Friday, December 28, 2007

We interrupt the holiday...

...with this breaking news:

David Letterman's company Worldwide Pants has signed their own deal with the WGA which will allow Dave's writers (and Craig Ferguson's writers) to return to work January 3rd.

This could be a major turn of events. Note this from the WGA's statement:

It’s time for NBC-Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers.”

It's interesting that the WGA specifically calls out NBC/Universal. Understandably Jay Leno's show will be at a competitive disadvantage working without their writers. (Jay, and the other late night hosts don't own their own shows as Dave does, so they can't make their own deal.) So, NBC may really feel the pressure to make their own deal, even though they will feel tremendous pressure from the AMPTP not to break ranks. Still, with Jay, and Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert all returning to the air without their writers, you can be sure all those hosts, along with Dave, will be bashing the networks and studios in the AMPTP night after night.

The public and advertiser pressure for a settlement on the corporations will only grow stronger.

And the sooner NBC/Universal makes a deal with the WGA, the sooner Battlestar Galactica writers, actors and crew can get back to work filming the last 9 episodes.

No comments: