TVSquad

As the strike lingers on and the Writers Guild of American (WGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) seem no closer to bridging their philosophical and monetary gap, the WGA is set to try a new tactic. According to Variety, the WGA is going to make a "legal demand" today for individual members of the AMPTP to schedule bargaining meetings with the WGA. However, at this point it isn't clear if the companies are legally obligated to do so, and if not, will they?

Looks like the late-night talk shows may be coming back sooner rather than later, and this regardless of what happens with the strike. Variety admits that nothing official has been said and no one will comment one way or another, but insiders are saying the time may be nearing. Carson returned after two months of the '88 writers strike. With ratings taking a nosedive, January 7 has been pegged as a possible return date for the NBC hosts (Leno and O'Brien), with the others starting the same time or soon thereafter.

They initially shut down production in deference to their writers and stayed dark to help the writers maintain some leverage in negotiations, even going so far as to pay non-writing staffers out of their own pockets. But, when reruns of Spike TVs MANswers are beating your reruns, and your ratings are half what they were (as is the case with the NBC pair), it's time to rethink everything.

As of next week, The New York Times reports that NBC executives will have to start laying off the non-writing staff on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. The studio had been paying their salaries thus far through the strike. As such, Conan has stepped up and agreed to start paying his non-striking staff their full wages on Monday from his own pocket, if necessary. Word of this leaked to the press, with no official comments being offered by any side.

This is a very different response to the ongoing labor stoppage than Ellen DeGeneres and Carson Daly, who have both resumed production on their respective shows. With ratings down significantly in late night, studios are under increasing pressure to bring these shows back on the air, so I'm guessing there's increasing pressure on these guys to come back in. O'Brien instead is showing his support for the strike as well as his staff by putting his money where his mouth is.

• Charlie Rose: New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman
• The Daily Show: David McCullough (repeat)
• The Colbert Report: Richard Clarke (repeat)
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Bonnie Hunt and Stephen A. Smith
• Jay Leno: Carson Daly, Wanda Sykes, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Adam Carolla (Bo Bice had to cancel all media appearances)
• Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Jim Carrey and Isaac Hayes
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Teri Garr and Dwight Yoakam
• Last Call With Carson Daly: John Krasinski and the North Mississippi Allstars

• Charlie Rose: Doris Kearns Goodwin
• The Daily Show: Michelle Yeoh (repeat)
• The Colbert Report: Katrina vanden Heuvel (repeat)
• The Late Show With David Letterman: Jim Carrey and We Are Scientists
• Jay Leno: Pamela Anderson 
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Dermot Mulroney, Upright Citizen's Brigade, and 2005 World Series of Poker champ Joe Hachem
• Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Jason Lee and Harland Williams (repeat)
• The Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Chi McBride and Bill Nye 
• Last Call With Carson Daly: Usher and George Clinton