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Comedy Central is forcing The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report back onto the air on January 7 without their writing staffs. Both hosts are unhappy about this turn of events and have released the following joint statement:
“We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.”
Can you sign this petition to the Comedy Central executives asking them to go back to the negotiating table, and ask your friends to sign it too?
The AMPTP walked out of negotiations with the writers just before the holiday season and refuses to go back. Instead, the networks are being bullies and trying to impose their corporate will on your favorite shows rather than treating workers fairly.
They don’t seem to appreciate that razor sharp political analysis and great writing is the reason people watch these shows. Driving a wedge between Stewart, Colbert and their respective writing teams and putting on a show without the writers who worked hard to make them great is bad for the shows, bad for the network and bad for the fans.
How can you have "the word" without words?
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Ideally they’ll do some kind of “meta” awfulness as a backhanded way to support the writers.
I would not be the least bit surprised to see both of them sit silently in front of the cameras, if forced on the air without writers. Aren’t they both WGA members?
Gee, are the writers gonna be treated like the Air Traffic Controllers under Ronnie? Union busting 101.
Signed
This may be a stupid question, but how can you have a show at all without writers? Colbert and Stewart can’t just stand there silently.
Signed. I thought they were both WGA members, no? How the hell can they do these shows if they don’t have any words to say?
Actually, having them sit there silently might be the loudest statement they could make.
They may be able to force them to go back on the air, but they can’t force them to be funny.
Signed. I’ll bet Comedy Central will regret this move by the end of the first show.
Signed
Signed too. And invited six friends to sign…
signed
Here’s the comment I left when I signed the petition:
Seems like there’s great potential for some sort of Andy Kaufman confrontational performance art here.
Colbert is AP’s “Celebrity of the Year.” That’s gotta count for somethin’.
“In receiving this award, I am pleased that I was chosen over two great spinners of fantasy — J.K. Rowling and Al Gore. It is truly an honor to be named the Associated Press’ Celebrity of the Year. Best of all, this makes me the official front-runner for next year’s Drug-Fueled Downward Spiral of the year. P.S. Look for my baby bump this spring!”
(via Think Progress)
I wrote I signed – now, YOU SIGN! – passed it on…
Maybe Stewart and Colbert could be guests on each other’s shows and they can talk for an hour about how the writers are getting screwed. Not funny, but it would scare the shit out of the network execs.
We’re working to get some WGA writers on FDL to chat about what’s going on with the strike.
Any requests?
I think it fair to say I am squarely in the writers corner. This puts me in mind of another union busting political play. The Reagan air traffic controller crap.
Signed.
I signed and added a note.
All union organizations need to support one another. Bring this corporate greed to it’s knees.
Signed. Kiddo we are on the same wavelength today or I am channelling Lahoma*G*
Um, maybe, but I seriously doubt that will happen. If the studios are forcing them back to work, that sort of thing might get them Cancelled.
Frank @ #6 brings up an excellent point.
So, how do members of the WGA go on the air during a strike?
Do the words they come up on their own count as writing?
Jane, do you have the answer to this? Or others In The Know?
signed
Both of us. I think.
I think Stewart and Colbert are so-called runners: writer-producers. So far the runners have been supporting the WGA writers on strike, so this move by Comedy Central might erode that support.
Stewart and Colbert’s support of the strike?
Still, if they speak (words written in their heads) how is this governed by the WGA?
Now is a good chance for the Democratic leadership to show its support for labor. Will the “leadership” rise to the occasion?
Joss Whedon and anyone from the Buffyverse…
Anyone from Comedy Central
Anyone from Sci-Fi (Eureka, Stargate, Dr Who)
Anyone from Boston Legal.
Does Comedy Central have any idea of how many of their viewers actually know what this strike is about and support the WGA in their efforts?
Do they know how badly this will backfire on them?
While I’m surmising, what’s the worst thing that could happen? CC cancelling Stewart and Colbert’s shows? How fast would they be picked up by HBO or Showtime, for example?
IMHO, YMMV,
-S
Signed! Can they be forced to speak?
You mean in Congress!? Yeah, right. And monkeys will fly out of my ass while singing Ave Maria. (The monkeys; not me.)
What I want to know is what happens when the talent uses the platform they’ve been forced onto to prop up the picketers in every way their fertile minds can imagine?
In a heartbeat, I’m sure. That would lose them part of their audience, however. There are lots of people out there who don’t pay for HBO/Showtime/etc.,etc.,etc….
A lot of Comedy Central shows are not WGA. Lil’ Bush isn’t, the Sarah Silverman Program wasn’t WGA in its first season, the Daily Show was not WGA for many years. So in that respect, Comedy Central is worse than the networks and studios, whether Stewart and Colbert come back or not. I’m not sure what the best way is to exert pressure on this company (the fact they are not 100% WGA is not currently a strike issue, Comedy Central gets a pass on this for some reason).
It would be great if the writers from The Office could visit.
And the writers from Ugly Betty!
OT, my apologies. Michael Luo on Romney’s “misstatements” in NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12…..mney.html?
Good question.
I find that this site works better for those who just opinionate and don’t ask questions. Sometimes. Not all the time. Just saying.
Oh, how about Matt Stone and Trey Parker from South Park?
Good point! It might be the perfect time that some candidate, perhaps one that has bragged about his negotiating abilities, to ask if he can help? Hasn’t this been known to happen?
I am recalling JFK and the struggle with the steel industry. Kennedy won. This kind of guts is what I want from Democrats in this writer situation.
If Matt Stone and Trey Parker come, can we ask them about Mormonizm too?
Signed
Two Different Americas.
(still no answers….)
The writers could become Ceo’s if they wanted to. Not so the other way ’round.
demi @ 28:
I don’t understand your question. They’re supporting their WGA writers and would like to return to work with them: that is, the strike needs to be settled so that every WGA can get back to work.
South Park isn’t a WGA show.
Wrote and signed. Thanks, Jane.
OT – Joe Wilson has a post at HuffPost with a whole lotta comments in moderation, including mine. In fact more than I can ever recall. FWIW this is mine:
Oh dear, you and Mrs. Wilson are among my most respected public servants and while I greatly admire your fine mind allow me to suggest you have a private meeting with Bill & Hill and gift them with reality-based counsel. If they really want to win back the White House they will have to do a whole lotta soul searching and reconnect with We the People, the majority of whom (along with Independents and sane Republicans oppose the war mongering cabal inside the congress in both parties. How hard would it be for Hillary, DiFi, BarBoxer,Raum Emanuel, Steney and other pro-war dems to admit they were mistaken and/or conned into support for the war. Is it not completely nuts for Hillary to risk her election on the hope & prayer we grass roots Dems have her back? We do not. The cynicism that our party will turn out for her in the general election despite deep misgivings defies logic and I for one am not willing to be blackmailed into voting for her should she survive the primaries without evidence we’ll have our military out of Iraq a hell of a lot sooner than 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010!
Signed. I said in so many words that I thought it was very “Grinchy” for the studio to stiff the writers at this time of year.
My question is as writer/producers are the words they speak on air, that writers don’t write, governed by the wga?
Sorry to be obtuse.
Does this question make sense?
In response to Jane’s 18:
Aaron Sorkin (West Wing)
David E. Kelley (Boston Legal)
Denis Leary (Rescue Me) Best show on TV, imho.
This writers thing is another epic showdown. And what happens will have implications for a very long time
Marion, yes, there may be some loss of viewership, but one thing’s for sure — Comedy Central would be the loser there. I’m wondering how much revenue “TDS” and “TCR” bring in for them yearly.
-S
This kind of comedy doesn’t write itself…but these guys make it look like it does. This is not all improv, none of them are. You know how many people ‘touch’ just ONE Leno/Letterman joke for cadence and timing, specific wording and entendre’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNEXLwDWnj0
PS: I see I’ve received the honor of Today’s Top Video here at FDL. Thanks to all who voted for me. I wish I could say I wrote for SP. I’m just glad I can contribute to the Lake-effect.
In a word, no. You’re not obtuse…*g*
What is the cost of advertizing on tv now. One or two million a minute, depending?
demi:
Even if they’re writers as well as producers, they still need their writing staffs. There’s too much material for them to handle on their own.
That might work… Tell companies who advertise on “strike-breaking” shows that you’ll boycott their products.
One more…I love this stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZQgZtCnfpU
Lookin as if the gooper establishment is closing ranks behind Willard. Rudy’s bein left out to dry- he irritates the snakehandlers in ways that are too difficult to deal with. The Huckster’s a big problem- if this turns into a bloody war between the snakehandlin wing and the lower taxes wing of the party, there’ll be hell ta pay…
Willard’s mission, should he chose to accept it, is to quash the Huckster without comin off as anti snakehandler.
Good Luck Willard.
Actually, Kiddo @ 58, I didn’t mean just you — I meant all of us!!
Jane, the old timers are always the most interesting on the picket line. And I remember at the contentious ‘88 meetings, Larry Gelbart’s speeches were the best. I’d say get him if there’s any way you can.
Do you think George Bush and his crowd are watching this struggle?
Executives are the easiest positions to replace. Not nearly as difficult to find as the positions of talent for a company. If a company doesn’t have an executive, they can go without one and put in an “acting” executive. However, you cannot put in “acting” talent until real talent comes along. That will put you out of business. Smart companies reward those who make it possible for them to compete and produce the highest product. That’s not the role of the executive. Smart executives know this. They count on good talent to make them look good.
How do I know executives are easier to replace than company talent? I was an executive search consultant for one of the top three international executive search firms. I know first hand whereof I speak.
Oh, absolutely. I totally agree. I so Love Stewart’s on-air staff — My favorite is Samantha and my Birthday Boy’s (today’s his 14th birthday) favorite is John Oliver.
And thanks for the above comment. Not feeling particulary Acute, either, tho.
Ha!
Nah, writers use big words and not enough pictures…
In a coupla words – Not a chance.
How does Comedy Central “force” Stewart and Colbert back on the air? Doesn’t everyone have a right not to cross a picket line? Can Comedy Central sue them for breach of contract? I would hope not.
I’ll sign the petition, but I doubt it will do any good especially if they’re going back to work
Willard havin some credibility issues. Turns out that he has said that he was a great hunter- but he only killed a gopher once. Turns out that he says that he and his father both marched with Martin Luther King- but turns out Willard wasn’t here and his dad declined the invitation…
He has also been on both sides of nearly all the social issues, guns, gays, God, and feti….
Somehow voters just can’t take a joke- and he’s one.
I understood what you you were saying to me. ;0)
I lied: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSk9toKfrwo
Always to remember, please, the correct phrase is “that statement is no longer operative.” As you were…
Thanks for this post, Jane! Writers in every field, including writers of comments, I might say, should all support the WGA in their fight. It’s all our fight. The epic battle by this union is an epic battle for all unions…all workers.
I for one will not watch a writer-less Comedy Central and I’ve told them so.
And this is OT, but Krugman’s got a powerful column-again-today on the dire state of the subprime market. Money quote:
Are you better off now than you were when the Republicans took control of every branch of government? Sounds like a general election campaign slogan winner to me….
It sure can. But I doubt it’ll come to that. Their shows make too much money for Comedy Central. They’re the stars. Why do think they’re being forced back? Comedy Central is starting to lose money because they’re off the air.
When I was a young man looking for a summer job, I heard about some company hiring on the radio; when I arrived, there was a picket line. I went home and my father said, that’s right, never cross a picket line. Making Stewart and Colbert do it is cruel, and will permanently damage their relationship with the Network
Looks like you’ve been checking out the News Box on the front page…
IMHO the money quote from Krugman’s column today is this:
Signed, commented & forwarded to ten friends. Now to digg it as I head out to a meeting.
OT but I signed…
Two articles on the increasing human cost of the sub-prime scandal and the foreclosures…which just keep coming because Bush “refuses to Bail Out those who
listened to greedy liars that he deregulatedmade mistakes”.Here are the two articles
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200…..rFpshJTb8F
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200….._social_dc
Stewart and Colbert should join the picket line before entering the studio and carry signs in support of the writers. Say something like “I can’t do this without you”. Or, “I need the writers”. There are countless messages of support. They can address the public and put management to shame. Management cannot stop them from speaking outside the studio.
The view here is that corporate America is very much paying attention to the writers strike. Why? Because this strike has to do with not just money and bennies. This strike has to do with ideas, fairness, philosophy and direction.
The writers strike is about precedent.
And I might add his support of “more homeowners than ever” under his administration. Everytime he screached those words I’d shout back, “You don’t own the property until ALL your mortgage payments are Paid in Full. Until such time, the bank or mortgage company owns your property. I don’t think I’ve heard any reported ever question him about that. How could he call them homeowners when they didn’t own the property? And, his financial advisors were silent on the subject.
Signed. I have an itunes sub — is this not bait and switch on Viacom’s part? Wouldn’t Viacom try to recoup some of its investment in court if either host, on their own, alienated and drove off the writing staff?
Dang, missed it…was doing a quick fly-by.
Are we better off with a writer-less, funnier-less Comedy Central?
And how ’bout those air traffic controllers whose overtime hours cap will be lifted for the holiday flying crunch. Are you better off with the guy in the tower workin’ on eight hours of sleep sometime the week before….
Demand better, be better. Support the WGA.
Also about business ethics [yeah, I know, how quaint…] and business planning for the long term rather than quick-profiteering vampire economics.
Also, are you happy driving on roads with truckers who are driving up to 11 hours a day, 7 days a week?
I’m not.
Actually, having driven between Fargo and Minneapolis earlier this week, no, I’m not happy, because the trucks are legion, fast, and more humonguous than they’ve ever been. Multiple trailers, enormous loads…and the highways are not so happy either. Tire tracks in the asphalt so deep we could be back in wagontrain times…and potholes….
How’s that starvin’ the infrastructure workin’….?
Demand better. Be better….
Don’t think for a minute that hasn’t been happening for years! There are laws that are broken every day in transportation. Last that I remember, you were only legally allowed to drive for 10 hrs. without a break. Yet I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen companies tell drivers that this product must get to some location that requires a fifteen hour long haul by 6:00 AM when they picked the load up at 4:30 PM the night before. We ask an awful lot from those drivers. Most work their butts off and take pride in their work, but they’re not necessarily the best business men, so we cheat them every chance we get, shorting them on rates, not paying as promptly as they should. Any way they can be taken advantage of, that’s what happens. When you work in the industry, you see it all the time.
NO! I have to share I 80 with truckers, out of control, going over the mountain pass, each trying to get one truck length ahead of the other. They are quasi drivers at the best of time much less on 11 hours sleep.
I haven’t read the thread yet, so maybe you’ve already done this, but where do we look for the list of advertisers? I’m happy to send them all emails saying that I won’t buy their products unless they support the writers and Stewart’s and Colbert’s not crossing the picket line.
What of the live audience? Does anyone have any news on them crossing the picket line? I would think…..but what do I know?
I have no idea how they will do the shows all I know I will not be watching any scab programming
I know how hard truckers work — I’ve got friends who drive big rigs. However, it’s not safe for them or for us for them to be on the road that long. My performance lags after 8 hours, and all I’m doing is listening and typing…
Signed.
I suggest you get people like HRC/WJC and John Edwards and Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich and so on to sign your petition.
So true. II hours really means 12-14 hours just as 10 hours really meant 11-12 hours. There will be no enforcement. Besides, how can you tell 11 from 12 hours? It’s all a blurrrr after 8 hours of driving.
OT Here is another estimate of what Iraqis are suffering, reporting Reuters story
Happy seasonals and a better New Year
OT, Glenn Greenwald:
Kiddo, did you hear that the Lakota went to the State Department, withdrew from all treaties, and seceded from the US yesterday, gave up their US citizenship….affecting 5 states!!!????
From a news release dated June 19, 2007.
I know how dangerous it is. And I know it’s not really the driver’s fault, but the company whose load they are driving. The reason I said what I did is that I used to work in the truck dispatch office of one of the big five steel companies for three and a half years. Then when I was laid off primarily due to Japanese dumping, I dispatched for another about a year for a trip-lease company. I got out of the business mostly because I felt it was a dirty, dirty business, with traffic managers from some companies (not my company, but some of the dispatchers may have had sweetheart deal with some service providers) that made it very clear if you wanted their loads, you should cross their palms with silver. It went on and on.
The chimpy used to do 2 or 3 hours of brush clearing which is far harder than driving a truck… hell you do is sit there and steer for gosh sakes. So if he can clear brush for 4 hours you can drive a truck for 11,12 or even 13 hours no problem. This year alone he has spent over two hundred days clearing brush and that is hard work.
Signed. And I called them “doughy pantloads”.
Couldn’t help myself.
That Krugman article has been changed since I read it about 4:00. It closed with something to the effect that they’re going to wish they had done things differently when the people get mad.
OT:
Des Moines Register has done an article on the GOP Uncertainity. Here is the link: Link
Notice the stats on the left side of the page. Very Interesting. Of course you would never know that the GOP is weakening due to our ineffective Democratic legislative leaders.
I’ve looked for every incident of “krugman” on this page and can’t find a link to the article. Got one?
MrWhy, I understand, those shows were recently brought into WGA. But they weren’t WGA at first. And Comedy Central still makes non WGA pilots, without a contractual promise that they become WGA once they become series.
Here ya go, Ann.
If you click on “more news” in the “News box on the front page and drill down a few stories, you get this one.
Wow!
State Dept Document from 2005 Shows Fraud in Blackwater’s Iraq Contract
By Spencer Ackerman – December 21, 2007, 11:40AM
A report prepared for the State Department’s inspector general in January 2005, and obtained by TPMmuckraker, shows Blackwater’s accounting system for its no-bid, multimillion dollar Iraq contract was “not considered adequate for accumulating costs on government contracts.”
The report is an audit of Blackwater’s contract prepared by the accounting firm of Leonard H. Birnbaum. It has been referred to by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (pdf) and in a 2006 story in The Nation, but has not been made publicly available until now. It was obtained by TPMmuckraker after we filed a Freedom of Information Act request in October with the State Department for Blackwater-related documents.
The Krugman piece closes with David Brooks is off today. David Brooks is off every day.
signed
dugg
The late nite stars who are going back, go back so the non-writers on the show do not get laid off. Some stars paid their non-writing staffs themselves, but that’s a heavy load. I don’t think they went back because they breached their contracts, but because they got tired of paying their staffs. Without seeing the contract, one cannot be sure, but if the contract prohibits honoring a picket line, I would imagine Comedy Central would have forced Stewart and Colbert back long ago
I’m just blowing smoke as a lurker.
I tried to find out if John Stewart and Stephen Colbert were WGA members via the WGA website and saw that item before I read your post.
If they went to HBO I’d have to find someone who would tape the show for me. Heck, without The Daily Show, I could go down to a lower priced cable bundle. I wouldn’t need Comedy Central at all.
stay in, the water’s fine.
Jane has a perfectly good new thread upstairs.
Exploiting writers is NOT funny. Union-busting is NOT funny.
OK. Without too much emphasis on my age, has anyone else besides me attended Objectivist meetings with pretty boy Nathaniel Branden and subscribed to Ayn Rand’s monthly paper? It was before I fell and became a Quaker. This group made the John Birch Society look like out-of-control Liberals.
I’m with you!
Signed and sent to three more.
signed by this lurker
FWIW, remember Comedy Central is a property of Viacom/CBS and Les Moonves reguards Jon Stewart and to a lesser extent Craig Ferguson as successors to Letterman.
The writers for the Obama girls haven’t stopped writing though:
George Bush, You’re So Lame (Obama Girls)
a WGA member? Someone from BSG would be great, since they got so abused by universal with the ‘webisodes’.
Mocking George W. Bush eh? “I signed, but then had to add a signing statement.” Can’t anybody just sign something without having to make a statement?
Sigh.
For some reason I’m in a ranting kinda mood today. Sigh. Maybe it was just too much reading about Romney’s ‘vision’.
Sounds like a call to Senator Edwards to provide a foil for Stewart banter and humour.
Somehow I don’t think they’ll go back to do shows. Being comedians they know the value of writing as well as being smart-alecks.
Leadership on this would be more in the form of flipping the bird to the studio/production co.
Maybe Sen. Edwards could do an ad with them where they support the union and show mutual respect. Hmmm.
Ye of little faith, Jane!
I’m confident that both Stewart and Colbert will put on shows that illustrate both the writer’s plight and their value to the respective shows.
And it will probably STILL be funny. Just in a different, and likely job-risking (for Stewart and Colbert) way.
This is my comment on the petition..I hope it helps..
‘It is the Words which are remembered, long after the person, who spoke them is gone.’
The Writers deserve to be fairly compensated for their talent and hard work.
I WILL NOT support your programing nor your station if you do not return to the negotiating table and settle a fair and honest contract.
However I shall continue to support both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for their talent and their stand.