Writers Go on Strike and Late Shows Go Dark
On Tuesday afternoon, NBC issued a statement that the upcoming edition of the “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” would be a repeat from April. “Late Night With Seth Meyers” canceled a show that was supposed to feature an interview with the actress Rachel Weisz, replacing it with a rerun from February.
New episodes from late-night shows hosted by Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel have also been suspended. “Saturday Night Live” canceled a new episode scheduled for this weekend with Pete Davidson as host. NBC said it would “air repeats until further notice,” raising the possibility that the show will not be able to end its 48th season with a finale.
How long late-night talk shows stay off the air is an open question. During the last strike, in 2007, late-night shows gradually came back after about two months, even with their writers still on picket lines. (That strike lasted 100 days.)
Mr. Kimmel, ABC’s late-night host, was paying his staff out of pocket during that strike, and he said years later that he had to return to air because he had nearly drained his life savings.
David Letterman, who owned his CBS late-night show through his production company Worldwide Pants, made a deal with the Writers Guild of America that allowed his writers to come back on the show.
Source: The New York Times
