Late Night Shows Target Post-Strike Return

Screenshots: CBS, ABC, NBC

With the writer’s strike looking to come to a close within the next few days, those involved with talk shows are already making plans.

A source for Variety indicates producers are considering a return to air within the next two to three weeks with the second week of October (Monday the 9th) looking to be their guess – others suggest it could be a little longer as the studio may want to bank several episodes first.

Several late-night producers are reportedly already emailing staff members about coming back to work ASAP, though all of this depends on what happens next with the writer’s guild as they must vote and ratify (assuming they vote ‘yes’) the contract and then give the all-clear first before WGA members can return to writing work.

Talk shows fall under a network code deal which isn’t part of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The hosts of the various late-night shows have been on strike as members of the Writers Guild, and so once WGA membership approves the new deal they can come back right away.

It’s expected all the major network daily shows will aim to co-ordinate an exact date to return. The core five hosts – Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver – have been co-operating on their Strike Force Five podcast during the strike.

Many of the shows have continued to operate with a skeleton crew to keep the production ready for when either or both of the strikes are to end. Due to the nature of the pandemic a few years ago, the shows created protocols that allow them to get back to work quickly after a shutdown of weeks or months at a time.

As the SAG-AFTRA strike is likely to be ongoing for weeks, it means guests will be limited to non-SAG-AFTRA people like musicians, sports figures, politicians, reality stars, authors, and celebrity chefs. SAG-AFTRA members who are allowed to promote a project either because it’s not SAG related, or have scored a waiver from the guild, reportedly can appear.

Shows where writing is crucial, like John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” on HBO, will probably take longer to get back to air. Whereas that network’s other talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” could be back considerably earlier.

Daytime talk shows, which were already planning on returning last week until a backlash, could get on the air fast with crews having already been brought back for work.

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