THURSDAY 4TH UPDATE: Leno Writes Own Monologue Again! WGA Denies NBC Claims That Jay Had Union OK & Guild Would “Look The Other Way”
THURSDAY 3RD UPDATE: LENO/WGA: WHAT’S THE REAL STORY? NBC Claims Jay Asked For & Received WGA Permission To Write Monologue At Secret Monday Meeting With Guild President Verrone
THURSDAY 2ND UPDATE: NBC Claims “Leno Can Write Own Monologue”; WGA Says He Can’t But Doesn’t Want War
THURSDAY UPDATE: I had a feeling this controversy not only isn’t going away but will probably deepen over the next days — and it has. The Writers Guild Of America just confirmed that “a discussion took place today between [its member] Jay Leno and the Writers Guild to clarify to him that writing for The Tonight Show constitutes a violation of the Guilds’ strike rules.” Leno admitted last night on the air during his first show back from strike hiatus that he wrote his own monologue. That’s a huge problem because it violates the strike rules of one of his unions, the WGA, which is currently on strike and picketing NBC and Leno’s Tonight Show. Meanwhile, early ratings for late night TV’s return show that Jay scored a 5.3 rating and 12 audience share in the nation’s 55 largest markets for his best ratings in two years, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno’s ratings were up 47% over what he achieved before the strike. Meanwhile, David Letterman’s Late Show had a 4.3 rating and 10 share, or 39% better than his pre-strike average. I don’t find this surprising, since Leno had been consistently beating Letterman for years and TV viewing habits don’t change overnight. Plus, there was the “car wreck” phenomenon at work and audiences may have wanted to watch how The Tonight Show would fare without writers. I can’t help but think that Leno knows full well he could lose viewers if he stops his topical monologue altogether (which is what Conan O’Brien appeared to do last night). So will Jay keep writing his signature stand-up opening? Stay tuned.
WEDNESDAY PM: Leno did deliver what was a funny monologue. So the big question was who wrote it: WGA members or scabs (i.e. the usual contingent of joke writers who hang out around Jay’s kitchen table)? Leno addressed that very issue during the monologue: “You know what I’m doing? I’m doing what I did the day I started. I write jokes and wake my wife up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Honey, is this funny?’ So if this monologue doesn’t work it’s my wife’s fault,” he explained. “We are not using outside guys. We are following the guild thing… We can write for ourselves…”
Earth To Leno: That’s not the way the WGA interprets its strike rules as spelled out here: “The Strike Rules, among other provisions, prohibit Guild members from performing any writing services during a strike for any and all struck companies. This prohibition includes all writing by any Guild member that would be performed on-air by that member (including monologues, characters, and featured appearances) if any portion of that written material is customarily written by striking writers.” (See my previous: WGA Reminds Returning Jay And Conan: No Monologues.)
Now the question is what will the WGA do about it? The irony is that Leno last night sounded so proud of the jokes he claimed to have written for his monologue. Jay’s in a tough spot, to be sure: after years of beating Dave week after week, Leno could fall to No. 2 now that he’s doing The Tonight Show without his writing team because NBC won’t bargain with the striking writers. Whereas Letterman’s production company Worldwide Pants owns The Late Show (not CBS) and negotiated an interim waiver from the WGA allowing Dave to return on air with his writing team intact. Sure Leno’s ratings may stay the same or even go up as audiences anticipate a potential on-air train wreck. But can they stay there? Will America’s late night viewing habits change? And will NBC suffer?
What makes the situation even trickier is that Leno has been very supportive of his own picketing writers and the entire WGA since the strike began two months ago (see photo above) by delivering food and drinks to the scribes walking the line. So the WGA, which has made it clear it’s picketing NBC and not Leno, may not want to make an example of a high-profile member like Jay for breaking its strike rules.
Go Jay!!!
I agree that fair is far, but UNIONS RUIN AMERICA!
Now’s the time to pull Jay in to the Guild, ask him if he was being honest in what he said about having written his monologue and if he says he did write it, he must be brought up on charges… Those are the rules… And to flaunt that on TV is to thumb his nose in the face of all writers. Shame on Jay. D.
Leno is two-faced, and into himself to even read WGA contracts. From sources, he definitely doesn’t “jay-walk” his talk!
I am in full agreement with Leno..”HE” is the star and “HE” is who is responsible for his family and their welfare..”HE” is doing what any hard working AMERICAN would do..He is “WORKING” even though nobody else wants to!
To hell with the unions! Go, Jay, go!
If the WGA targets Leno, they’ll make a martyr out of him. Then any gains and/or leverage they have received from the Letterman deal will be lost.
What they should do is simply ask Leno not to mention that he is writing anything on the air, even if he is. That will make this news story die quickly.
Leno is writing his own jokes and being funnier than a team of writers working for Letterman. Does the WGA really want to point out that one man could do the job of several writers?
Someone has to have some common sense here.
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Are you kidding me? Workers are just supposed to rely on the benevolence and the good nature of the faceless global conglomerates who employ them? Sure.
He did better without the writers… let ’em eat cake.
So the union claims to own Jay Leno. Get real. The show is Jay Leno. It’s all about him and his talent. If he can do the song and dance as well as produce his own material…so be it. Fire the writers and they can simply find a job somewhere else.
If Jay does not write his own stuff, how is he supposed to go on the air to support the 160 non-writers, who need income to support their families. Does he have to make it up on the fly? The union rules seem to be crazy — that a man cannot write his own material. I guess Jay will have to give all teh writing duties to his wife!
Let’s get the two sides together and get this thing negotiated like grown people.
2 faced?……. how about 2 1/2 faced!!!
I empathize with the striking writers, but this is ridiculous to me. Leno has a show that employs a lot more people than just the writers. They aren’t on strike and have no way to make a living. They are caught in striker’s hell. Leno has a show to deliver. What about his contracts to perform a live show?
Send this mess to arbitration or settle it or pretty soon we the mass audience will move on to other things and you will be but a blip in our memory.
Brought up on charges? Is writing a joke against federal or state laws? Worst they can do is kick him out of the union (huge dissapointment, I’m sure).
Unions are a pimple on the ass of free markets.
World needs ditch-diggers, or in the writers case, Baristas.
Isn’t it odd that a comedian can’t write his own jokes in America? I think maybe the union is a little too full of its own importance.
Unions don’t ruin America. Unions are the reason for the 40 hour work week, workers compensation, child labor laws, decent medicical benefits and the list goes on. In this case the Guild is trying to pry a few bucks for writers from the billions of dollars corporations will make because of their efforts.
Jay’s “the” talent but he knows he cannot do the show without a team. Educate yourself before posting some thing stupid like to hell with unions and that they ruin the USA.
It’s hilarious that Politically Correct Jay trampled over his employee’s rights. I am sure it was unintentional. PC bimbos like Jay always see others’ rights through the prism of their own self-interests.
But it is ludicrous that we actually have a union for joke writers anyway.
Can the rest of the world do anything but stand back and wonder about us?
Whoa Nikki, FYI… this particular segment made the “Drudge Report”.(go check) Perhaps if Drudge is linking here, then the return of the Late Show hosts HAS upped the strike’s profile considerably.
Got to be kidding Me. Leno is the jerk here. Sure, lets pretend to bargan while the WGA is left in the cold. This is foolish, and Leno has just upped the stakes. I hope he cares.
charges against Leno?
For what?
Jay, take your WGA card, tear it up, and burn it.
I enjoyed the show last night. Great stuff.
I sympathize with what the WGA is trying to do in regards to being rewarded for internet and “other’ media income, but trying to strong-arm a media darling will quickly whittle that sympathy to ZERO.
idiots.
I watched Jay last night and taped Letterman to watch afterwards. Leno’s monologue not written by WGA writers was a lot funnier than Letterman’s, who was written by WGA writers. And with the exception of Robin Williams, who was the funniest I’ve seen him in a long time, The Tonight Show was better overall than the Late Show.
Strike? What strike? Go Jay!
Union idiots! Jay does a better job than his writers. I hope they stay on strike another ten years!
Leno’s a bum who hasn’t been funny in years.
(I can relate to that.)
Who’s your master? Money, Big Corporations or the Guild? You can only serve one.
If it’s thought, remembered, said but not written down, it’s not a violation.
There are some BIG holes in the “Strike Rules” that are very easily walked through.
Make a “martyr” out of Leno?!?!? Amongst whom? The 60-yr-old grannies who watch his show?
Write on Jay!