augie wrote:

Hehe, both Dave and Conan grew a beard, Dave was normal and Jay did pretty well. Conan is no worse off without the writers and Craig had no guests, he did fairly well.

I only watched Jay from about 11:45 to 12, but this morning on CNN they had a montage of all five shows' best jokes. I was really more interested in how Jay would do without writers than how the others would do with them, and I thought he handled it pretty well. He fielded questions from the audience (which were not planted or written or censored) and totally winged it, and he was funny. But I can't imagine him doing that every night.

It's plain to see that its the writers who make those shows what they are, not the hosts, regardless of how talented they are. The jokes come from the writers.

Quote:

It's plain to see that its the writers who make those shows what they are, not the hosts, regardless of how talented they are. The jokes come from the writers.

Ya, you're absolutely right, it must be real tough coming up with something new every night. I thought Jay might shorten his monologue, and replace the second comedy segment with an extra guest. As to Craig Ferguson, I don't see him being able to pull off another guestless night as he pulled out all his regular skits and put them all in one show.

augie wrote:

Quote: It's plain to see that its the writers who make those shows what they are, not the hosts, regardless of how talented they are. The jokes come from the writers. Ya, you're absolutely right, it must be real tough coming up with something new every night. I thought Jay might shorten his monologue, and replace the second comedy segment with an extra guest. As to Craig Ferguson, I don't see him being able to pull off another guestless night as he pulled out all his regular skits and put them all in one show.

I agree. I expected Jay to simply come out, say hello, and introduce his first guest. Talk shows used to be done that way -- Tom Snyder, David Susskind, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas -- all used to simply open the show by introducing their first guest, or maybe a brief monologue like Snyder used to do. They didn't do long monologues and sketches.

But they had a double whammy because they couldn't even book enough guests to do that if they wanted to.

1) Late night talk show bookings often are set up weeks in advance and they just didn't have enough lead time.

2) Most actors, and even non-actors, will not cross the picket line to go on non-WGA shows. That's why you had Huckabee and Lagasse on Leno. How interesting would his show be with politicians, authors, and cooking segments?

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EDIT: The article below has all the latest about what happened last night, why it happened, and what is expected to happen in the coming weeks regarding the late night shows.

UPDATE
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Late-night returns to new reality
By Paul J. Gough, Steven Zeitchik and Kimberly Nordyke
January 3, 2008

There were a lot of similarities between the NBC and CBS late-night shows in their returns on the air Wednesday. Both NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" featured a leading presidential candidate -- Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Hillary Clinton, respectively. Both NBC's Conan O'Brien and CBS' Letterman sported beards they had grown during their two-month hiatus.

But there was one big difference -- while CBS' "Late Show" and "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" enjoyed a seamless return with their writers in tow, NBC's "Tonight Show" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" taped their first strike shows behind picket lines.

"You're watching the 'Late Show,' the only show on the air that has jokes written by union writers. ... I know you're at home asking yourselves, 'This crap is written?' " Letterman said in his monologue, which opened with him walking through a dozen top-hatted chorus girls, all dancing with "Writers Guild of America On Strike" signs.

The top 10 list of "demands from striking writers" was penned by the writers of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and delivered by 10 striking WGA members, including Nora Ephron and "Daily Show" and "Late Night" scribes.

The Hollywood Reporter
complete article

UPDATE
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Viewers flock to late-night; Leno under fire
By Paul J. Gough and Nellie Andreeva
January 4, 2008

After eight weeks away, the late-night talk shows returned to the air with big ratings and some controversy.

NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," without its writing staff, averaged 7.2 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in adults 18-49 on Wednesday, well ahead of CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" (5.5 million viewers, 1.7), which came back with writers thanks to the deal that Letterman's Worldwide Pants struck with the WGA. Both shows were up about 2 million viewers from their prestrike season averages.

"Tonight" featured Leno performing what appeared to be a prepared monologue, something that didn't sit well with the WGA. "I write jokes," Leno said on the show. "We are following the guild thing; we can write for ourselves."

Reps for the WGA West said they met with Leno on Thursday "to clarify to him that writing for 'The Tonight Show' constitutes a violation of the guild's strike rules." Replied NBC: "The WGA agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologue for 'The Tonight Show.' The WGA is not permitted to implement rules that conflict with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the studios and the WGA." Leno did another monologue on Thursday's show.

The Hollywood Reporter
complete article