Once Again, A Carson Will Cross The Picket Line To Save Jobs On His Show
No, not that Carson, although Johnny did set a precedent for today’s late-night jokesters to follow: Crossing the picket line of a writer’s strike to save the jobs of his television crew. And it would appear that Carson Daly, host of Last Call with Carson Daly, is following in some mighty big footsteps:
Despite the ongoing writers’ strike, the Last Call host will resume production on his NBC late-night show this week, taping episodes slated to air next week, the network confirmed Tuesday.
The move makes Daly the first late-night host to return to work since the strike began Nov. 5. The respective shows of Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien et al. have been in reruns ever since, with no indication that any of them plan to resume production.
Judging from Ellen DeGeneres’ experience earlier this month, Daly’s decision won’t be popular with those on the picket lines.
After breaking for the first day of the strike in solidarity with her writers, DeGeneres resumed taping her syndicated talk show without them the next day, drawing criticism from the WGA, which has derided her scab-like behavior.
Unlike DeGeneres, however, Daly is not a member of the WGA. And his choice comes after NBC threatened to lay off all nonwriting staff members on his show, as well as on Late Night and The Tonight Show.
In 1988, talk-show titan Johnny Carson had to return to his late-night show during the last writer’s strike to save the jobs of his crew, who were facing a fate similar to that of Daly’s. He basically ad-libbed his show until the strike was settled.
I said a few weeks ago that it might come to this, and it appears that the first of the night-time talk shows has finally succumbed. This is just what the bigshots at the studios want…for the stars to cave in to the pressure of seeing their crews lose their jobs over a strike that they have no part of. This way, the studio heads get what they want, which is their shows back on the air, with no strike concessions on their part. It’s really been the writing on the wall from the beginning, it was just a matter of time and who would be first.
Not to say that the writer’s strike isn’t justified. For the work that they do, they certainly do deserve a cut of anything sold that has their work in it. Internet downloads, DVD’s, ad revenue, have all been off-limits thus far to the writers of some of television’s most popular shows. But, as in all strikes, someone has to suffer, and in this case it is the crews who have nothing to do with the strike.
Studio bigwigs know that members of hit shows become like family, from the star all the way to the janitor, and they are counting on that to get people to cross the picket line. I’m sure that Carson’s decision will not be a popular one with the writers on strike, but it comes down to either going back to work or risking his crew losing their jobs. I’m sure the average makeup artist or wardrobe person doesn’t make what a senior writer does as far as salary, and they can’t afford to be fired or laid off. Again, studios know this, and they are counting on it. It really gives many people a very difficult decision to make.
Talks were resumed on Monday, and continue through Wednesday, so hopefully there will be some sort of resolution before more people lose their jobs.
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The strike is a failure of union leadership. The strength of a union is the threat of a strike, not the strike itself. Carson Daly has done a very brave thing in challenging the union that would put his own and his staff’s livelihood at risk. Like PATCO, if this strike continues for too much longer WGA will come out of it a shadow of its former self, having broken itself on the picket line. Making hard decisions at the negotiating table is the true sign of strength in these business relationships between managers and production folks (writers). Leaving the table to shout on street corners and harass folks who want to work is a defeat. This is a very sad situation and I hope it comes to a swift conclusion.
Comment by dan — November 30, 2007 @ 10:59 am
[…] show hosts would be forced to return to the air without their striking writers, following in the footsteps of the late great Johnny Carson, who also had to return without his striking writers in the last […]
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