Guest Hosts Could Save Jobs
NBC informed the nonwriting staff of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that it will be laid off at the end of next week in the wake of the show shutting down for the writers’ strike. Jay Leno
And with Leno still refusing to cross the picket line, the show is looking at
coming back on the air Nov. 19 with guest hosts so that it can save the jobs of
the nonwriters.
“All sorts of things are being discussed, including guest hosts,” Tonight Show
executive producer Debbie Vickers said. “Our preference is that we return to
production of The Tonight Show with Jay as host as soon as possible.”
B&C also learned that the same timetable has been given to the staff of NBC’s
Late Night with Conan O’Brien. That show’s nonwriters also face layoffs at the
end of the week of Nov. 12.
But Vickers also wants to save the jobs of her nonwriting staffers.
“We want to protect the staff, who have been loyal to this show for decades, in
the same way that Johnny Carson reluctantly returned without his writers in
1988,” she said.
Late-night shows have gone into repeats since the strike began Monday as the
hosts walked out in solidarity with their writing staffs.
With the shows shut down, networks can cut costs by laying off most of the rest
of the staff.
And Leno’s chief writer doesn’t expect Leno back anytime soon.
“I talk to Jay every day, and he will not be the first [late-night host] to
cross the picket line,” said Tonight Show head writer Joe Medeiros, also a
strike captain for the Writers Guild of America. “So they are looking at guest
hosts as one possibility so all those people don’t have to lose their jobs.”
Medeiros on Friday expressed anger at NBC for pulling the plug on the staff so
quickly.
“This is the way that NBC treats the No. 1 late-night talk show that makes them
$50 million a year and has been No. 1 for 12 years?” he said, noting that NBC
even turned off his NBC e-mail account.
Even prior to the strike taking effect, many knew that the nonwriting late-night
show staff members from all networks would probably begin to see layoffs within
two to three weeks if their hosts did not resume their on-air duties.
The hosts are compelled to return without their writing staffs to save the jobs
of all of the nonwriters, which can number more than 100 per show.
There is precedent for hosts to come back sans writers, as Johnny Carson and
David Letterman both did during the 1988 strike.
Medeiros also spoke in animated fashion about NBC’s decision to replace Leno
with Conan O’Brien in 2009.
“And all this after they already kicked the man out the door,” Medeiros said.
CBS has already said that The Late Show with David Letterman will remain in
repeats the week of Nov. 12.
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live continues to run in repeats, as its host has backed the
writers not only by stepping aside, but even driving a taco truck around to
picket sites in Los Angeles. Leno has also been a constant presence at picketing
around town.
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