Stewart and Colbert - Back by Duress

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/11682

Stewart and Colbert - Back by Duress
by Michael Fox | Dec 20 2007


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, 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.

...the two-dimensional thinkers. But I see they're first in line!

:rofl:

NGU.

or some such fluff. I agree, they need to be cancelled. How many actors won't show up in solidarity with the writers? Sounds boring to me...

so the thing about them being taken off the air doesn't hold much water--other than that Viacom owns the show (I would guess)

Stewart and Colbert do it and they're victims? No soap.

I raised the same question last night.

:(
rocknation

To me it looks like Stewart, Colbert (and others) seem to been told either come back to work or kiss your job good by. Which if nothing else means that there writers will have a job to come back to when this strike is over.

It still sucks though.

There are one hell of a lot more people involved than just the writers. There are people with families that are out of a job because some writers feel they aren't getting enough credit for their work. This effects a lot of people and I feel these writers are not starving..For every writer that is on strike there are a few hundred people out of work. Is that fair to those people that need to feed their families and be able to have a Christmas? The Unions are going to piss off America just as they did in the late seventies by acting as if they only care for themselves. While I am a firm believer in doing what is fair, there comes a time when fairness has to be spread around. I might feel different if these writers were truly struggling but they make a quite hefty income compared to the stage hands and grips and camera crews etc...They are asking for too much at this point in time and America will reject them..Wise up or the Unions will lose "Big Time"