Am I the only one confused by the current state of the writers' strike? The late-night network talk shows, and now the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, have returned to the air. According to what I've read, only Letterman made a deal that allowed his writers to come back to work. And here is where I get lost:
- I originally thought from the news articles on the topic that the other shows had also made some kind of deals with the guild, only not ones that allowed them to use writers. It now seems that they must have sought to make deals without success.
- The shows have been picketed.
- "But in both cases, the protesters took pains to emphasize that their quarrel was with NBC and its parent company, General Electric, and not the hosts themselves." (The New York Times)
- The hosts all emphasize their solidarity with the writers.
- For the most part, the hosts offer no explanation for why their shows should be allowed to return, to their own advantage and weakening the writers. John Stewart says the interim agreements can "put pressure on the big guys," which I guess must mean that the interim agreements are giving the writers what they want.
- The writers are angry at Leno for writing his own jokes, but not at Conan (or Stewart or Colbert, as far as I know). I find it hard to draw a such a well-defined line between 'writing' and, I suppose, improvising. No doubt Conan, Stewart, and Colbert are gifted at improvisation. But how could people whose whole life is thinking of funny things to say stop thinking about what to say on their shows before the camera is rolling? How much thinking and memorizing are they allowed to do? Drawing the line at the physical act of writing seems impossibly arbitrary.
- If they're having trouble booking guests because the guests are seen as "crossing the picket line," even when they are not writers, then how are the hosts not doing the same? And if that's the case, what does it matter whether they are writing their own jokes? Isn't crossing the picket line the basic offense worthy of punishment?
Please enlighten me.
Comments (4)
stewart and colbert are doing remarkably well all things considered...dont know how long they can keep it up (they had 2 months to come up with jokes). clearly theyve been booking mostly union bashers like myself to be their guests. Monday's shows sucked but Tuesday's were quite good.
btw its Jon Stewart, not (St.) John
January 9, 2008 9:01 PM
you want a little enlightenment? those motherfuckers are scabs!!
just kidding... sort of.
i think these hosts had no choice but to go back on the air. there are other workers involved in the shows, and they need jobs too. and this strike could go on for a very very long time: thinking about my experiences at bargaining tables, nonconstructive antagonism (on both sides) is usually much more prevalent than any serious attempts at reconciliation/compromise, and gigantic corporations really want to pay their workers for as few things as possible.
given all of this, my guess is there are not very good answers to your questions, and if there are they can change from moment to moment. based on their commentaries, it seems clear to me that the hosts are as perplexed as you are. i will also tell you: my buddies in the graduate student union do feel that each host has been crossing picket lines. but that's pretty typical propagandistic unionthink. the interesting part in this case is that this point of view ignores the other unions involved in the production of these shows. the biggest problem, as i see it, will be if the writers start making deals and crossing lines, the strike really will collapse. a large enough split could even threaten the existence of the guild, which isn't always a bad thing, but probably would be in this case.
also, i think that these hosts are not improvising all the time.
January 14, 2008 2:59 PM
I'm not angry at the various comedy show hosts for going back on the air and seemingly not supporting the Writer's Strike. The fact is that the shows are terrible without writers (as reviewed in the NYT) and therefore I think they are helping the writers. Also, if the shows stayed off the air wouldn't all the other workers on the shows lose their jobs? And I think Jon Stewart et al would go out of their minds with bordom if they didn't work and maybe take other jobs (in the Post Office perhaps) and then we'd lose them forever!
January 16, 2008 8:44 PM
whats up with "as reviewed in the NYT", 'anonymous' ? did you not agree with the NYT when you watched it, but the NYT's review seemed to better fit the argument?
as for graduate student union organizers...ive been a grad student, ive known grad student union organizers at 2 different major universities, in my experience they are almost consistently political theory/philosophy/sociology etc students who hang around 'finishing' their degree for 6,7,8 years and just want a chance to play marxist (well sometimes trotskyist)...perhaps, scott your friends are different, but just a personal observation.
January 17, 2008 9:31 PM