he believed the writers had made an agreement to allow late-night shows on the air. But that's not the case with Leno. "Huckabee is a scab," read one picket sign outside Leno's Burbank, Calif., studio.

The writers guild urged Huckabee not to cross their picket line after he flew out to California. "Huckabee claims he didn't know," chief union negotiator John Bowman said. "I don't know what that means in terms of trusting him as a future president."

For fans of the late-night hosts, the controversy was secondary to seeing their favorites again. Chuck Gunther of Grand Junction, Colo., stood on a sidewalk outside of Letterman's New York studio on a frigid night hoping to get into the audience.

"When Dave is live," he said, "it's fresh and new every night ��� instead of watching reruns of `Seinfeld.'"

[Hammer]

My thoughts--

I watched/flipped between Dave's and Jay's monologues but Jay's was really weak and I switched to the Late Show. The Top Ten list was really funny and I am a Robin Williams fan, so I enjoyed him as always. I even managed to stay awake for Conan's monologue (but barely) and his monologue was better (guess he is a more talented writer than Leno).

While I want to, I will not comment on Mike Huckabee's appearance as it veers into the political arena and I said I wanted to avoid that. Need to practice what I preach...

[PirateLover]

My thoughts--

I watched/flipped between Dave's and Jay's monologues but Jay's was really weak and I switched to the Late Show.

Kind of funny, I did the opposite. I was switching between Letterman and Leno, and first of all I can't stand Letterman's beard. Second of all, for having a full staff of writers I didn't seem to be catching anything funny on his show when I would flick. I thought Jay's monologue was decent all things considered (although apparently he's in hot water because he's not supposed to even write his own monologue jokes). Politics aside I thought the Huckabee interview was fairly entertaining and I enjoyed the cooking segment with Emeril. Both Jay and Dave did a questions from the audience and Jay's actually came off as genuine and unscripted whereas Dave's was more of a skit. *I did want to add that I ended up missing the Robin Williams interview which I probably would've enjoyed.

Conan was interesting. He didn't really do a monologue. He came out, talked about the writer's strike and a bunch of close up shots with his beard. He didn't really tell any jokes like Leno did. He had a really funny skit showing what he's been doing around the office like walking around with a portable amp playing electric guitar to annoy people, playing Rock Band with others in the office.

[2Epcot]

I recorded all the late night show last night, and finally got through watching all of them. I thought David Letterman had the best show. Having writers clearly made a difference. I also enjoying the opening of the Late, Late Show that followed Dave.

Leno and Conan did a good job having to go in without writers. I thought Conan made a bigger effort, but I loved the writer's town bit that Leno did, showing all these shacks with TV show names on them. Conan was also better than I expected, though there were a few moments where they just seemed to be filling as much time as they could, such as seeing how long he could spin his ring on the desk.

Jimmy Kimmel was just OK, though showing the old skit to give residuals to the writers was pretty good.

Everyone addressed the strike, and support for the writers that were not working. I thought Dave using the striking writers of other shows for the Top Ten list was great.

Even if some are not so funny, I guess it is good that some new shows are back on, even if they are just the late night shows.

[PirateLover]

Conan was also better than I expected, though there were a few moments where they just seemed to be filling as much time as they could, such as seeing how long he could spin his ring on the desk.

I actually found the ring thing to be funny. Pure Conan!