Dave’s back, along with the writer’ staff, and thus far (I’m writing this 45 minutes in) it’s been great. It’s certainly a terrific venue to bring positive attention to the strike.
What’s going to kinda suck is if Leno’s ratings, sans writers, are higher.
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Not that you could tell that there are actually writers behind the jokes he tells. They’re pretty much of the same šhìŧŧÿ quality with or without writers. It amazes me that he actually thinks that the “Three guys walk into a bar” joke he told was actually funny.
I also love his rationale that he ran his jokes by his wife beforehand. It reminds me of the bit in your BID article about writing in which a teacher asserted that her children’s book would sell because her class loved it.
Well, count me among the Leno viewers…. There’s absolutely nothing that will get me to watch Letterman.
And equally, there’s nothing that will get me to watch Leno. So there. Nyehhh.
I just want to know who was funnier? Letterman with writeres or Leno without them?
1I saw all 5 shows, and would rank them thusly:
1. Craig Ferguson–all comedy bits showed off the writers the best without hitting you over the head about the WGA stuff
2. Letterman–format was pretty normal except for a meet the staff piece that was a bit quiet. Lots of funny bits–beard is too much.
3. Conan–looked like Dr. Benton Quest on Jonny Quest. Naturally funny, but guests were weak and show a bit ragged. Taped piece was fun!
4. Leno–tried monologue–not as sharp as it’s capable of being. Question and answers segment a good idea–but questions were dull. Soft interview with Huckabee, but the cooking segment was fine.
5. Kimmel–sour tone throughout (he isn’t always) and rude to the first 2 guests and to the striking writers. Music guest Kid Rock was on tape from Tuesday night. Very disappointing from someone I expect more from.
If the stars mostly stick to the CBS shows, the late night ratings may really get shaken up. The writers made a difference!
I watched Letterman and Ferguson last night and, well, I hope it gets better. I wanted to like them more, but there were way to many jokes about the WGA strike. I know that this is something the writers are thinking about and it really plays into Letterman’s “stick-it-to-the-man” kind of humor, however, I don’t find it all that interesting. It felt like the shows were written for the staff and not for the audience. Maybe after a day or two things can get back to normal.
I didn’t watch Conan or Leno last night, but I did flip past and I now wonder something. Instead of Leno vs. Letterman in the ratings, should the real fight be between Letterman and O’brien in a winner take all beard fight?
I heard some people on local radio yesterday talking about whether or not Leno could be funny without his writers. My thought was, why should he start now?
I’ve always liked Letterman better anyways, so I’m not completely impartial.
On a related, but somewhat different note, the following is from an AP article on the CNN website:
Huckabee said he supports the writers and did not think he would be crossing a picket line, because he believed the writers had made an agreement to allow late-night shows on the air. But that’s not the case with Leno. “Huckabee is a scab,” read one picket sign outside Leno’s Burbank, California, studio.
The writers guild urged Huckabee not to cross their picket line after he flew out to California. “Huckabee claims he didn’t know,” chief union negotiator John Bowman said. “I don’t know what that means in terms of trusting him as a future president.”
If he cannot keep the facts straight on this, can he really handle the job of president?
On the above, the second paragraph starting with “The writers guild urged…” should have been in italics also. Not sure why it didn’t show up that way.
Letterman should have been better, it was a bit of a letdown of a show. Too rote, not enough biting commentary, and alot of lame jokes. Leno felt like he was mugging too hard to get his jokes across. You could practically see the flop sweat forming.
The best one to come out of it was Conan because he just acted like himself and did weird and crazy stuff to kill time. That was entertaining and different.
I love how Ferguson pulled off an entire show with no guests. And the opening bit with the sheep was classic.
I used to love Leno and Letterman, but I stopped liking them years ago. If I forced myself to watch them now, I wouldn’t be able to give a fair assessment of the quality difference because of that.
For the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, I’m watching with or without writers. I may stop if they truly suck, but I really want new Daily Show and Colbert Report.
Christine: some comment software closes all tags between paragraphs, to help prevent the whole thread going italic or bold by mistake.
“I love how Ferguson pulled off an entire show with no guests. And the opening bit with the sheep was classic.”
Isn’t Ferguson Scottish? Should I be afraid of “the bit with the sheep”?
I just don’t enjoy watching Letterman much anymore. I watched about a half hour of Leno, but did channel surf to Letterman a couple of times.
Leno beat Letterman in the ratings by almost two million viewers.
There is officially no justice in this world (but I guess the striking writers already knew that)…
Okay, so the question is: how will the media react if Leno continues beating Letterman in the ratings?
Personally, I don’t think it’s a true test of the writers’ worth. They definitely add to those shows, but not to the degree that they add to sitcoms, dramas, and whatnot.
So I’m fearful that if this continues, the media will blow it out of proportion and start running stories saying, “Are the writers really worth it?” And it will probably have that question mark, because that will allow them to imply that they’re not (which is good for the dramaof the story) without outright saying that they’re not.
Heck, the media might not even wait and see if the ratings slump is sustained. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already writing those stories.
E! News reports that it’s about one million. It has just reported that Leno brought in “just under 6 million viewers”, and Letterman “just under 5 million”.
I guess viewer loyalty dictated this more than who the guests were. This may make some sense, if only in using the purely unscientific method of my own tastes: Even if a guest I really like is on Letterman, I don’t watch it. I just plain don’t like him. I watch Leno mostly out of brand loyalty, I guess. The one guy I watched because I really liked him is Conan O’Brien, who’s just plain hilarious. I can’t wait until he takes over The Tonight Show, since now that I’ve gotten into a good sleeping pattern that puts me out long before 12:35pm, I won’t have to wait an hour for him.
Leno was never funny when he had writers I can only imagine what a train wreck his show is without them. Letterman had a great show.
At least Letterman didn’t appear on NBC and say his run on CBS was all just a dream.
Is that a Bob Newhart reference? Or maybe a St. Elsewhere reference?
Gave up on the lot of them years ago. If nothing else, the contents-to-advertising ratio was getting ridiculous. Then there’s the fact that I’m up at 04:00 for work which makes being up at midnight for tv not a good move.
Yes, I have VCRs. But it honestly stopped feeling worth it long since.
I think Ferguson is the best of the lot, and that’s probably because he’s so off the wall at times, rambling about things and getting off track. That, and he’s from the UK, and I’ve always loved British humor. On top of that, Ferguson was once a guest on my all time favorite show, Red Dwarf. 🙂
FWITW, I watched Letterman and Ferguson (mostly).
I was switching between them and Countdown.
I usualy don’t watch either, but it was a solidarity move:)
Luigi Novi said (re: Lettermen):
“I also love his rationale that he ran his jokes by his wife beforehand.”
—–
See, Luigi, that was a …….. joke! You get jokes, don’t you?
I only watch Letterman and Ferguson because they have signed an agreement to pay what the WGA will settle for. Then my television is turned off again. So far, since about 3 days after the strike started, my television has been on for 4 hours. Tonight will make 6.
This also saves me a little on the electrical bill, as my radio uses considerably less energy.
Alan Coil said
Luigi Novi said (re: Lettermen):
“I also love his rationale that he ran his jokes by his wife beforehand.”
—–
See, Luigi, that was a …….. joke! You get jokes, don’t you?
Apparently Alan mistyped, or didn’t watch either (which is his right to do or not do). For the sake of posterity if nothing else: the comment Luigi made referred to Leno, not Letterman. Leno told the “…walk into a bar” joke; Leno doesn’t have writers (and would therefore have to run the joke by his wife) and Letterman does; and Leno is married and Letterman isn’t. Luigi used the nonspecific “he” to refer to Leno.
Why yes, I am an anal jerk, why do you ask? (I’m also a Lettermaniac, not a Lenoite.)