Are You More Likely to Watch Letterman and Ferguson Tonight?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:30:00 -0800

All of the major late-night hosts - Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, and Craig Ferguson - return to the air tonight with new episodes for the first time since the Hollywood writers' strike began in November. Leno, Kimmel, and O'Brien will be winging it without their writers (and with picketing writers demonstrating outside their shows' studios).

Letterman and Ferguson, however, have their writing staffs intact after Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company, which owns the shows, cut a deal with the Writers Guild of America. That might also help the shows to get better guests since there won't be a picket line to cross - Letterman, for example, is returning with Robin Williams on the couch.

I'm wondering: Are you more likely to watch Letterman (or Craig Ferguson) because the writers' union says it's OK?

Photos courtesy of CBS

All Late-Night Hosts Might Return Jan. 2

BuzzSugar — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:31:02 -0800

We already knew that Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien would be returning to host their late-night shows on Jan. 2, and now it looks like all the other major talk show hosts might be ready to join them.

Jimmy Kimmel will definitely be back on the air then. He issued a statement on Tuesday saying "Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than a hundred people whose financial well-being depends on our show. It is time to go back to work."

David Letterman and Craig Ferguson are looking to return Jan. 2 as well - but Letterman is hoping to find a way to bring their writers along, too. Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company, which owns both shows, is trying to make its own deal with the Writers Guild of America. There's at least one report that the hosts will return, writers or not, but a statement from Worldwide Pants says returning with writers is the company's only focus.

One question that's still not answered: Will any of these late-night shows be able to book guests? Guests would have to cross a picket line to make their appearances, and - as with the Golden Globes - many actors might not be willing to do that.

Photos courtesy of CBS and Source