Carson Daly First Late Night Host to Cross Writers Picket Lines

Carson Daly is the first late night talk show host to break ranks and cross the Writers’ Guild picket lines. Carson announced that he is going back to work to begin taping shows, which will begin airing the first week of December.

Daly is the star of NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly,” which airs at 1:35 AM ET, and is not a member of the Writers’ Guild. The only other talk show host to cross the picket lines is Ellen DeGeneres who went back to work one day after the strike began.

NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman,” CBS’ “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” with Stephen Colbert, have all ceased production during the strike and have been in reruns since the strike began on November 5th.

The Writers’ Guild of America issued a statement showing its disappointment with Daly’s decision to return to work saying, “The Writers Guild of America, East joins our colleagues of the Writers Guild of America, West in expressing our profound disappointment with Carson Daly’s decision to return to work.”

The Guild also commended the other late night talk show hosts who have supported the strikers saying, "We thank them and hope that Mr. Daly will reconsider his decision, including the soliciting of scab writers to provide material for his program."

Below is a video about Carson describing his Internet channel at CarsonDaly.tv.



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Writers' Strike - Tina Fey, Will Forte Picket - Jay Leno, David Letterman Layoff Staff

Tina Fey, star of 30 Rock, was among the celebrities seen Tuesday and Wednesday manning the picket lines along with other members of the Writers Guild of America, which is striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

The writers are striking for a share of the residuals generated by the Internet, DVDs and other media platforms.

After her stint at picketing, Fey reported for work Tuesday to resume filming her acting scenes for 30 Rock.

Also picketing in front of NBC's New York headquarters at Rockefeller Center was Will Forte, a writer and a six season member of the cast of Saturday Night Live. Said Forte, "It's pretty well-known that writers are often treated like second-class citizens. There's not a whole lot of glory in it."

The video is below an excerpt from "30 Rock."



"Without writers, there would be no shows, no movies," continued Forte, who frequently plays George Bush in SNL skits. "These things are your babies. You work really hard on them, and you have a sense of ownership with them. So there's nothing wrong with wanting a fair deal."

The late night talk shows, such as the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, are already airing reruns because of the writers’ strike. The Washington Post has reported that the Leno show gave 70-100 of the staff their two week notice that they will be without employment as of November 19th if the strike continues.

Since no talks between the Guild and the producers are scheduled, more layoffs seem inevitable.

Now that the strike is a reality, the TV networks are implementing their contingency programming, including more reality shows. CBS is ready to bring out the winter version of Big Brother, a summer reality show winner.

Plan on many more unscripted shows like reality and game shows along with the anticipated airing of reruns if the strike continues for any length of time.