Both of them have poked fun at their “Bosses” and both have expressed support for the writers.

I feel like all these guys are letting the writers down, specifically the writers on their own shows. All it tells the AMPTP/networks is that these shows… and potentially others… can be done WITHOUT WRITERS ALTOGETHER. If Jay really wanted to help his crew AND his writers AND all the unions in general, he would use his influence, power and connections to tell his network bosses and the higher-ups that he needs his writers and they need a fair deal. In the end, he’s really screwing all the crew members, because this kind of action weakens ALL unions. I don’t think any of these guys are being forced to go back to work — and they are not using their power as stars to put pressure on the AMPTP to make a fair deal. If anything, they should ENCOURAGE their shows to be picketed to keep the writer’s struggle in the public eye and in the minds of the greedy corporations who are truly behind this strike.

Hmmm… I believe Alan Clark was referring to the grammatical error in this statement: “Comedy Central forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they’ve come to expect.” The gerund is “forcing” and the proper form of the statement is:

Comedy Central’s forcing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert back on the air will not give the viewers the quality shows they’ve come to expect.

Your commenting on Alan’s comment reveals more about your knowledge of grammar and parts of speech than you may have intended.

So while strong majorities of people who are polled have said that they support the writers in the strike, uninformed underdog support of that type isn’t very deep.

Late night shows returning was inevitable, but most of the public doesn’t understand that. They are as clueless as those of you who think Stewart et al is going to be using their shows as bully pulpits for the strike.

If you want to hear about the strike on those shows, be sure to tune in on the first night of each show, because the 30 seconds that are used to mention it will be the only time that you get to catch it.

Oh, really? You know, something tells me that if the Daily Show had stayed dark, no one would have ever “heard” these backstage stories you’re hinting at. The fact still remains that both Patric Verrone and Tom Schulman have stuck up publicly for the guy in the most glowing of terms. So obviously, you’re saying that leaders of the WGA lie to suit their own purposes.

And even if I was some anti-Guild New Media Douchebag hater, I still wouldn’t watch Stewart or Colbert (of those listed above, the two I was watching before the strike), as most of the funny on those shows is in the scripted segments - Stewart’s headlines, Colbert’s “The Word”.

1) As a general rule, I would take anything any official says in a press release with a grain of salt. No reason for the WGAe to antagonize Stewart once the deal was done.

2) Stewart owns most of Busboy which produces The Daily Show for Comedy Central. The fact the the writers salaries shot up b/c of WGA membership does not mean that Comedy Central necessarily pays a bigger license fee for the show. So, it impacts his business. Also, he may have not wanted to show organized because even back then people knew a 2007 strike was pretty likely.

One of those late night hosts you mention is definitely not pro writer, and has in fact been investigated by the WGA at least twice in the past 15 years for using enormous amounts of material on air that he bought from non guild members.

Now on to more important matters: do picketers at the Oscars go black tie?

More like the WGA negs have shot themsevles in the foot by granting waivers to a select few. Makes the whole effort look weaker. Stewart and Colbert are not scabs, and if the WGA leadership keeps up the name calling and insulting video skits they will lose any allies the might have had. I can see it now; “sure I called you a scab jerk back during the strike but hey we’re pals now, right?”

Also, I can’t help thinking that if Stewart’s writers truly feared they might be fired, it would be perfectly reasonable to assume they thought *Comedy Central* might fire them, or as reasonable as it is to assume they were afraid of Stewart, since no other evidence has been presented. Writers are, ultimately, hired by studios, not by the person running the show (in terms of who pays them and who their contracts are with). (Except in the case of Worldwide Pants, I gather, since Letterman owns the show.) Presumably, since none of the writers were there, none of them could say more specifically where they thought the danger was.

And since Stewart wouldn’t be paying the writers out of his own pocket — the studio would — I’m not sure why he would care if their salaries went up. It would, of course, affect the budget for the show, but if CC wanted the same quality show, once the WGA rules kicked in, they’d have to pony up.

Again, I have no inside information about any of this. But I wanted to be fair to the earlier commenter.

Regarding TV: with the exception of one or two great shows that come across every decade, TV is about as fresh and tasty as that moldy Mandarin orange I found at the back of my fridge. You heard one Leno/Letterman/Conan/Kimmel/Stewart monologue or seen one episode of According to Jim — you’ve seen ‘em all. Bunch of overpaid talking heads with too many cars. Three-quarters of the reason I watch CNN is because they have good looking reporters (love you Paula Zahn); that coupled with the fact I’m breaking the Guiness Record for ‘most days gone without sex’. It’s certainly not for the quality of the writing.

In 20 years TV and theatres won’t even exist anyway (and ‘internet’ will be drastically different) so let’s get a good deal going so everyone can make some more money in these dying mediums — squeeze the lemon for some more drops, so to speak.