As you may know, the late night shows (Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, O'Brien, and Ferguson) return with new episodes tonight. Most of them will return without writers (and will be picketed), but Letterman made a special deal with the WGA and his show will return with his writers. Many assume this gives Letterman an advantage (he can do a regular show while the others scramble with ad libbing, longer interviews, filler), but Tim Goodman thinks that Letterman might actually be hurt by having his writers.
His reasoning? It's going to be too safe for Letterman.
Goodman writes:
After tonight, who knows what Leno will do. Or Kimmel or Conan. That's part of the intrigue. Though it's fashionable to say Letterman has an advantage starting tonight, he's also at something of a disadvantage creatively, although that might seem contrary to expectations. But think about it. You know what Letterman is like with writers and guests. He's certainly the dean of late-night talk show hosts but there's something truly electric about him when he's out of his element, less safe. Tonight he's going to be surrounded by down pillows and lullabies.
I don't know if I completely agree with Goodman, but I can picture a scenario where Letterman does a "regular" show, and it will either stand out as being much, much better than what's going on over at Leno, Kimmel, and O'Brien's studios, or people could look at it and say "you mean Letterman actually has a full staff of writers and this is all he could come up with? The other shows are handling it better."
I think Letterman will be Letterman, and you'll either like him or you won't, regardless of any strike that's going on and what the other shows are going to do. Though I will admit that I think expectations for Letterman doing a "better" show tonight might be a little high.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-02-2008 @ 3:45PM
Thomas said...
Personally I never watch Leno but I can imagine some people will want to watch just to see how crap it might be.
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1-02-2008 @ 3:41PM
Odimerus said...
I don't regularly watch late night TV, besides The Daily Show/Colbert Report, but tonight I'm going to be watching Leno/Conan mostly, and switch back in forth between the others during commercials, or if their shows get really bad. I'm not a big fan of Letterman, because when he says his jokes, it sounds like he doesn't understand most of them.
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1-02-2008 @ 3:53PM
Scott said...
My first reaction was "Oh, great, Letterman's back, with writers!" My second reaction was "Wait, Letterman hasn't been worth watching for 10 years, and he had writers all that time."
Leno flailing around without writers isn't likely to be any more entertaining than Leno WITH writers. Conan might be interesting, though.
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1-02-2008 @ 4:03PM
Oreo said...
Letterman's show is good only because he is a nice guy, Leno comes off as a jackass.
I'm really waiting for the Late Late Show because that's the best one on.
And I think Letterman is at a disadvantage, people will watch Leno to see how he does without the writers.
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1-02-2008 @ 4:38PM
Tom said...
For tonight, I think Leno is going to destroy Letterman in the ratings. Because Letterman will just be normal Letterman while Jay is "What the heck are they going to do without writers?"
There's no way people won't tune into Leno tonight.
Honestly, its probably for the best too. Letterman is going to put on a fairly low quality show tonight. He has to. Everyone is rusty, everyone is poor (even if they are back at work now) and the writers have a huge amount of pressure on them as the whole question of "how valuable are the writers" falls on their shoulders. You couldn't put a great show on under those circumstances.
The real battle will be fought 3 weeks from now when the novelty has worn off and people are choosing who to watch on a regular basis. That is where Letterman stands to gain here.
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1-02-2008 @ 4:48PM
Craig said...
I think Leno sticks WITH writers. His funniest stuff is when he improvises. He's done it on the show - and I've seen him do it in person in Vegas. He's at his best when he involves the audience.
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1-02-2008 @ 4:48PM
Robobagins said...
I stopped watching late night shows last year, they just seemed to be same junk every night, no matter who was the host. But tonight, I'm watching Leno and Conan.
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1-02-2008 @ 5:23PM
taylor said...
I can't stand Leno so I'm glad Letterman is back. I think viewers will be tempted to tune into Leno, just to see if he'll crash and burn or not. Conan is the guy I think will be great at the improv. I'd watch him even without writers.
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1-02-2008 @ 5:54PM
Karen said...
So what happens if 3 weeks from now people are tuning into Leno without writers more than Letterman with? What does that do to the strike?
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1-02-2008 @ 6:11PM
Jimmy said...
Let's be real: The average viewer doesn't tune into specific late night shows for the writing; he or she tunes in for the host (and, to a lesser extent, the guests).
I'm a huge Letterman fan, but I have no reason to believe he will pass Jay in the ratings tonight or anytime in the near future. Unless there some indication the American people suddenly have taste ...
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1-02-2008 @ 6:53PM
Tom said...
@Karen - I suspect nothing will "happen" per se. I mean, it isn't as if anyone is trying to make the argument that these hosts could go on indefinately without writers. So it really doesn't matter all that much who wins.
But Letterman did jump through all kinds of hoops to get his writers back so if Leno does beat him regularly I can almost guarantee you the Letterman writers will feel pretty lousy about themselves.
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1-02-2008 @ 8:26PM
ac said...
Tonight I'm going to watch Leno to see how he does without writers. Tommorow I'm watching Letterman to see how he does, plus Ellen Page is on his show tommorow. I'll check out Conan on friday since thats the one night I don't have to go to bed at a decent hour.
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1-02-2008 @ 8:07PM
Midnight13 said...
To me I ask who would I rather watch, a boring interview with Republican candidate Huckabee? Or Robin Williams? Which will be more entertaining? It sure won't be Huckabee.
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