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The Los Angeles Times has just announced that “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” will be returning to their nightly schedule on January 7, 2008.
The two hosts made the following comment:
"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."-- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
Witty and sardonic, as one would expect, of course. However, the comment belies a more serious fact: These two are union stalwarts. Stewart was the first of the late-night hosts rumored to pay the staffs of the two shows (he produces both) for the duration of the strike. The other, broadcast-network guys supposedly did the same, and the scuttlebutt around town is that it’s starting to rally break Jimmy Kimmel’s back he being the newest of the bunch).
But what can Jon and Stephen do when they go on the air? Sit there and say nothing? You see, they, too are WGA members, and, consequently, everything they say, even simple extemporaneous chatter is credited writing! So why would these die-hard pro-labor powerhouses do it? My only guess is that Viacom, the mega corporation that owns Comedy Central, has either threatened to pull the plug on them altogether, thus making things worse for everyone involved and forcing hundreds of people out of work, or they made a separate deal that will be acceptable to the union. Comedy Central’s press release, however, states categorically that unless the strike is resolved, they will resume production without their writing staffs. Huh?
I am eager to hear what Jon Stewart has to say about this. It’s a position no one would ever want to be put in. He is being forced to defy his own convictions in order to save his show, and thus his employees. It’s a hell of a burden. Worse yet, he is also scheduled to host the Academy Awards – a thankless but high-profile job, and a gig usually worked by at least a dozen writers (I know, you’d think it would be better). Anyway, now he has to do his nightly TV show without a paid staff and host the most watched Award show on Earth, while personally supporting his union brethren.
I wish him luck. No matter what happens, it has become, for better or worse, too important to have Stewart and Colbert on the TV during a Presidential election year, Because the “fake news” guys are the best source of real news for millions of Americans.
