Unlike his late-night rivals, when David Letterman returns to the airwaves on Wednesday night he’ll do so with a band of writers backing him up.
So does this mean the joke is on Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel? You’ll have to tune in to see, but as it stands now Letterman is the only late-night host who has finagled a way to get striking Writers Guild of America members back to their desks to crank out fresh material for his show.
According to executives at Letterman-owned Worldwide Pants, an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America will allow the full writing staffs for “Late Show with David Letterman” as well as “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” to return to work, even as the Hollywood writers strike drags into its eighth week.
In a statement to the media Letterman called the move a “step in the right direction,” more so because unlike his competitors at NBC and ABC Letterman had no desire to return to production without writers. Which is why execs at his company actively sought out an interim deal. The guild has been discussing agreements with several small independent producers (Worldwide Pants being one of the most notable) since talks between producers and the union broke down December 7th. According to Guild leaders, no special concessions were made for Letterman’s company. In fact, Guild leaders say Worldwide Pants execs accepted “the very same proposals that the guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on December 7th.”
So now when you turn your calendars to January you can also turn your TVs back on and see your favorite late-night hosts. NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” as well as ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return Wednesday night without benefit of their writing teams. While Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert” plan to return writer-less on Monday, January 7th.
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